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- [00:05]
A
Good morning. Trump gives Iran until today to open the strait. The latest in a string of ultimatums. Associated Press looks at where negotiations stand.
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B
There is a lot of pressure to try and get a little bit more clarity on where things are going, and that's not something we're getting from the President on a consistent basis.
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A
The Wall Street Journal tells us how the war is pushing Iran further from its neighbors. And a solar eclipse. And 40 minutes cut off from the world inside. A Busy day for Artemis 2 crew. It's Tuesday, April 7th. I'm Cecilia Ley and this is Apple News Today.
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C
Humans probably have not evolved to see what we're seeing. It is truly hard to describe. It is amazing.
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A
President Trump used his press conference yesterday to intensify threats against Iran and impose another deadline for a deal to open up the Strait of Hormuz. This latest one ends tonight at 8pm Eastern. After that, Trump promised several hours of bombing.
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C
We have a plan because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o' clock tomorrow night. Where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. I mean, complete demolition by 12 o'. Clock. And it'll happen over a period of four hours. If we wanted to, we don't want that to happen.
- [01:36]
A
The civilian infrastructure he's talking about here is the bedrock of what makes civilian life function within Iran. Deliberate, widespread attacks in this way could constitute a war crime under international law. Trump said he wasn't concerned about doing anything illegal when asked about it yesterday, but said he hoped he wouldn't have to do it. Instead, he said he wanted a deal and suggested Iran wanted one, too.
- [02:00]
B
It feels on one level like an escalation, but then also, if you go back and listen to what he says, he sort of talks in circles.
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A
Will Weisert covers the White House for the Associated Press. He told us that much of what Trump said were versions of things we've already heard.
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B
It's hard, if you're looking at it from the outside, frankly, to find a strategy. Right, because he has taken sort of every position you can take. Right. We're going to have a quick war, we're going to have a prolonged war. We're not going to send in troops, we're going to send in troops. And, you know, when he's pressed on this, what the President says over and over is, I'm not going to tell you these are my military options. And I want to have as many options as I can. And if I go around Telling reporters what I'm going to do strategically, that's going to be a bit of disaster.
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A
The Strait of Hormuz is one example. Last week, Trump said that opening the Strait was effectively a problem for allied countries to resolve. Then in his press conference, he prioritized reopening it by whatever US Military means necessary. But yesterday there were some signs of possible movement on negotiations.
- [02:55]
B
We had a 45 point plan to sort of lead to a ceasefire that was submitted to Iran from the US and its allies via Pakistan that Tehran rejected that offer, but they came back with their own sort of 10 point plan. So it is possible that we'll see some sort of diplomatic breakthrough that would prohibit a wider scale attack.
- [03:15]
A
In their response, Iran emphasized that they wanted a permanent end to the war over a possible temporary ceasefire and an end to sanctions. Trump called the response a, quote, significant step, but not good enough. Axios reports that Israel has expressed concerns over Iran's demands, which would include Israeli forces halting its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Ultimately, Weisert told us, despite these threats, Iran's position remains strong so long as they can stop the oil from flowing.
- [03:45]
B
Iran has basically said that they feel like that they've got Washington in a tight spot here. They feel like they can continue to apply economic pressure and it doesn't necessarily matter how much the US or even Israel step up bombing campaigns, that as long as they control the Strait, they can control a big segment of the world economy.
- [04:11]
A
Gulf countries may not have initially wanted the war, but they have had to absorb many of the costs because of their ties to the us They've been targeted in particular. Drones and missiles have barraged the United Arab Emirates. According to the Wall street journal, some 2,500 have been fired there, far more than what Iran has launched at Israel. The attacks are threatening to drive the UAE and Iran further apart and deter international travelers from its most populous city, Dubai. In recent days, the UAE has said that it's willing to assist the United States in any prospective effort to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The Wall Street Journal has reported that privately there have been conversations about doing that by force. And within the country, there has also been a retaliatory crackdown on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians who call it home.
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D
There was a closure of some institutions, Iranian institutions in the uae. Some of them had links to the government of Iran. That includes the social club in Dubai. It includes a hospital, the Iranian Hospital, which dates back to the 1970s. Around the UAE's founding as a country.
- [05:19]
A
Omar Abdul Baki is a Middle east correspondent for the Journal. He reported from Dubai on how the Iranian population in the uae, nearly half a million people, is being uniquely impacted by the war. The UAE has announced a broader ban on Iranian passport holders entering the nation and that it's canceled residency visas for many Iranians in the country. Abdul Baqi told us that some of those visas are being reinstated. Since his story published, it's notable that
- [05:48]
D
Iran and the UAE have had long standing, although a tense and complex relationship. The UAE is actually one of Iran's historically biggest trading partners. There's billions of dollars of trade between the countries a year. That was the case until a few years ago. They also have cultural relations and a long history of migration patterns between the two countries. Iranians have been migrating to what is now the uae since the 19th century.
- [06:16]
A
It's that history that has led some Iranians in Dubai to have complicated reactions to how the UAE is responding to aggression from Iran.
- [06:25]
D
There are Iranians who have been in the UAE for decades. They call it home. They almost see themselves as Emirati. And so some of them actually expressed understanding about more security measures or more stringent security measures against Iranians in the uae. Others felt singled out and others felt that there was an element of UAE society that was under threat.
- [06:48]
A
As the war continues, there could be potentially even more impacts for Iranians in the country, including financial penalties like the freezing of assets. Still, the UAE's Ministry of Foreign affairs has stressed the Iranian community is of value, an integral part of its social fabric. Across the country, states are dealing with health care budget constraints in the wake of federal funding cuts and the end of Affordable Care act subsidies. One of the key affected programs in areas run both by Democrats and Republicans, supports low income people living with hiv.
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The Ryan White HIV AIDS program is the nation's safety net program for people with hiv.
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Neda Hassanin is a reporter with a nonprofit news organization, Stateline, which covers national policy issues. She told us how the federal HIV funding program worked.
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E
It's got several components that pay for HIV care and treatment as well as, you know, other support services like education and counseling. But one of the biggest components is that it provides grants to states for their AIDS drug assistance programs, which states use to help pay for what's really life saving HIV treatment and insurance assistance for low income and uninsured people who have HIV.
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A
There are about 1.2 million people in the US living with HIV and about a quarter of them get support from a state drug assistance program. The research group KFF found that since January, at least 18 states have reduced funding for the programs or are making cuts now. Some of those cost cutting measures include restricting eligibility by income or reducing the number of medications covered. Broadly, states say that cuts are necessary because of rising insurance premiums and increased drug costs, as well as flatline federal funding levels.
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Congress has a set amount of funding that it earmarks, but those funds haven't been adjusted for inflation and increased drug costs and have essentially remained flat since at least 2014.
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Florida introduced one of the most dramatic restrictions on income eligibility, but the state reversed course after lawsuits, at least temporarily. More states are considering changes that could go through this month. Hassanin said she spoke to an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical center who was concerned about what decreased access to HIV treatment could mean.
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E
She told me, you know, HIV went from being a very, very serious virus, a deadly virus when it was first discovered in the 80s to something that's become very man, chronic condition because of the advancement in medication. And she said, quote, we're sort of moving backwards by not providing that kind of care that's so much needed.
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A
Since the height of the HIV AIDS epidemic in the mid-80s, annual infections in the US have fallen by more than two thirds. That's thanks to earlier detection and better treatments. And finally, here's a few other stories were following. On Monday, the U.S. supreme Court cleared way for the Justice Department to dismiss a criminal case against longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon. In 2022, Bannon was convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress. The charges stemmed from his refusal to provide documents or testimony to the House panel that was investigating the January 6 Capitol attack. The Supreme Court ruled to throw out a lower court's decision to uphold Bannon's conviction. In the past, Bannon has said the charges against him politically motivated. He has already served his four month sentence at a low security federal facility and was released a week before the 2024 presidential election. He resumed hosting his popular War Room podcast and said he felt, quote, empowered by his prison sentence. And it's been a dramatic day for the Artemis 2 crew. As expected, they broke a new record traveling deeper into space than any human in history during its flyby around the moon. Here's Jeremy Hansen, the Canadian Mission Special onboard the Orion spacecraft.
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We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear. But we most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next, to make sure this record is not long lived.
- [11:24]
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The spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth, 252,756 miles while on the far side of the moon yesterday, they witnessed a solar eclipse, a site they said was truly hard to describe. They also lost contact with Earth for 40 minutes as the moon blocked out connections. That was part of the plan. And here's the moment contact was re established.
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Houston integrity com check
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integrity. We have you loud and clear.
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C
Hummy.
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Houston, we have you the same and
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C
it is so great to hear from Earth again.
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The four astronauts are set to return to Earth on Friday with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the news app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. The Los Angeles Times visits the site of the deadliest avalanche in California state history and retraces the fatal route to taken by a group of hikers and their guides. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News plus narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.