In today’s newsletter: Trump’s decision to strike Iran followed prolonged negotiations that left him convinced a diplomatic off-ramp wasn’t within reach. A competitive Texas Senate race looms over Tuesday’s primaries. And how popular weight loss drugs could affect bone health.
Here’s what to know today.
How Trump decided to strike Iran
A last chance to avert war with Iran played out Thursday in Geneva. Trump administration officials told Iranian counterparts they must not take certain steps needed to build a nuclear bomb.
Iran balked, a senior U.S. official said. By Saturday morning, “Operation Epic Fury” was underway.
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The U.S. deployed an arsenal of weapons — B-2 stealth bombers, fighter jets, rockets — to target Iran’s navy, missile sites, command and control headquarters and air defense systems.
The timing was no accident. Both the U.S. and Israeli spy agencies had been tracking Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s whereabouts. The intelligence showed that he would be meeting with senior deputies that morning, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Rather than launch the operation at night, leaders moved the assault to daylight in hope of killing him and his cohorts, the people said.
President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran and kill off its leadership followed prolonged negotiations that left him frustrated and convinced that a diplomatic off-ramp wasn’t within his reach.
In an interview with NBC News, the president boiled down the call to one “very simple” thing: “They weren’t willing to say they will not have a nuclear weapon.”
Read more about the operation, as told by senior U.S. officials, others close to the White House and Trump himself.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said this morning that “apparent friendly fire” brought down three U.S. fighter jets over Kuwait during Operation Epic Fury, confirming an earlier report from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense. CENTCOM said that three F-15D Strike Eagle planes were mistakenly shot down by Kuwait’s air defense systems. And in a sign of conflict spreading across the Middle East, Israel announced this morning that it has launched an offensive against Hezbollah, the militant Iranian proxy group in Lebanon. Follow live updates on our blog.
More on the Iran strikes:
- Khamenei’s death was met with public mourning and quiet celebrations as the regime’s opponents wait for an opening.
- Congressional Republicans are mostly backing the operation, while Democrats are urging the administration to seek congressional approval and questioning its strategy.
- Hours after the U.S. military announced that three U.S. service members were killed during strikes against Iran, Trump told NBC News, “We expect casualties with something like this.”
A competitive Texas Senate race looms over tomorrow's primaries
Democrats are searching for their first statewide victory in Texas in more than 30 years. State Rep. James Talarico and Rep. Jasmine Crockett have different visions for how to get there.
Talarico has stressed cross-partisan appeal, while Crockett says she can turn out disillusioned voters who are likelier to back Democrats. The debate over which candidate is most electable looms ahead of tomorrow’s Senate primary, when voters will decide who will be their party’s nominee in November.
“I think that we have to be careful to not conflate electability with race, gender or fundraising, right? It’s the actual person who can really get out there,” said Jamarr Brown, a former executive director of the Texas Democratic Party.
The potential for a competitive November is also dividing the Republican candidates. Longtime Sen. John Cornyn has argued that nominating controversial state Attorney General Ken Paxton would lead to a “massacre” for the GOP up and down the ballot in Texas.
GLP-1s may increase risk of osteoporosis and gout, new research finds
GLP-1 drugs — including Ozempic and Wegovy — may be tied to a slightly higher risk of osteoporosis and gout, according to research presented today at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Dr. John Horneff, an associate professor of orthopedic surgery and the lead author of the study, said he began looking into the issue after some patients appeared to develop serious tendon tears after relatively minor injuries. That led them to examine whether GLP-1s might affect bone and other connective tissue more broadly.
“People are taking these medications, and obviously there’s a tremendous amount of upside,” Horneff said. “But with that, they start to decrease their intake of food and nutrients.”
Because the new research was observational, it can’t prove the medications caused either condition. But it is a reminder that obesity treatment also requires diet and exercise guidance, and bone health monitoring.
Read more about the research here.
Read All About It
- The man suspected of killing two people and injuring 14 others when he opened fire on a Texas bar had a history of mental illness and was wearing a “Property of Allah” sweatshirt, sources said. Authorities are investigating potential ties to terrorism and have not yet identified a motive.
- The Supreme Court today hears a gun rights case concerning a federal law that bars frequent users of illegal drugs from possessing firearms.
- Catherine O’Hara was posthumously honored at the Actor Awards, winning best female actor in a comedy series for her role on “The Studio.”
- A professor’s mic went off mute. What she said about Black children reverberated across New York.
Staff Pick: Measles outbreaks are costing the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars
I’ve criss-crossed the country over the past year covering measles outbreaks, watching exhausted doctors, nurses and public health workers work to stop the spread of the virus. Because measles is the most contagious virus on the planet, each infected person triggers a massive amount of work: locating every person who was exposed, determining their health risk, and then convincing them either to get vaccinated or stay in quarantine for three weeks.
I discovered that this enormous public health response, in addition to the costs associated with caring for sick, sometimes hospitalized children, comes with a hefty price tag. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to control measles outbreaks that are preventable by a free vaccine.
— Erika Edwards, health reporter
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
Sometimes in life, we’re left with more questions than answers. Like, is there a difference between hair loss and hair shedding? And, does using an under-desk elliptical count as a workout? Thankfully, our editors found the answers to these questions and many more.
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