Trump’s decision to U-turn on a military mission to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz came after a backlash from allies. Kamala Harris weighs a potential presidential run in 2028. And a veteran with cancer says his recent experience made him lose faith in the healthcare system.
Here’s what to know today.
The reason behind Trump’s abrupt U-turn on the Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump’s abrupt reversal on his plan to force open the Strait of Hormuz came after Saudi Arabia, a key Gulf ally, suspended the U.S. military’s ability to use its bases and airspace to carry out the operation, according to two U.S. officials.
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Trump surprised allies in the region on social media on Sunday by announcing “Project Freedom,” the U.S. military mission to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz to break Tehran’s chokehold on the critical waterway. The move angered the leadership in Saudi Arabia, which informed Washington it would not allow the U.S. military to fly aircraft from Prince Sultan Airbase, southeast of Riyadh, or fly through Saudi airspace to support the effort, the officials said. A call between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not resolve the issue, the two U.S. officials said, forcing the president to pause Project Freedom in order to restore U.S. military access to the critical airspace. Other close Gulf allies were also caught off guard.
Trump had announced the operation over the weekend, and his top national security leaders spent much of Tuesday talking up the effort in public briefings at the Pentagon and White House, only to have the president suddenly halt the operation roughly 36 hours after it began.
Here’s where things stand in the U.S. and Iran’s efforts to reach a peace deal.
And these are the reasons why it could take more than a peace deal with Iran to resume shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, France’s aircraft carrier strike group is moving south of the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea in preparation for a potential French-British mission in the strait.
Staff Pick: From gardeners to drivers, gas prices in California upend jobs
Los Angeles has always had above-average gas prices. Locals and longtime residents often look the other way because, frankly, we have to. Public transportation is hard to come by depending on where you live and often takes twice as long as driving. The city has struggled to fulfill its promises of expanding bus and train routes despite decades of efforts and billions of dollars in plans. As one local ride share driver told me, what happens on the roads of Los Angeles is a microcosm of what’s happening across the country.
So what better to tell this L.A. story than by speaking with workers in the most ubiquitous industries here: tourism and home services. They are the ones facing economic headwinds straight on with no choice but to keep working. One source told me about closing his business due to high gas prices or risk losing customers by charging more, “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” — Alicia Victoria Lozano, reporter
Harris wants the DNC to release an autopsy report of 2024
As former Vice President Kamala Harris considers another run for president, she is also signaling that she has no problem with a public airing of what went wrong last time — telling donors she believes the Democratic National Committee should release its buried autopsy of her failed 2024 campaign, according to a person who has heard the conversations.
The push for the postmortem’s release is one way she’s staying involved in political affairs. She has also toured the country, given speeches to state parties, developed the framework for a policy platform and sounded out fellow Democrats about her next chapter. Publicly, Harris acknowledged that she is “thinking about” another presidential bid.
Interviews with more than a dozen people close to the former vice president paint the picture of a politician who is both moving forward in ways that would be helpful for setting up a run and also declining to view every decision she makes through the prism of how it affects her chances of electoral success.
Take a closer look at the case Harris is building for herself and her potential shortfalls.
More politics news:
- A federal judge released a purported suicide note from Jeffrey Epstein before he was found semiconscious in July 2019, less than two weeks before he died.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio was set to meet with Pope Leo at the Vatican today. It follows Trump’s criticism of the first American pontiff over the Iran war.
- The seven top candidates in California’s gubernatorial race sparred over affordability, homelessness among other issues in a tense debate yesterday.
- Three of the Indiana state senators who were targeted by Trump and were defeated in Tuesday’s primary said they have no regrets.
- For subscribers: State legislators rarely lose primaries. Indiana’s results show why the president has Republicans constantly watching their backs.
A hard-right Trump ally seeks liftoff in a forgotten part of Britain
Reform UK, Britain’s hard right political party, is projected to make sweeping gains in thousands of local municipal races today in England, as well as in elections in Wales and Scotland. The result will not only serve as a midterm-style barometer for historically unpopular Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It will also gauge the true appeal of a friend of Donald Trump: Nigel Farage, who promises to reindustrialize Britain and revive its struggling high streets with his anti-immigration, anti-green, tax-cutting agenda.
In Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, the support for Farage and Reform would be a remarkable turnaround after more than a century of dominance by the left-wing Labour Party. But the South Wales Valleys, once a booming region for coal mining but now one of the most economically deprived areas in Britain, is fertile ground for Reform’s argument that voters have been failed by the political mainstream.
Why Farage appeals to many voters in the region.
Related coverage:
- For subscribers: Senior reporter Alexander Smith, who grew up on the edge of the South Wales Valleys, visited one of Farage’s recent rallies in Merthyr Tydfil. In this piece, he recounts the history of “the Iron Capital of the World” and captures the mood of the people who are hungry for change.
Problems persist more than a year after military insurance switch
Guy Shoemaker, a retired Army sergeant first class and recruiter who spent a year in Afghanistan, pitched military service to potential new recruits with one key promise: healthcare for life. The promise held up when Shoemaker, 64, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2021, when he was covered under the military’s health care program, TRICARE.
Then, last year, TRICARE moved his coverage to a new contractor called TriWest Healthcare Alliance, a change that he said made him lose faith in the system — and question his longtime recruitment pitch. Suddenly, previously approved claims were overturned, and money that had been paid to providers was clawed back. Shoemaker stopped going to regular therapy appointments, unable to pay. His condition worsened.
The latest installment of NBC News’ Cost of Denial series dives into what went wrong during the switch from TRICARE to TriWest and the effects it had on active service members, retirees and their families in the past year.
Read All About It
- Those on board the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak were “not well informed,” a passenger told NBC News, with life continuing as usual even after the first death was announced.
- A Florida surgeon accused of manslaughter after he removed a man’s liver instead of his spleen said in a deposition that he is “forever traumatized” by his patient’s death.
- Ted Turner, the media tycoon, entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded CNN, has died at the age of 87. As the owner of the Atlanta Braves (and manager for one game), he forever changed professional sports.
- An experimental pancreatic cancer drug is poised to revolutionize the way the disease is treated, oncologists say.
- Shivon Zilis, an adviser to tech billionaire Elon Musk who is also the mother of four of his children, took the witness stand in the OpenAI trial, offering a rare glimpse into some of Silicon Valley’s complicated relationships.
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
The NBC Select team are big fans of e-readers. We’ve tested brands such as Amazon Kindle, Kobo and Boox and weighed their pros and cons after months of testing. Plus, we spoke to dermatologists to find the best SPF lip balms to hydrate and protect your lips.
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