The Daily Brief - Apr. 7, 2026
The latest on Trump’s threats against Iran, JD Vance in Hungary, and more
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Trump Threats
With the clock ticking on President Trump’s 8 p.m. EDT deadline for Iran to agree to a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, today Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested a two-week extension to allow enough time for diplomacy to end the war. Writing on X, Sharif also asked Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for the same period as a goodwill gesture and urged all warring parties to observe a ceasefire. Pakistan has been the primary mediator between the US and Iran.
“The President has been made aware of the proposal, and a response will come,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The Pakistani PM’s proposal comes after Trump reiterated his threats against Iran in a Truth Social post early this morning, where he wrote that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
The post triggered calls from across the political spectrum to remove Trump from office using the 25th Amendment. The constitutional measure allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president unable to carry out the duties of the office.
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.), once one of Trump’s most vocal allies in Congress before resigning in January, wrote on X: “25TH AMENDMENT!!! Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness.” Conservative commentator Candace Owens also called for the amendment to be invoked.
Multiple House Democrats, including Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D., N.M.), made the same demand.
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, a Trump ally who has at times criticized the president, called the threats “vile on every level.” Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said he did not support striking civilian infrastructure. “We are not at war with the Iranian people,” he said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) called on Congress to “immediately end this reckless war of choice.” The House is on recess until April 14.
Vice President Vance and Cabinet members have shown no willingness to invoke the amendment.
Iran War
Hours before President Trump’s deadline, the United States struck Iran’s main oil export hub of Kharg Island. A US official did not specify which targets were hit on the island but added that oil infrastructure was spared. The extent of the damage is not yet known. It was the second round of U.S. strikes on Kharg Island since the war began on Feb. 28.
Kharg Island processes about 90% of Iran’s oil exports. Since the war began, Iran has partially blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply passes. Oil prices have roughly doubled since the war began.
Also today, Israeli warplanes hit bridges and railways across the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli strikes hit infrastructure “used by” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Iran fired missiles into central Israel and launched drones toward Saudi Arabia today. Saudi Arabia said it was assessing damage to an energy facility from debris of intercepted missiles. Air defense systems in the United Arab Emirates also fired back at incoming missiles and drones.
JD Vance in Hungary
Vice President JD Vance is in Budapest, Hungary today, where he held a press conference with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. “I want to help as much as I possibly can the prime minister as he faces this election season,” Vance said, where he also accused the European Union of meddling in Hungary’s affairs without providing evidence.
Orbán’s main challenger, Péter Magyar, responded on X: “No foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections. This is our country. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels.”
Vance arrived in Hungary for a two-day trip that includes an Orbán campaign rally at a soccer stadium. President Trump has endorsed Orbán, his closest ally in Europe.
Orbán is seeking a fifth consecutive term as prime minister. Polls show his right-wing Fidesz party trailing Magyar’s center-right Tisza party by roughly 10 points. Magyar, 45, is a lawyer and former Fidesz insider who broke with Orbán in 2024. Prime ministers in Hungary are elected by the National Assembly to four-year terms. There are no term limits.
Rights groups and the European Union have described Orbán’s government as authoritarian, citing his consolidation of control over courts, media, and elections during his 16 years in power.
Newsbreak
The American Revolution turned the world upside down. In The American Revolution: An Intimate History, historian Geoffrey C. Ward tells us the story not from the top down but from the bottom up — and through the eyes of not only our “Founding Fathers” but also those of ordinary soldiers, women, African Americans, Native Americans, and American Loyalists. With guest essays from lauded historians and stunning visuals — prints, drawings, paintings, texts, and pamphlets from the time period, plus newly commissioned art and maps — this book reveals a nation still grappling with the questions that fueled our remarkable founding.
Artemis II Crew Heads Home
The Artemis II crew is on its way back to Earth after completing a historic flyby of the moon yesterday, traveling farther from the planet than any humans in history.
The four astronauts broke the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970 at 1:56 p.m. EDT yesterday. They reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles from Earth, more than 4,100 miles beyond Apollo 13’s mark of 248,655 miles. The Orion spacecraft came within about 4,067 miles of the moon’s surface at closest approach.
As the spacecraft passed behind the moon, mission control lost contact for about 40 minutes — a planned blackout caused by the moon blocking radio signals to NASA’s Deep Space Network.
“It is so great to hear from Earth again,” astronaut Christina Koch radioed when communication resumed, according to NASA.
The flyby ended with a roughly hour-long total solar eclipse visible only to the crew, as the moon passed between the spacecraft and the sun.
Kidnapped US Journalist Freed in Iraq
American journalist Shelly Kittleson was released today by the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah after eight days in captivity, according to the militia and an Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation.
Kittleson, 49, a freelance journalist who lives in Rome, was abducted from a Baghdad street on March 31. A friend who saw her hours before the abduction told the AP she said she had no assignments in Baghdad. Kittleson published her most recent story Monday in the Italian newspaper Il Foglio. It focused on the effect of the Iran war on Iraq’s Kurdish region.
Two officials within the militia told the AP that in exchange for Kittleson’s release — which was negotiated by the outgoing Iraqi prime minister —several detained militia members would be released by Iraqi authorities.
TSA Tips ICE
US immigration authorities have arrested more than 800 people using tips from airline passenger data shared by the TSA, according to internal records reviewed by Reuters.
The data comes from TSA’s Secure Flight program, originally designed for counterterrorism screening. Officials used more than 31,000 traveler records to identify individuals’ travel plans, often allowing ICE agents to track and arrest them away from airports. Reuters said it could not determine how many arrests took place inside airports.
Toddler Sexually Abused in Federal Custody
A 3-year-old girl was sexually abused while in US government custody after being separated from her mother at the border and placed in foster care in Texas, according to a lawsuit and family accounts. The child remained in custody for five months as her father — a legal permanent resident in Chicago — struggled to secure her release. He learned of the abuse only after going to court.
The girl and her mother crossed the border near El Paso on Sept. 16 last year without legal authorization. After the toddler was separated from her mother, she was placed under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the federal agency that cares for nearly all “unaccompanied minors” in shelter or foster settings. Children in ORR’s care are released to parents or sponsors.
The girl reported repeated assaults by an older child in the ORR-funded foster home, and a forensic exam supported her allegations, according to the lawsuit. In one incident, a caregiver noticed that the toddler’s underwear was on backwards. Officials initially described the incident to her father as an “accident,” withholding key details until attorneys intervened.
“She was so long in there,” her father told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity to prevent identifying his daughter. “I just think that if they would have moved faster, nothing like that would have happened.” The girl has since been reunited with her father.
Bible Passages in Texas Public Schools
Texas education officials are considering adding Bible passages to required reading lists for millions of public school students. The proposal is set for debate by the Republican-controlled state Board of Education.
The draft curriculum includes classics like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, but also Bible passages for middle and high school students, including the story of David and Goliath from the Old Testament and a meditation on love from First Corinthians.
Oklahoma has pushed for Bible instruction in classrooms, while Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas have passed laws requiring Ten Commandments displays in schools. All have been challenged in court. Louisiana’s law has been allowed to take effect for now; the Texas and Arkansas laws are awaiting court decisions.
The Preamble examined the broader push to portray the US as a strictly Christian nation in Sharon’s recent piece, “God is Not Listening.”