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The U.S.-Senioran traded fire Monday as the U.S. plan to reopen the state of Hormuz began. >> Iran had lost multiple cruise missiles, drones, the fallboats, and ships we were protecting. >> Does this mean the ceasefire is over?
>> I'm Leila Faldin, that same Martinez, and this is up first from NPR News. [MUSIC] In Indiana, President Trump is working hard to primary Republican state senators who defied him on redistricting.
We've never had Washington, metal into our elections like they have this time.
>> How much pool does the president still have inside his own party? >> And the Supreme Court is allowing the abortion pill Miffa Pristone to be sent by mail for one more week while Leila Challenge from Louisiana moves forward when it happens after that.
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>> I'm Jesse Thorne, this week on Bulls Eye Saturday Night Lives, Keenan Thompson. Ask him whatever you want, just ask him to hang out late at the after party. >> There is like, oh, don't you want to like come to this next kind of thing, and then, oh, that's right, you got, yeah, you can't. All right, well, we'll see you later, man.
>> We'll get Keenan and you, home in time for bed. That's on the next Bulls Eye for maximum fund.org and NPR. >> Some commercial ships have left the straight of our moves under a major US operation to reopen the waterway. >> Yeah, the US and Iran traded fire on Monday, threatening a month old ceasefire.
The shooting erupted when the US launched the operation to reopen the straight.
Here's Admiral Brad Cooper, the US commander, describing the first day.
Iran had launched multiple cruise missiles, drones as well, both as ships we were protecting. We have defeated each and every one of those threats. >> For more, we're joined by NPR National Security correspondent Greg Myri Gregg. I mean, the focus for the past month has been these halting peace efforts, so are we now all heading back to more fighting?
>> Well, at this point, we can say we did see a major change in direction yesterday. Over the past month, the US and Iranian naval blockades have kept the region very tense, lots of back and forth about negotiations, but relatively quiet. Now we see the US was using this time to prepare for this operation. And there was a lot of confusion initially yesterday, reports of shooting in and around
the straight of our moves of the US and commercial ships on the move. It was hard to make sense of it.
We finally got some clarity when Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of central command
in the Middle East, held a hastily arranged conference call with US journalists in Washington.
“>> So how did Admiral Cooper explain the operation?”
>> So he said multiple US Navy destroyers passed through the straight going into the Gulf itself and assisted these two US flagged commercial ships coming out of the Gulf and going through the straight in the other direction. Now these commercial ships and the new US Navy ships all came under attack from Iran. Cooper said the US forces shot down the incoming drones and missiles and that US helicopters
sank six Iranian small boats. Iran also fired across the straight and hit the United Arab Emirates, it fired missiles and drones that set off a major fire at the country's largest oil storage facility. This was the first time the Emirates had come under attack since the ceasefire. >> Any sense of how big this US effort will be and what the ultimate goal is?
>> Yeah, Cooper said the military has set up what he called a defensive umbrella across the straight of her moves. Now we've heard a lot of talk about a possible US Navy escort of oil tankers and this is something the US did way back in the 1980s. But the way Cooper described it, this is not just one Navy ship escorting one oil tanker
at a time, this approach is more comprehensive.
“>> I think we have a much better defensive arrangement in this process where we have multiple”
layers that include ships, helicopters, aircraft, airborne early warning, electronic warfare. We have a much broader defensive package than we would have ever if you were just escorting. >> So this worked yesterday with two commercial ships, it will have to be on a much larger scale and support a steady stream of traffic to be a real success. >> Okay, I realize we're in the first stage still, but what are the chances of it being
a success? >> Admiral Cooper says the US has reached out to dozens of ships and shipping companies and this plan has received an enthusiastic response. But our NPR colleague Jackie Northam spoke with shipping companies and a union representing workers on these vessels.
They say they still got a lot of questions that this doesn't sound like a guarantee of safety
That they weren't prepared to change their risk assessment at this point.
So we should really be watching for three things.
Number one, will large numbers of ships try to go through the straight, number two, will
“Iran keep firing on these ships and third, can the US keep these ships safe?”
Today is primary day in Ohio and Indiana and we're closely watching half a dozen state Senate primaries in Indiana. >> Yeah, you heard that right, state Senate. But there are national implications for these local races. President Trump said the incumbents should be primary.
The results will test Trump's power of political retribution. >> NPR senior political correspondent, Tamara Keith, was in Indiana last week, joined us now at Tamara. Indiana's a big red state, so why is a president in the United States involved in the state Senate primaries?
>> Yeah, the GOP controlled state Senate in Indiana rejected President Trump's efforts to get
them to redraw the state's congressional district lines and Trump responded by saying the Republicans who voted no should be ashamed of themselves and should be primary. And then his political team got to work without side groups recruiting challengers spending millions of dollars to boost their campaigns. He even met with the challengers at the White House.
>> All right, so put that into perspective for us. >> Yeah, these are state Senate primaries, usually relatively sleepy affairs focused on local issues. But according to data from ad impact, there's been nearly $7 million spent just on TV ads. You can add millions more for mailers and other campaign efforts.
I went out door knocking with state senator Jim Bach, and he told me this is unprecedented. >> I mean, you go back as far as you go.
We've never had Washington, Medellin, or elections like they had this time.
>> He told me that in past cycles, if he spent $150,000 on his race, that would be a lot of money. This time he's had more than a million dumped on him with ads calling him a Republican in name only, or right now. He's not a never-trumper.
He campaigned for Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024. >> So what are these races about, are they about redistricting, from something else? >> Well, I asked state senator Spencer Dury that, and he said the fight over the congressional maps isn't what voters talk to him about. >> It is affordability, affordability, affordability, I think, one through three, and most people
“kind of remember that we did something with redistricting, but they don't really know the”
ins and outs. It's kind of in the weeds. And most of the ads aren't even talking about redistricting. Still, this is a test for President Trump. He is putting a lot of energy into trying to take out incumbent Republicans who have crossed
him. He's also very involved in the upcoming primaries for Senator Bill Cassidy and Louisiana, who voted for impeachment after January 6th, and Congressman Thomas Massey in Kentucky, who has been a general pain in Trump's side. >> The thing is, though, President Trump has record low approval ratings right now, and
Republicans are defending narrow majority in Congress. Why focus on primaries and red states? >> Marty Opes, the longtime Republican consultant in Indiana, involved in this effort to house the incumbents, told me that the president is the leader of the party, and Republicans need to fall in line, or there will be consequences, and he feels good about their chance
of success today.
“>> I think it goes to show the strength of his political operation, and also in the fact that”
he still hasn't strong amount of support, particularly a conservative red states around the country. >> Trump, political advisor, not authorized to speak on the record, said these incumbents are headed to their, quote, "political slaughter," and there's plenty of campaign cash to send a message in Indiana, and continue to defend Republican majorities in Congress.
>> All right, that's MPR's Tamarchy. Tam thinks. >> You're welcome. >> The abortion pill, Miffa Pristone, can be prescribed online and sent through the mail until at least early next week.
>> Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued an order Monday temporarily pausing an appeals court decision. Louisiana brought the case against the food and drug administration, arguing that access to medication abortion should be restricted. >> Here to discuss this is Julie Robner, a longtime health policy journalist, so Julie
V, ruling that's on hold is from the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans. It said Miffa Pristone could not be mailed anywhere in the country. What happened once that decision came down? >> Well, I think it's safe to say there was mass confusion, medication abortion today accounts
For more than 60 percent of all abortions in the U.
Miffa Pristone is also used to treat miscarriage.
It's not just an abortion drug, and this order attempted to roll back its availability dramatically. The doctors, patients, and drug makers all had no idea what it meant on the ground. And I should have that this came as kind of a surprise, not just because the ruling came down on a Friday after five PM in the east, but because the Trump administration itself had asked the lower court to put the case on hold until the FDA finishes an ongoing review
of Miffa Pristone's safety, presumably that won't happen until much later this year.
“>> So that brings us then to Justice Alito's order, what did that do?”
>> Well, Justice Alito has only stayed the ruling for a week until next Monday, parties in the case have just a couple of days to deliver their argument to the Justice's. And next week, the court could continue to keep the status quo where telehealth abortion is available, or it could allow the appeals court ruling to take effect, or could do something else entirely, will have to wait and see.
>> Now, if memory serves, I know that Miffa Pristone access has been before the high court before. That's right, there was a case out of Texas in 2023, that case asked not just for availability to be rolled back to what it was prior to 2021, that's when patients physically had to get the pill headed to them by a doctor.
But it asks the court to cancel the pills FDA approval altogether, that original approval by the way goes back more than a quarter of a century to when Bill Clinton was president. In that case, though, the court didn't get to the question of whether or not Miffa Pristone should remain available because the doctor's group that brought the suit didn't have standing to sue.
So the Justice's effectively punted, that's less likely what this case out of Louisiana.
“>> Now, does this affect the political landscape ahead of the midterms?”
>> Oh, yeah, this is something that did Trump administration almost certainly does not welcome anti-abortion groups. I have been increasingly vocal about their frustration that the president hasn't done more to limit if not outlaw the abortion pill.
And the telehealth option has basically allowed women to get around most state bands in the
20 states that now have them. President Trump has said several times he doesn't want to impose more restrictions on abortion because while anti-abortion groups may have a big megaphone and a lot of money, most voters
“support abortion rights even in many of those red states.”
So instead of being able to finesse the issue between now and November, it certainly looks like abortion is going to be front and center in this year's elections, too. Julie Robbner is chief Washington correspondent with MPR's partner KFF Health News, Julie thanks. >> Thank you.
>> And that's a first for Tuesday May 5th, I mean, Martinez.
>> And I'm Leila Falded. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Meghan Pratt, Diane Weber, Hamlete Bratzisi, and Jan Johnson. It was produced by Ziyad Bunch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Katie Klein, we get engineering support from Nisha Hynes, our technical
director is Carly Strange and our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. Join us again tomorrow.
