War With Iran: Day 31

9-1-1, where is the emergency?

It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey Shore.

Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge.

A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19-year-old Sarah Stern.

Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide?

At this point, nobody knows.

Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life.

I'm Ju-Ju Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio.

Listen now to Bridge of Lies, wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to Nightline.

This is a special edition, War of the Ron.

I'm Byron Pins.

On this episode, building troops, roughly 50,000 US service members now in the Middle East,

and images emerge of a US Air Force jet heavily damaged during an Iranian attack on a US Airbase

in Saudi Arabia that left 12 Americans injured.

The plane won of only six in the region equipped with an airborne warning and control system

critical to coordinating military operations and tracking enemy movements.

Other images from the region a month into the war show Iran still capable of fighting

back.

ABC's meant rivers is in the region.

That plus, President Trump of the White House threatening obliteration, if Iran doesn't

agree to end the war and reopen the straight-up removes, saying his next stop could be taking

the country's oil from the site in Karj Island, and what he says about new negotiations

with a whole new set of people in Iran.

And we hear from the only Iranian-American in Congress about how the war is hitting

home.

While the conflict in Iran continues to rage on, we will shift focus each day to this

single topic.

War of the Iran, nightline special coverage continues.

This is day 31.

Stay with us after the break.

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Welcome.

As a War of the Iran now moves into its second month, the number of U.S. troops in the

region now at more than 50,000, ABC's Matt Rivers is in Doha.

Tonight shocking new images of the vital U.S. radar jet destroyed in an Iranian attack

that also injured 15 American service members five seriously.

That U.S. Air Force E3 century, its tail nearly severed, that distinctive radar dome that normally

rotates atop the aircraft, providing real-time battlefield data on enemy positions and flight

operations seen on the ground.

At the Prince Sultan, Air Base in Saudi Arabia, a U.S. official confirming to Reuters that

an E3 was damaged in the strike.

With 50,000 U.S. service members now in the Middle East, tonight President Trump warning

the U.S. will be quote, blowing up and completely obliterating Iranian energy infrastructure

and drinking water plants if Iran doesn't reopen the critical state of Hormuz soon.

The President also claiming a deal with Iran could come shortly, saying the U.S. is in

serious discussions with a new and more reasonable regime to end our military operations in Iran.

They're agreeing with us on the plan.

I mean, we asked for 15 things and for the most part, we're going to be asking for a couple

of other things.

But Iran, insisting there are no direct talks with the U.S., saying the President's 15-point

plan includes many requests that are excessive, unrealistic, and illogical.

Our Rachel Scott pressing the White House today.

So how do you square that?

How do you explain that discrepancy between the two?

I think the American people are smart enough not to take the word of a terrorist regime

that has chanted death to America for 47 years out their word.

And tonight thousands more U.S. forces arriving in the Middle East, including the USS Tripoli,

with 3,500 Marines and sailors as President Trump weighs his next move.

The New York Times now reporting hundreds of U.S. special operations forces, including

Navy SEALs, are also now in the region and could be used to help reopen the state of

Hormuz, seize Iran's critical oil hub, Carg Island, or to hunt down Iran's highly enriched

uranium.

Tonight smoke and flames, billowing from this oil refinery in Israel.

And as Iran launches attacks around the region, a top Iranian official tonight, warning

Iran, is waiting for the arrival of American soldiers on the ground to rain fire upon

them.

And tonight amidst all this uncertainty, U.S. crude oil prices closing above $100 a barrel

for the first time since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

And gas prices in the U.S. now at $3.98 on average, with many drivers across the country

already paying far more than that.

Our thanks to Matt.

After the break, the only Iranian-American Democrat in Congress speaking out about how the

war is hitting home.

Have I heard it more?

On April 6th, I prefer to keep my presence a shadow.

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We're not going to take out the whole empire.

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To those who have betrayed me.

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The Islamic Republic is a barbaric, corrupt regime that has murdered and imprisoned and

terrorized its own people for decades.

As a daughter of Iranian immigrants who fled this regime, I know personally what its

violence means.

At the same time, as an American Congresswoman, who sworn oath to the United States Constitution,

I am deeply concerned by President Trump's decision to launch an illegal war because it

is, in fact, illegal against Iran without congressional authorization and without presenting

a clear plan to the American people.

That was Arizona Representative Yasabman Ansari, the first Iranian-American Democrat in

Congress.

The Iranian regime has persecuted members of her own family.

ABC's Chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, said down with Congressman Ansari,

her conversation about her complicated feelings about the war and her hopes and fears for

Iran's future.

So, let's go back February 28th, the war starts.

What were you thinking?

How did you hear?

What was your first reaction?

It was a weird feeling, feeling of something you knew was going to happen, but the uncertainty

of what comes next was quite, you know, quite heavy.

I immediately called my parents and I knew it was like two or three AM for them in Phoenix,

but I called them and the next few days were really tough.

It was the first and the first week or two, honestly, were very, very heavy.

I think a lot of pressure from the standpoint of somebody who's grown up with wanting

to see change in Iran, positive change, a better future for the people of Iran, but in

my role as a U.S. Congresswoman, knowing very well what we're dealing with in a President

Donald Trump and knowing that there is no plan or clear objectives for what the war is

about, had a lot of anxiety and mixed feelings.

In your parents, I mean, they effectively fled the regime.

I mean, your dad was here as a student, couldn't go back, your mom left.

You know, my mom was 16 or 17 years old when she was forced to flee, but women were losing

their rights, and so my grandfather had been supportive of the monarchy before fell, and

so he was briefly imprisoned, and that's when they decided to send my mom here by herself.

Stories I've heard are that she was extremely depressed, you know, lost a ton of weight, was

here by herself, living with a family, and, you know, they've gone back over the years,

but especially as I've gotten more into politics, it's pretty much 18 years old onward, the

possibility of going back diminishes.

And what was their reaction when they heard that Ayatollah Hamina had been killed?

I think everybody's reaction, including my parents to that news, is joyful, not a classic

joyful, right, because you're talking about somebody's death, but there's a feeling

of hope that comes with it.

Maybe now something can happen.

Maybe now, you know, this is the beginning of the end.

I think immediately they are worried about, you know, their concerns have always been

Iran, like, vulcanizing essentially, and the borders of the country changing, because

there are so many different ethnicities and groups, and not all, you know, good actors

and interests around Iran, but also that it could become a failed state.

And if this isn't managed carefully, a country of 90 million people could very well fall

into civil war, and I think that has been their concern from the beginning, and my concern

as well.

This is obviously a very challenging time.

There's a war going on, but is there a hope at the end of this that what comes next

will be better?

This has actually caused a lot of internal strife within the community, a lot of families,

you know, my own family at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

There are a lot of debates about whether or not people should be hopeful what the right

thing is to do.

I will say there are many people who are, you know, who feel that there was no other way

to weaken this regime than outside military intervention.

You know, the people don't have the weapons, the regime has the weapons, and they will

happily massacre as many people as they can to stay in power.

And I think there's another camp, and I think that camp of folks, you know, feels that

they really actually do believe that Donald Trump has a good plan here and has positive

intentions.

And that's real.

I don't agree with that.

There is another camp that I think is very anti-war and believes that bombs are not going

to free people.

You know, there's people who are within the diaspora and Iranians who just, who want

something hopeful to hold on to and are trying to now steer this in the right direction,

wordy in this war, so what can be done?

And I've been thinking a lot about that.

Ultimately, I do think we need an off-ramp quickly to the war, we need to de-escalate.

I, you know, just want to see the best for Iranian people who have had to live under this

regime for the last 47 years.

Our thanks to Jonathan.

Join us tomorrow for another special edition of Nightline, War with Iran.

A show was born during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.

We were there then, but we are still here now.

If you like this podcast, let us know with a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever

you're listening.

Check out Start Here for more on the days news, and stick with us for updates throughout

the day on ABC News Live.

We'll be right back here tomorrow.

Thanks for listening, America.

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