In today’s newsletter: Trump threatens major strikes on Iran’s infrastructure ahead of his latest Strait of Hormuz deadline. Artemis II astronauts cross a key threshold in their journey around the moon. And Elon Musk’s private security guards were deputized as federal agents without the required training, newly released emails show.
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Trump renews Iran threats over Strait of Hormuz closure 
President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address on February 24, 2026.Kenny Holston / Getty Images
President Donald Trump has threatened major strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure and bridges ahead of his latest deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz.
He used an expletive, referred to Islam and described the country’s leadership as “crazy bastards” in a weekend post on Truth Social, repeating past threats if Iran misses the deadline — a date the president extended once again to Tuesday night.
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In an interview, Trump said that there was a “good chance” that the U.S. and Iran could come to a deal by Tuesday but added that “if they don’t make a deal, I am blowing up everything over there.”
An attack on civilian infrastructure can be considered a war crime under international law.
Rising energy, shipping and fertilizer costs fueled by Tehran’s stranglehold on the strait are already being felt in the U.S. and around the world, with sharper consequences expected to fall on poorer, import-dependent countries.
Follow live updates on our blog.
More on the Iran war:Trump called the rescue of the missing F-15E airman “an Easter miracle” in a text message to NBC News and praised U.S. forces for their “strong, decisive” actions.Shock waves from the war are threatening England’s idyllic farms.Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., expressed skepticism about the Trump administration’s request of $1.5 trillion from Congress to fund the Defense Department.Artemis II astronauts enter the ‘lunar sphere of influence’
The Artemis II Mission flight track.NBC News
It’s official: The Artemis II astronauts have arrived in the moon’s cosmic neighborhood.
The Orion capsule entered the lunar sphere of influence at around 12:41 a.m. ET this morning, crossing into the region of space where the moon’s gravitational pull is stronger than the pull of Earth’s.
The lunar sphere of influence is a mathematical boundary that signifies the Artemis crew is in the moon’s vicinity. It’s the first time that astronauts have entered the threshold since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, marking a major achievement for NASA.
Later today, the crew is set to swing around the moon, reaching an estimated distance of 252,760 miles from Earth — the farthest any humans have ventured from our home planet. They’ll take photos and observe parts of the moon’s surface that haven’t been seen before by human eyes.
U.S. Marshals waived training rules for Musk’s armed DOGE security, emails say
Elon Musk attends the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, on Nov. 19, 2025.Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters file
Members of Elon Musk’s private security team were deputized as federal agents last year even though some of them lacked the required training and law enforcement experience, according to newly released government emails.
In February 2025, as the tech billionaire was overseeing DOGE, the U.S. Marshals Service approved a request that it said came from the White House to deputize Musk’s bodyguards. The decision allowed them to carry weapons in some federal buildings.
At least some members of his detail needed waivers because they had not successfully completed a “basic law enforcement training program” or did not possess at least one year of experience with an agency that had general arrest authority, according to an email.
The deputation was scheduled to last two years, and it’s not clear when — or whether — it was ended.
UCLA wins first NCAA women’s basketball championship 
The UCLA Bruins celebrate after the victory against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the National Championship of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 05, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. Sarah Stier / Getty Images
In a stunning rout, UCLA cruised past South Carolina 79-51 to win its first NCAA women’s basketball national championship.
The Gamecocks were seeking their fourth title under coach Dawn Staley but struggled against the unrelenting Bruins, propelled by Gabriela Jaquez’s 21 points and Lauren Betts’ 14.
Behind UCLA’s success was the program’s unconventional strategy: leaning on its oldest players. No other team in college basketball this season — men’s or women’s — designed its roster to be as veteran-dependent as the Bruins. The 12-player roster featured eight who were either seniors or graduate students.
Read more about the Bruin blueprint, and how it contributed to their success.
And on deck tonight, UConn and Michigan will play for the men’s title after both roundly defeated their opponents in the Final Four.
Read All About It“TODAY” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie returns to the flagship NBC show this morning, more than two months after her mother disappeared. In an Easter video message at a New York church service last night, she said “I still believe” while discussing her family’s struggles. An American woman was swept out to sea after she fell overboard during an evening dinghy trip with her husband off the Bahamas, police said.A hiker was airlifted to safety from an Arizona mountain after he was stung over 100 times by bees over the weekend, officials said.An 18-month-old child sustained minor injuries after crawling under a fence at Zoo America in Pennsylvania and approaching a wolf enclosure.A Texas woman was charged with falsifying her toddler’s medical history to manipulate doctors into performing unnecessary procedures in what officials are calling a “sickening” medical child abuse case.Staff Pick: Gen Z slang is reshaping linguistics in real time — with Black culture’s influence
Whenever I hear someone in professional settings or in the media prop up a new word as Gen Z slang — from “rizz” to “tea” to “unc” — I go through a similar cycle of thoughts. First, I’m confused: I recall hearing the word years prior in other casual majority Black spaces. Then, I’m curious as to what made this seemingly old word new again. Eventually, I’m left frustrated by the word being misused, transformed into something else in real time and the initial meaning of the word and its history being stripped away.
While language is meant to travel, evolve and be shared over time, when African American Language is repackaged into a younger generation’s slang without the cultural significance, it’s more than frustrating. The action, whether intentional or not, reflects a harmful pattern that minimizes Black voices and their experiences. As I looked into the origins of African American Language and talked to linguistic experts about the real impact on its erasure, I learned that there are distinct lines drawn with language between appreciation and appropriation.
— Marquise Francis, NBC News Correspondent
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