00:00The fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran continues with peace talk set for Saturday.
00:06This morning, what President Trump said about Iran's hold on the key oil passageway, the Strait of Hormuz.
00:13Plus, a soldier who survived a deadly Iranian drone attack in Kuwait at the start of the war
00:18claims the U.S. military was unprepared for the force of the blast.
00:22And First Lady Melania Trump speaks out about Jeffrey Epstein,
00:26what she calls lies, and why she decided to make a public statement.
00:33The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:39These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:45Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
00:46This morning, Iran is denying it has violated the two-week ceasefire with the United States and Israel,
00:53as President Trump accuses Tehran of not following through on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
00:59Trump taking to social media Thursday night to say Iran is, quote,
01:03doing a very poor job of allowing oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz, saying that was not the
01:09deal.
01:09Only a small number of ships have passed through the waterway since the ceasefire began earlier this week.
01:15As a result, oil prices have climbed again.
01:17Iran's paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is claiming innocence,
01:23saying in a statement this morning that Iran has, quote,
01:26absolutely not carried out any launches toward any country during the ceasefire.
01:31However, some Middle Eastern countries have reported Iranian attacks since the ceasefire began.
01:36Kuwait saying this morning that it was targeted by drones from Iran.
01:40And Saudi Arabia's state-run news agency is reporting that officials say its east-west pipeline,
01:46which carries oil out to the Red Sea, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, was damaged in recent attacks.
01:52Meanwhile, tensions remain high as Israel continues to carry out attacks on Lebanon
01:58after its massive assault there on Wednesday, which left more than 100 people dead.
02:03The Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah says it targeted Israeli soldiers in Lebanon
02:08and an Israeli border town overnight.
02:10The back-and-forth attacks threaten to derail the ceasefire.
02:14The U.S. and Israel insist Lebanon was not part of the deal,
02:18while Iran and other world powers, including France and the U.K., say it is.
02:23Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now says he wants direct talks with Lebanon on disarming Hezbollah.
02:30It comes as negotiations between Iran and the United States are set to take place this weekend in Pakistan.
02:36Vice President J.D. Vance will lead the U.S. delegation.
02:41Some survivors of the deadliest Iranian attack on U.S. forces so far during the war
02:46say the Pentagon is not telling the full story of what happened.
02:50On March 1st, an Iranian drone attack on a U.S. outpost in Kuwait
02:54killed six U.S. Army members and injured more than 20 others.
02:58Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the drone used in the attack as a squirter,
03:03meaning that it squirted through the unit's defenses.
03:06But members of the unit assigned to that outpost told CBS News that's not quite accurate,
03:12one saying painting a picture that one squeaked through is a falsehood,
03:16adding that the unit was unprepared to provide any defense for itself and not in a fortified position.
03:23They say in the hours before, they had received a warning that an attack was possible,
03:27but they had been given the all-clear about 30 minutes before chaos erupted.
03:32CBS protected this soldier's identity.
03:35Everything shook, and it's something like what you see in the movies.
03:39You know, everything, your ears are ringing.
03:42Everything's fuzzy.
03:43You know, your vision is blurry.
03:45You're dizzy.
03:46You know, there's dust and smoke everywhere.
03:48He also said the injured soldiers had to take care of themselves and each other in the wake of the
03:54blast,
03:55which was a devastating direct hit.
03:57Our medical capabilities there at Shweba were very limited.
04:01We had to evacuate ourselves and get ourselves to the hospital.
04:06CBS reports a Pentagon spokesperson would not comment on the soldiers' claims,
04:11citing an active investigation into the attack.
04:13Now to a different topic.
04:16In a rare and seemingly out-of-the-blue public statement,
04:20First Lady Melania Trump is denying any ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
04:26In remarks at the White House on Thursday,
04:28Melania Trump said fake images and statements about her and Epstein
04:32have been circulating on social media
04:34and that she and her lawyers are fighting back against, quote,
04:37unfounded and baseless lies.
04:39The First Lady also looked to quash rumors that it was Epstein
04:42who introduced her to Donald Trump.
04:45The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today.
04:52I am not Epstein's victim.
04:56Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump.
05:01I met my husband by chance at the New York City party in 1998.
05:07The First Lady also called on Congress to hold a public hearing with Epstein's survivors.
05:12In a statement, senior advisor to the First Lady, Mark Beckman, said
05:16the First Lady decided to speak out now because, quote,
05:19enough is enough and the lies must stop.
05:22An MSNOW reporter who says she spoke on the phone with President Trump
05:26says Trump told her he did not know the First Lady was going to make a statement about Epstein.
05:32The United States Postal Service says it is in a severe financial crisis
05:37and is taking a major step to conserve cash.
05:40Starting today, the Postal Service is temporarily suspending its employer contributions
05:45to the federal retirement system, a move it says will free up about $2.5 billion this fiscal year.
05:52The move comes as Postmaster General David Steiner warns the USPS could run out of money
05:58within 12 months without major changes, including cutting delivery from six days a week to five or fewer.
06:04The Postal Service also wants to raise the price of a forever stamp from $0.78 to $0.82.
06:11And starting April 26th, some postage prices will face a temporary 8% surcharge
06:18tied to transportation costs from the Iran war.
06:22The former Columbia University grad student at the center of a high-profile deportation case
06:28for his pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel actions at the university more than a year ago
06:34is now one step closer to being removed from the country.
06:37The Federal Immigration Appeals Board has rejected the appeal of Mahmoud Khalil.
06:42According to Khalil's lawyers, the board issued a final order of removal on Thursday.
06:47Khalil was born in Syria, has citizenship in Algeria, but is a legal permanent resident of the US.
06:53Federal authorities arrested him last March, alleging that he led anti-Israel protests at Columbia
06:59and the demonstrations were aligned with Hamas.
07:02Khalil claims he was only a spokesman for the Palestinian cause.
07:06He spent more than 100 days in immigration detention facilities.
07:10Khalil released a statement after Thursday's ruling saying,
07:13The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine,
07:17and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it.
07:22The Board of Immigration Appeals is run by the Justice Department.
07:26A federal appeals court in New Jersey ruled earlier this year
07:29that Khalil's case must go through the immigration court system
07:33before he can challenge its rulings in federal court.
07:36Finally this morning, it's another big day for NASA's Artemis II mission around the moon.
07:41The space capsule is coming home, and its return will culminate with a splashdown
07:46in the Pacific Ocean as the country watches and holds its collective breath.
07:51The Orion will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere,
07:54and in perhaps the most tense part,
07:56mission control will lose contact with the crew for about six minutes.
08:01Orion will be falling at roughly 24,000 miles per hour.
08:05Experts say the heat from the speed, plus the atmosphere and the friction,
08:09will hit, get this, 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit,
08:13turning the Orion into a flying fireball.
08:16It has a big heat shield to protect it.
08:18Fingers are crossed at NASA and beyond that all goes well.
08:22Here's the lead flight director.
08:24It's 13 minutes of things that have to go right.
08:26Our guidance is working very well right now.
08:29All of our trajectory calculations are showing that the vehicle is on,
08:32you know, almost the best path it could be,
08:34and that our correction burns are very small this evening and then tomorrow.
08:39But we have to, let's not beat around the bush.
08:42We have to hit that angle correctly.
08:43Otherwise, we're not going to have a successful re-entry.
08:47The splashdown will take place off the coast of San Diego,
08:50with the final phase lasting about 13 minutes,
08:53and the space module coming down from 400,000 feet.
08:57NASA will begin coverage at 6.30 Eastern,
08:59with the actual landing in the water expected just after 8 p.m.
09:03The 10-day mission has been highlighted by a spectacular lunar flyby,
09:08beautiful pictures of the moon and the Earth,
09:10including an image known as Earthset.
09:12It has been great, and to NASA we say,
09:15well, it's an understatement, right?
09:17Good luck tonight, and we hope by the end of the night,
09:20they're all saying, mission accomplished.
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09:32Those are your unbiased updates for this Friday.
09:34We'll see you back here on Monday.
09:36For all of us at Straight Arrow News,
09:37I'm Craig DeGrelli.
09:38Have a great day and a wonderful weekend.
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