Tuesday morning news: April 7, 2026

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Iran: Trump ultimatum » Iran has until tonight to open the Strait of Hormuz… or face massive U.S. strikes on its infrastructure. That’s the threat from President Trump, reiterating that threat once again at the White House on Monday.

TRUMP: 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.

The Iranian regime has used terrorist strikes and the threat of them to largely close the Hormuz Strait to shipping since the start of the war. That is a critical chokepoint for oil tankers. 

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy though, warned that even partial strikes on those kinds of targets could kill thousands of innocent people, calling it "a war crime."

Trump has issued similar ultimatums before, pulling back each time after citing diplomatic progress.

Ceasefire talks involving Pakistan and Oman are still ongoing.

Iran: Rescue » Also at the White House on Monday, the president and other top officials touted that daring weekend rescue of two American aviators from a downed F-15 fighter jet in Iran.

TRUMP: A rescue that's very historic. It'll go down in the books.

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine said the rescue sends a message to every American in uniform:

CAINE: That you will not be left behind. We will always come find you, and we will always bring you home.

The pilot was recovered quickly, but the weapons systems officer spent nearly 48 hours evading Iranian forces. Earlier information suggested that he may have sustained serious injuries, but officials now say he escaped with only a sprained ankle.

More on that rescue later in the program.

Israel latest » In Israel:

SOUND: [Sirens in Netanya]

Residents of the coastal resort city of Netanya rushed to shelters Monday as air raid sirens warned of incoming Iranian missiles. No injuries were reported there, but that was not the case though in the northern Israeli city of Haifa:

SOUND: [Haifa body recovery]

Crews there recovered the bodies of an elderly couple and two others who died when authorities say an Iranian missile hit a residential building overnight.

One resident of Haifa told reporters:

SIMHON: We try to keep living normally, to do the things we are used to do and to try to lift the spirit, and we're not, we're not leaving Haifa. We want to stay here, we stay here. It's safer than driving outside of the city...

Meanwhile…

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the Israeli military destroyed Iran's largest petrochemical plant. And he says Israel continues to destroy Iran's factories and kill its senior leaders.

Brief Artemis update teaser » The Artemis II mission crew is on its way home after circling around the moon and traveling deeper into space than anyone has ever traveled.

JEREMY HANSEN: Well, we most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived. 

The crew on Monday snapped pictures of the far side of the lunar surface in the first deep space mission in more than 50 years.

We will also have more on that story later a little bit later.

Death toll from extreme weather in Afghanistan » Flooding and landslides have killed at least 110 people across Afghanistan, with seven people still missing and more dangerous weather on the way. 

WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Afghanistan’s Disaster Management Authority says storms have been battering most of the country for nearly two weeks, destroying more than 200 miles of roads and damaging or leveling thousands of homes.

The military airlifted two people to safety in the western province of Herat after they were trapped by floodwaters.

Two major highways remain closed by landslides and floods, including the main road linking Kabul to the Pakistani border. Authorities have issued more weather warnings for today, urging people to stay away from rivers and flood-prone areas.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Steve Bannon » Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon has won a big Supreme Court order that is expected to lead to the dismissal of his criminal conviction for refusing to testify to Congress. 

The justices on Monday threw out an appellate ruling upholding Bannon’s conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Capitol riot. The move frees a judge to act on the Republican administration’s pending request to dismiss Bannon’s conviction and indictment.

The dismissal would be largely symbolic. Bannon already served a four-month prison term after a jury convicted him of contempt of Congress in 2022.

I'm Kent Covington.

And still ahead: a closer look at that daring rescue mission in Iran. And later, more on that new deep space record set by the Artemis II mission crew while rounding the moon.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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