Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Mr.
Iran's military warns it will retaliate by blocking other important shipping routes
“if the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues.”
U.S. warships and aircrafts started enforcing the Strait Monday and in efforts to prevent any Iranian oil or cargo from passing the waterway. NPR's Jackie Northam reports. The major general Ali Abdallahi, the commander of Iran's top military command center, threatened to halt all trade in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Red Sea.
A particular concern is the Babel Mandeb, a narrow waterway in the Red Sea, for vessel sailing between Europe and Asia. Iranian aligned Houthi militias in Yemen control much of the coastline near the Babel Mandeb, and severely disrupted shipping during the height of the Gaza war.
Saudi Arabia started diverting crude oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea by pipeline
just after the Iran war began in late February. That route could be in jeopardy if Iran retaliates. Jackie Northam NPR News. The International Monetary Fund is warning that the war in Iran could lead to a global recession.
The IMF says his oil and gas prices continue to rise, it could be a close call. Speaking on Fox News, President Trump acknowledged that risk. There's a hit because we go through it for whatever it is, six weeks.
“There's going to be a hit, but it's going to recover, I think, fully.”
Somehow they misquoted me, I think oil will be down to the levels that was, you know, they said I expect oil to be high at the midterms, I don't expect that. I think that we will be somewhere around where we were, maybe even lower. This is going, when this is over, I think the stock market is going to boom. The President's comments come as peace talks between the U.S. and Iran are expected
to restart this week. Vice President J.D. Vance says the Pope should quote a big careful when he talks about theology. NPR, Sarah Ventry reports this follows the tense back and forth between Pope Leo and President Trump in recent days.
Speaking at a turning point, USA event at the University of Georgia this week, Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, downplayed the tensions between Washington and the Vatican and implied some of the Pope's comments about the Catholic faith are inaccurate. And one of the issues here is that if you're going to a pine on matters of theology, you've got to be careful, you've got to make sure it's anchored in the truth, and that's one of
the things that I try to do, and it's certainly something I would expect from the clergy, whether they're Catholic or Protestant. These comments come after Trump recently posted on social media that Leo is quote, "week on crime and terrible on foreign policy." Trump also posted an AI-generated image of himself depicted as Jesus, which has since been deleted.
Sarah Ventry and Pierre News. This is NPR News in Washington. The tax filing deadline for most Americans is today and the Trump administration is highlighting changes under public and tax and spending law. The measure eliminates taxes on tips and over time adds deductions for some seniors and
includes breaks on certain car loan interest.
Officials say, more than 53 million filers have already claimed those benefits, still
recent polling shows about seven in 10 Americans believe their taxes are too high. A Paris man is now the proud owner of a $1 million Pablo Picasso painting. Rebecca Rossman reports he wanted at a charity raffle supporting Alzheimer's research. All it took was a $117 raffle ticket and a bit of luck for Paris resident Ari Hodara to win Picasso's head of a woman.
A 1941 portrait of Picasso's longtime news and partner Dora Mar. Hodara had bought one of 120,000 tickets sold worldwide for the third iteration of the one Picasso for 100 euros lottery, organized by the Alzheimer research foundation in Paris. Two previous winners of the global lottery have come from Pennsylvania and Italy. Hodara, who is a sales engineer, said he thought it might be a hoax when Christy's auction
house called with the news he'd won. He says he will keep the painting. For MPR News, I'm Rebecca Rossman. 711 says it's planning to close more than 600 stores across the United States. Executive site declining sales inflation and fewer late-night purchases.
The convenience store chain says it plans to expand delivery and digital services. This is MPR. There's so much TV out there that we can't get to it all. Good stuff falls through the cracks.
“That's why we're recommending some great TV we missed.”
Find out what's good to watch on NPR's pop culture happy hour. Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
