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Today's top stories
In a roughly 20-minute address to the nation last night, President Trump made the case for the war with Iran, which began over a month ago. He said that the war has been a military success and he expects U.S. forces to leave the country in a few weeks. The president was critical of U.S. allies, saying it is their responsibility to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for oil access.
- 🎧 The president spent most of his first address to the nation about this war explaining why Iran was a threat, NPR's Deepa Shivaram tells Up First. Trump said it would be intolerable if Iran had a nuclear weapon, and U.S. involvement was an investment in the future. Shivaram says that so far in this conflict, Trump's message on what the U.S. was doing in Iran, what the plan was and how long it would take has been muddled. The war has been unpopular with Americans, according to polls. Gas prices have risen sharply. The conflict has also been politically difficult for Trump and Republicans heading into the midterm elections in six months, Shivaram says.
- 🎧 In his address, Trump repeated a threat to Iran that he would hit "each and every one of their electric-generating plants very hard" if a deal isn't reached soon. Iran has already made it known that if its power plants are hit, it will target power plants in Israel and across the Gulf. Currently, there isn't a defined Gulf stance on how this war should end, NPR's Aya Batrawy says. Despite continued attacks from Iran, they haven't retaliated. Analysts tell Batrawy that it is partly because the Gulf doesn't know what Trump's next move is and doesn't want to end up facing Iran alone. However, the United Arab Emirates says it is willing to join an international coalition to open the Strait.
The Supreme Court has finished questioning the lawyers in the birthright citizenship case. The 14th amendment says that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Trump's solicitor general, D. John Sauer, argued that the 14th Amendment does not confer automatic citizenship to every baby born in the U.S. — contrary to how the law has been understood for 160 years. Trump attended to watch the arguments. A majority of justices, including several conservatives, appeared skeptical of the administration's position yesterday and seemed inclined to rule in favor of upholding automatic citizenship for babies born on U.S. soil.
- 🎧 NPR's Nina Totenberg says she is unsure whether Trump's presence at the high court was important. From what she observed, the president glowered the whole time and left after his solicitor general finished the main part of his argument. Totenberg says the justices seemed to have organized themselves more than usual and were determined not to let arguments exceed time limits. She adds that she got the impression the justices wanted to treat the president respectfully, but not be his lapdog. Among the justices, Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito appeared to lean toward the Trump administration's position, while the others appeared to lean the other way, according to Totenberg.
More than 10,000 veterans have lost their homes to foreclosure since May 2025, when the Trump administration shut down a key safety net in the Department of Veterans Affairs home loan program, according to the latest industry data. Another 90,000 veterans are at risk of foreclosure. This crisis began during the Biden administration when the VA abruptly ended a pandemic assistance program, forcing struggling homeowners to repay missed mortgage payments all at once. After an NPR investigation exposed the issue, the VA halted foreclosures for a year while it rolled out a fix. Republicans in Congress sought to eliminate and replace that fix due to costs. Mortgage industry experts warned that ending the program without a replacement would lead to disaster, but the Trump administration shut down the rescue program. The VA says it's launching a new program that could help many of those vets, but it still won't be up and running for months. Housing and industry groups say this new program could leave veterans with worse options than other homeowners.
Today's listen
For months, the Trump administration has sent immigration enforcement agents into American cities. Residents in cities experiencing a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity have reported feeling increasingly fearful. In these neighborhoods, community members are helping alleviate that feeling by walking children, whose parents are afraid to leave the home, to school. In Washington, D.C., some groups call these efforts a "walking bus." In an effort to better understand how ICE's efforts are impacting communities, Morning Edition host Leila Fadel went out into the nation's capital to learn more about these walking buses. Most people NPR interviewed were too afraid to speak publicly, fearing it might make their schools targets of the federal government. Listen to how community members, parents and students who use the walking bus are adjusting to the changes in their community under this administration, and read more about the community response.
Behind the story
by Peter O'Dowd, Here & Now's host-correspondent
Here in the Southwest, it's fascinating to watch Sun Belt cities lose their reputations as affordable places to live.
It used to be that you could move to Las Vegas, get a working-class job at a hotel, buy a modest house and raise your family. That's a big reason why this part of the country has been one of the fastest-growing regions in the U.S. for so many years.
But all that is changing. Since the pandemic sent the cost of housing soaring, Las Vegas has become a "blue-collar town with white-collar house prices," according to Nicholas Irwin, research director at the Lied Center for Real Estate at the University of Nevada. Dina Neal, a Democratic state senator who's been pushing unsuccessfully to limit Wall Street investors from buying so many homes in Nevada, had a good laugh when she told me that President Trump's recent support for the policy might finally get it over the line in Carson City.
But you can't see the whole picture from Vegas. In the historic mining town of Tonopah, many locals are thrilled with the economy. After Trump's promise to fast-retrack energy exploration and critical mineral development, local business owners are banking on a boom. Lithium, gold, and geothermal energy are hot commodities in rural Nevada, and new projects are popping up in the desert outside of town.
With the midterms around the corner, you can bet that issues of affordability and energy prices will be hotly debated in this bellwether state. That's why there's no greater joy in journalism than driving through the great expanses of the West. If you're not distracted by the scenery, you'll come across pretty much every issue important to the country's future.
3 things to know before you go
- In the 1990s, Holly Deiaco-Smith felt homesick and struggled to communicate with people while studying abroad in France. Her mom sent her a care package, but when Deiaco-Smith went to pick it up from the post office, there was a language barrier with the attendant. A French woman named Chantal Jouve came to her rescue. The unsung hero's act of kindness led to a decades-long friendship.
- The Food and Drug Administration has approved Foundayo, a new GLP-1 pill to treat obesity, from drugmaker Eli Lilly.
- This week's Far-Flung Postcard takes readers to London, where NPR's Vincent Ni strolled along the National Covid Memorial Wall during a recent trip. Along the mural are more than 250,000 hand-drawn hearts representing the people who died of coronavirus during the pandemic in the U.K.
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
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