00:00Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet with Pope Leo tomorrow at the Vatican,
00:04which is bound to be interesting considering the Pope and the Trump administration
00:08haven't exactly had a love-thy-neighbor approach as of late.
00:11Before leaving for the Holy See, the jack-of-all-trades of the Trump administration
00:15stepped into the press secretary's role, covering for Caroline Levitt, who's on maternity leave.
00:19He was asked about his upcoming meeting, given the harsh words his boss, President Trump,
00:23has had for the leader of the Catholic Church. Rubio suggested that was not the purpose of this trip.
00:29The Pope is obviously the vicar of Christ, he's a Roman Catholic, you know,
00:32but he's also the head of a nation-state.
00:36And it's an organization that has a presence in over 100-something countries around the world.
00:41And we engage with the Vatican quite a bit because they're present in many different places.
00:44We have a lot to talk about with them, and I engage with them quite a bit on that front.
00:49So the trip is really not tied to anything other than the fact that it would be normal for us
00:54to engage with them,
00:54and other secretary states have done that in the past.
00:56Rubio has also asked a lot about Iran, as you can imagine.
01:00The secretary of state confirmed negotiations are ongoing,
01:03noting that the fate of existing nuclear material is a significant part of the talks.
01:08And just a few hours later, President Trump announced that because of progress in those talks,
01:12he was suspending Project Freedom, the operation to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
01:16The president posted that since the two sides are inching closer to a final deal,
01:20quote, we have mutually agreed that while the blockade will remain in full force and effect,
01:25Project Freedom will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the agreement can be
01:29finalized and signed.
01:30But the fact remains, for now, that the Strait of Hormuz is closed to the world by Iranian threats
01:35and shut to Iran by the U.S. blockade.
01:37And the past couple of days have seen some hostilities.
01:40The United Arab Emirates reported strikes on ships and drones and missiles in its skies from Iran on Monday and
01:45Tuesday.
01:46Apparently, not enough to call off the ceasefire, but still something.
01:49So both the U.S. and the Islamic Republic are looking for any edge that they can get as it
01:54relates to this conflict.
01:56But one tactic Iran is not using, dolphins.
01:59I'll let The Post's Washington reporter, Caitlin Dornboss, explain.
02:03Secretary of War Pete Hegseth set the record straight yesterday,
02:06saying that, no, Iran does not have armed dolphins swimming through the Strait of Hormuz attacking ships with mines strapped
02:17to their backs.
02:18That was a possibility floated last week by an article in the Wall Street Journal
02:24as a possibility that Iran could do and use as a way to attack vessels as the strait continues to
02:33be closed.
02:33The U.S. is trying to reopen that strait as we speak.
02:37And luckily, they haven't run into any armed dolphins.
02:41Now, he interestingly did not rule out the fact or idea that the U.S. might have armed dolphins.
02:49But largely, the room kind of could tell that he may have been joking there.
02:55The World Health Organization does not have good news when it comes to that Hantavirus outbreak,
03:00the one on a cruise ship that's still bobbing around the Atlantic Ocean.
03:04The WHO believes the outbreak was caused by a rare strain that can be passed between humans.
03:09Now, the majority of Hantavirus strains are transmitted via rodent droppings and can't be passed person to person.
03:15But that does not seem to be the case here.
03:17So why is that?
03:18No rodents were found on board, and as of Tuesday, three passengers died and seven more fell ill.
03:25Even more alarming, if it does in fact turn out to be this human-to-human strain, it carries with
03:30it a 40% mortality rate.
03:32This rare strain is referred to as the Andes virus and is only found in the mountains of Chile and
03:38Argentina.
03:38The cruise started its weeks-long voyage in Argentina on March 20th,
03:42but I should note, not specifically in an area where the strain is usually found, but still.
03:48Officials believe the original carrier of the virus could have been infected before boarding the cruise.
03:53Medical teams wearing full personal protective gear have reportedly boarded the ship to help with the suspected cases in two
03:59crew members,
04:00one British and one Dutch, and then test other passengers and crew who are showing symptoms of Hantavirus.
04:05The ship remained anchored off the African island nation of Cape Verde on Tuesday.
04:10The WHO said Spain granted the boat permission to dock in the Canary Islands,
04:14but Spain's health ministry reportedly refuted the idea,
04:18saying that they're still waiting for data to be gathered from the boat
04:20before making the final decision as to whether or not to let the ship dock.
04:24For more on these stories and everything else you could possibly want to know,
04:28check out the New York Post in print or online.
04:31And don't forget, like and subscribe to the New York Postcast wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
04:35I promise, you'll be glad you did.
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