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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Trump Claims U.S. "Nearing Completion" Of Iran War Aims Within Weeks; Trump Claims Gas Prices Will Come Down After War; President Trump Attends Supreme Court Arguments On Birthright Citizenship; Four Astronauts Begin 10-Day Mission Around The Moon; Iran President Releases Letter Addresses To American Public; Iran's President Releases Letter Addressed to American Public; U.K. to Host Virtual Summit on Reopening Strait of Hormuz; Trump "Absolutely" Considering Withdrawing from NATO; U.S. Embassy in Baghdad: Iran-Linked Attacks May be Imminent; Interview with Sarah Strong of UConn Women's Basketball Team; U.S. FDA approves Second GLP-1 Pill for Weight Loss; SpaceX Filed Plans for Massive IPO. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 02, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Experts say gusty winds at Crete's airport stirred up the dust, caused extremely low visibility. This looks like something out of Mars led to very unhealthy air quality. The eerie looking skies were created after the dust filtered out all the colors of sunlight except for the reds and oranges. Wow.
Thanks for watching this hour of The Story Is. The next hour starts right now.
The story is president in prime time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: And the gas prices will rapidly come back down. Stock prices will rapidly go back up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Now President Trump's speech on Iran is impacting your money. Political analyst Ron Brownstein with us live.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Artemis II now bound for the moon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: The story is liftoff. The mission of the moon is happening now. CNN talks with Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM SHATNER, ACTOR: with liftoff was achieved. What a shaking of the fist for the victory and what a plug for. American technology and American space program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: And the story is Player the Year, speak with Sarah Strong, the top women's basketball player in the country. Tomorrow's Final Four.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Alex Michelson.
MICHAELSON: Thanks for watching The Story Is. I'm Elex Michelson live in Los Angeles, where it's now 10pm and the top story is President Trump trying to reassure skeptical Americans that the war with Iran is a success. He says it should be over soon.
He repeated a number of familiar talking points in his primetime address to the nation, including the claim that gas prices will come down quickly once the war is over. And he delivered a serious threat to Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly. We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: The President honored the 13 American service members killed in Operation Epic Fury, and he laid out what he sees as the main U.S. accomplishments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: As I stated in my announcement of Operation Epic Fury, our objectives are very simple and clear. We are systematically dismantling the regime's ability to threaten America or project power outside of their borders. That means eliminating Iran's navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, hurting their air force and their missile program at levels never seen before and annihilating their defense industrial base.
We've done all of it. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their missiles are just about used up or beaten. Taken together, these actions will cripple Iran military, crush their ability to support terrorist proxies and deny them the ability to build a nuclear bomb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: White House officials say they are pleased with the president's address, selling the justification for the war and its military success. CNN's Alayna Treene has more from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: In an address to the nation Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump laid out the justification for the United States war with Iran. And really the speech served as a sale to the American people, in part trying to emphasize the successes of the U.S. military operations in Iran thus far, but also to convince them that this is not going to be a protracted military engagement, saying that the war was nearing its completion.
And really, we did not learn anything new, really, from his speech on Wednesday, particularly for those who have been paying close attention to the president's posts on Truth Social or listening to his comments in recent days. But the goal of this really was to make sure that Americans were listening, and that's part of why they did this in the form of a national address.
Now, some things that stood out to me was one, he did not even breach the subject of something we know his team is closely considering privately, this idea of sending ground troops to Iran. He also talked about the Strait of Hormuz, of course, a huge issue and a primary concern for many people here in the White House.
He essentially said what he's been saying, that he believes that the onus is really on many of the United States allies and European countries, NATO allies, to be the ones to try and reopen it. He framed it as them relying and being more dependent on oil that flows through the Strait of Hormuz more than the United States, and said really, it is up to them to try and go and take it. He also said at one point that he believes that it will reopen naturally when the war ends.
He also talked about his predecessors and argued that, as he has done in the past, that he is the only president that could save America from the threat of Iran. But really, I think the big picture here was that he did what his team wanted him to do. This was a sale again to the American people at a time when many people throughout the Trump administration recognize that their patience is wearing thin. Alayna Treene, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: And thank you. President Trump says even though the U.S. plans to hit Iran extremely hard over the next few weeks, the war is almost over. But are people buying that? Democrat on the House Intelligence and Armed Services Committee says no American is going to bed with a clearer picture of what the end game is or when this is going to wrap up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): I'm always baffled when a billionaire who's sitting in Washington, D.C. who spends most of his time on golf courses and out of his resort in Mar-a-Lago, lectures Americans, working class folks like the people that I represent in my community here and just says, you know, this is going to be short term pain.
So don't worry about your mortgage just coming due in a couple of weeks. Don't worry about the fact that you can't fill your gas tank up anymore, that you have to cancel the family vacation or you can't pay your health care premiums. This is just short term paying for long term good.
You know, easy for him to say because it's not his kids that are doing the fighting and dying. He said we don't need their oil, but we do want their oil. We don't care whether the straits are opened, but all our allies should go and open the straits.
We've already won the war, but we haven't won the war. We have to actually do more intense bombing over the next couple of weeks. You know, we didn't do regime change, but we did do regime change.
So, you know, one minute to the next, he was saying the opposite of what he said during the speech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: No surprise, Republicans have a different take. Senator Tom Cotton posting a meme in support of President Trump's claim that he has fixed the supposed mistakes on Iran made by former Presidents Obama and Biden.
And Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote that President Trump delivered a powerful speech with clear objectives. He says they include destroying Iran's military weapons factories and its chances of ever having a nuke.
But will President Trump's speech be enough to change public opinion of the war? In new CNN polling ahead of Wednesday night address, 43 percent said that they strongly disapprove of the U.S. decision to take military action in Iran. That number is up since the start of the war. Only 15 percent of those polled said they strongly approve.
Let's bring in CNN senior political analyst and Bloomberg opinion columnist Ron Brownstein. Ron, welcome back to The Story Is.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR PLITICAL ANALYST: good to be with you.
MICHAELSON: You've said over and over again on this show that President Trump's biggest political liability on all this is gas prices, which of course are up because the Strait of Hormuz has been largely closed. Here's what President Trump said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And in any event, when this conflict is over, the Strait will open up naturally. It'll just open up naturally. They're going to want to be able to sell oil because that's all they have to try and rebuild. It will resume the flowing and the gas prices will rapidly come back down, stock prices will rapidly go back up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: So you know who doesn't like this concept of natural opening? The oil markets. Right. We've seen the oil shoot up. We've seen the Asian markets going way down. Because they're concerned about this. I mean, this is not what they want to hear.
BROWNSTEIN: You know, I think many people listening to that portion of the speech probably flashback to his comments about COVID in the spring of 2020 when he said, it will just be a miracle. It will just naturally, it'll just go away.
Look, I do not understand the internal logic of this speech. Obviously Americans have a lot of questions about the war. But I think everyone can agree that the biggest political challenge it is created for Trump and the Republican Party are these higher gas prices.
And a principal reason that gas prices are higher is because Iran has seized control of the Strait of Hormuz and essentially, you know, tightened their grip on 20 percent of the world oil supply.
The President tonight kind of more than suggested, indicated that he was willing to end the war without reopening the Strait and leave it to other nations that have shown no interest in kind of bailing out his decision to reopen the strait.
I just think that's an unsustainable course for him and for the Republican Party because it essentially guarantees that oil prices will remain high and thus gas prices will remain high. And thus discontent over the war and affordability and inflation will remain high at home. It just didn't add up internally.
MICHAELSON: Ron, you know more about polling than just about anybody I know, so let's show some polls. President Trump's approval on the economy is low. 31 percent approved, 69 percent disapproved.
Remember, this is one of the main reasons he got elected, because people thought he would do so much better on that than Kamala Harris. But this number really struck out to you, which is the overall job approval number.
[01:10:04]
And look at this. The percent that strongly approves is at 16 percent strongly disapprove, 49 percent. That's almost 50 percent of the country not only disapproves, but strongly disapproves. Ron, if you're doing a midterm election campaign, that's like a five alarm fire.
BROWNSTEIN: That is, I mean, let's take those numbers in sequence. First of all, in his first term, his approval rating on the economy rarely went below 50 percent in the first few months. And almost always throughout his presidency was higher than his overall approval rating, which meant that it was a floor lifting him up.
Now it is significantly lower than his overall approval rating and it's thus, it's an undertow dragging him down. The numbers that you cite, the 16 percent who say they strongly approve of Trump's performance is the lowest it has ever been in each of his presidential terms in CNN polling.
The 49 percent who say they strongly disapprove is the highest it's ever been. That 33-point gap, what political professionals sometimes call the intensity gap between those who strongly approve and strongly disapprove is bigger than the intensity gap ever was for Joe Biden.
The only time Joe Bide ever came close in a CNN poll was immediately after that debate in '24, when he couldn't finish a sentence. It's bigger. The intensity gap is bigger than it ever was for Barack Obama. And it roughly ties the worst point for George W. Bush about eight months, nine months before 2008 election that saw Barack Obama win the highest share of the vote for a Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Not company you want to be in.
And this is, I think, a warning because strong disapproval is not only an indication of the likelihood of voting against the president's party. 95 percent of people who strongly disapproved of Trump in '08 and '18 voted Democratic for the House. 95 percent of the people who strongly disapproved of Biden in '22 voted Republican for the House. But it's also an indication of turnout, and that kind of intensity gap is a warning to Republicans about differential turnout in November.
MICHAELSON: Meanwhile, a really interesting moment. The President showing up to the Supreme Court today, the first time that's ever happened in American history. What do you make of that as a political decision, the messaging decision he's sending by showing up in person on that particular issue?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, it reminded me of the scene at the end of "The Godfather 2," when the brother shows up at the congressional hearing, just sits in the back, doesn't say anything. And his brother recants all his testimony about Michael. He may have been trying to intimidate the three justices that he nominated to the Supreme Court, but I thought again, it was kind of a strange decision.
One of the problems the president has again in today's CNN poll is that something around 2/3 of Americans feel that he is not focusing on the nation's most important problems. He was elected above all to solve people's affordability problem. They see him focusing on almost anything else. And once again, by choosing to go to the Supreme Court for this kind of quixotic campaign that is almost certainly not going to succeed to end birthright citizenship, I think it once again sent a message to the public that his priorities are very different than their own.
MICHAELSON: It is a priority, though, for the real base.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: The real MAGA folks are interested in that issue. But it is interesting because he's probably not going to win that case in the Supreme Court. So it's interesting to go there, especially when you most likely are not going to win. But it every day is something pretty.
BROWNSTEIN: Like a brother showing up and they finish the testimony against Michael Corleone.
MICHAELSON: Yes, there you go. All right. Got that Godfather reference in. Ron Brownstein.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Here's something that is bringing people together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four, three, two, one. Booster ignition and lift off. Artemis II now bound for the moon. Humanity's next great.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good roll pitch.
UNDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, roll pitch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston now controlling the flight of integrity on the Artemis II mission around the moon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Integrity AMT high.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On time. Passing 30 seconds to the flights. Integrity passes the alternate Eagle target milestone. Mission control, Houston seeing good performance on Florida engines. Space launch system core stage integrity three miles in altitude, traveling more than 1, 200 miles per hour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:15:00]
MICHAELSON: That is the Artemis II launching from Florida, sending four astronauts on a historic journey around the moon. The kind of mission that we haven't seen in more than 50 years. NASA is hoping to use this opportunity as a test mission to prepare future astronauts to land on the moon by 2028. More now from CNN's Pete Muntean, who was there for the liftoff.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: For the first time witnessing a launch here at Kennedy Space Center. For me this week was incredible to see the Space Launch system and the Orion capsule essentially rip through the air here over Kennedy Space Center. You could feel the rumble in your chest as the rocket plume really brightened the sky here at Kennedy Space Center.
An incredible thing to witness for a launch that weren't quite sure was going to happen. There were a few last minute hiccups, problems with batteries on the capsules, abort system, problems with erroneous readings that turned out to be not all that big of a deal.
The clock stopped at 10 minutes until launch, but the mission control here at Kennedy Space Center picked up the time pretty quickly. The launch only about nine minutes late. 6:35 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday.
An incredible thing to witness as these four astronauts set out on this 10-day voyage around the moon. They'll go behind the far side of the moon, harnessing its gravity to then point at the Earth. Earth's gravity takes over and then they'll splash down somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The crowd behind me here went wild as the rocket lifted off from Pad 39A here at Kennedy Space Center.
Now this is an incredible test flight as this crew test Artemis II to pave the way for Artemis III and the landing on the lunar surface of Artemis IV sometime in 2028. Pete Muntean, CNN, Kennedy Space Center.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Star Trek actor William Shatner, Captain Kirk himself spoke to CNN about how the crew members may have been feeling before stepping onto the spacecraft. You may remember he was part of a space tourism flight back in 2021 funded by Jeff Bezos when he says he was overwhelmed by grief when he returned to Earth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHATNER: The fear that must be mixed with the sense of victory with those people incarcerated in that ship, with all their practice, with all their ingenuity, with all their technology. The fear of what could possibly happen must be lurking somewhere and it certainly was in my brain.
I went to the window to look at the magic and I saw this black palpable darkness which was death. And I looked behind me and I saw the beige of the desert and the white of the clouds and the blue of the sky that's life, that's death. And I thought what we're doing to our planet. And when we landed, I was overcome with this terrible feeling of sadness. I didn't know what it was.
It took me a few minutes to realize that I was in grief for the beauty of our planet, which we are destroying at a rapid rate, and how important it is for us to stop and take a breath and go back to healing our planet, which will heal us as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: William Shatner, by the way, is 95 years old. Unprecedented moved by Donald Trump became the first U.S. sitting president to hear oral arguments at the Supreme Court. Why this case is so important to him and why he bucked tradition. Straight ahead.
Plus, the president of Iran says the ongoing war is not serving American interests here. Part of his open letter to the American public. And we'll fact check it a bit ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:23:26]
MICHAELSON: President Trump once again seems to be dismayed with the U.S. Supreme Court and its conservative supermajority, which appears skeptical of his executive order to end birthright senior citizenship. He attended oral arguments about that order on Wednesday, the first sitting president to ever do so at the Supreme Court, and afterwards he was critical of the justices who questioned his efforts to reimagine the principle of birthright citizenship, a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution for well over a century, reporter Karin Caifa adds details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARIN CAIFA, CNN REPORTER: This executive order signed by President Trump in January of 2025, is so crucial to his immigration approach that he decided to attend these arguments himself, that unprecedented for a sitting U.S. President. But the justice is expressing some skepticism of the Trump administration's defense.
CAIFA (voice-over): U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer making the Trump administration's case to the U.S. Supreme Court that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution was intended to grant citizenship to the children of freed slaves, not immigrants in the country illegally.
JOHN SAUER, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: Unlike the newly freed slaves, those visitors lack direct and immediate allegiance to the United States.
CAIFA (voice-over): The case stemming from a challenge to Trump's executive order signed in January 2025 restricting the right people born in the U.S. to be U.S. citizens. It's since been blocked by lower courts.
Trump made an unprecedented appearance at the court, a first for a sitting U.S. President, but left during plaintiff arguments made by Cecilia Wang, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, who laid out what's potentially at stake.
CECILIA WANG, NATIONAL LEGAL DREICTOR, ACLU: Thousands of American babies will immediately lose their citizenship, and if you credit the government's theory, the citizenship of millions of Americans past, present and future could be called into question.
[01:25:07]
CAIFA (voice-over): Chief Justice John Roberts pressed sour on what he described as quirky arguments leaning on narrow exceptions to exclude a much larger group from birthright citizenship.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES: And then you expand it to a whole class of illegal aliens are here in the country. I'm not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and sort of idiosyncratic examples.
CAIFA (voice-over): Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed skepticism about the government's practical implementation.
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, ASSOC. JUSTICE OF U.S. THE SUPREME COURT: How does this work? Are you suggesting that when a baby is born, people have to have documents, present documents? Is this happening in the delivery room?
CAIFA (voice-over): Sauer said that parents would have the opportunity to dispute denials of their children's citizenship.
CAIFA: The arguments lasted just over two hours, and now the justices will take time to consider those arguments. A ruling is expected before the end of the Court's current term in June. In Washington, I'm Carin Kaifa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICAHELSON: Thank you, Carin. Meanwhile, inside Iran, massive explosions near the city of Isfahan. This dramatic video posted to social media captured thick plumes of smoke billowing into the air and sparks flying after the blasts on Wednesday. They are one of several explosions captured and shared online. The ongoing strikes coming as Donald Trump now says the U.S. will hit Iran extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.
We're also hearing from Iran's president, who has released a letter online addressed to the American public. In it, he says this quote, exactly which of the American people's interests are truly being served by this war? Was there any objective threat from Iran to justify such behavior? And he asked, is America first truly among the priorities of the U.S. government today?
Joining me here live in Los Angeles is Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani, a professor of Middle East Studies at the University of Southern California. Welcome back to The Story Is. Good to see you.
CIRUCE MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI, PROFESSOR OF MIDDLE EAST STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. : Thank you for having me.
MICHAELSON: Say your last name correctly.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: Movahedi-Lankarani
MICHAELSON: There we go. Sorry about that.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: That's OK.
MICHAELSON: Good to have you here. And let's just factually correct something that the Iranian he said that they're like a peaceful nation and almost like a pacifist nation, which is not really true for Iranian history.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: I mean, Iranian history goes back 2,500 years. There's been empires rising and falling and conquering all through that time. So in the strictest sense, it's not true.
MICHAELSON: What did you make of the letter and what he's trying to say?
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: It's an interesting question. I think it's not clear what the intent of the letter was, except Iran does not have the capacity to prevent the United States or Israel from bombing it. That capacity has been destroyed, never really existed, as clearly was demonstrated over the past month. But the major weakness for Trump, and specifically, or, sorry, the
United States and specifically Donald Trump, is the politics of the war. And so I think this letter might be an effort to keep that pressure on.
MICHAELSON: And you say that the Iranian government is well aware of the politics of the United States of America --
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: Oh for sure.
MICHAELSON: -- and that is why the Strait of Hormuz is their big leverage point, because they know that gas prices is the big weapon that they have to basically beat the president with in terms of making it so politically untenable for him that you just got to leave.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: Right. That's basically, I think, their strategy. They realized that, again, because they can't make the United States stop bombing. The only hope that they have, the only real leverage point that they have is to make the political cost very high for him. And that means basically economics and gas prices.
MICHAELSON: So we know that ground troops are headed to the region. Some of them are already there. But interesting tonight, and you found this really interesting, that President Trump in his address did not talk about ground troops at all.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: That's correct. I think it was a pretty glaring omission and it's not clear why, whether what that might mean. Right. There are three possible explanations, as I see. One is that he just overlooked it or chose not to mention it.
MICHAELSON: Hard to believe that.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: Another is that option has actually been taken off the table. He has no intention of actually sending ground troops. And the third is perhaps this is a bluff or a feint and there's no real way to know until time passes.
MICHAELSON: And that's part of you could say the brilliance of President Trump or the frustration of President Trump, depending on what your perspective is the fact that he's so all over the place, it's very hard to predict what he's going to do.
Now, you literally teach a class on the modern Iranian history. You're the professor.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: Right.
MICHAELSON: So for those of us that have not had the honor of taking your class yet, what is the most important lesson that we can learn from Iran's history that might be applicable now for people that maybe don't know that much about Iran's history?
[01:30:00]
MOVAHEDI-LANKARANI: That's a great question. And I think what I would tell my class is that the story of Iran over the past century and a half has been of a deeply nationalist society and people attempting to assert their sovereignty, particularly over their natural resources and their ability to resist what they consider to be foreign intervention and meddling in their country.
And so I think that potentially, every time other countries like the United States attempt to force Iran to do something, that nationalism is activated.
MICHAELSON: Meaning it could have the opposite effect --
MOVAHEDI-LANKARINI: Correct. Yes.
MICHAELSON: -- bringing people together to support --
MOVAHEDI-LANKARINI: Even if only temporarily.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARINI: Yes.
A lot of people don't like to be messed with. Isn't that simple.
Ciruce, thank you so much for being here.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARINI: Thank you for having me.
MICHAELSON: And as like we say at USC -- fight on.
MOVAHEDI-LANKARINI: Fight on.
MICHAELSON: There we go.
President Trump is questioning the loyalty of NATO and threatening apparently to pull out of the alliance. But he didn't actually talk about that tonight either and was supposed to.
We'll have more on his latest remarks, how they're going over.
Plus, how is the rest of the world reacting to this war? Next.
[01:31:07]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: Welcome back. THE STORY IS I'm Elex Michaelson. Let's take a look at today's top stories.
The historic Artemis 2 mission has successfully launched from Florida. The four astronauts on board Orion will now orbit the earth twice before attempting a risky journey to fly around the moon. It is a test flight designed to prepare future Artemis missions to land on the moon by 2028.
The death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon has reached more than 1,300 people. That's according to Lebanon's health ministry, which says the number includes at least 125 children.
Israel ramped up its strikes and ground operations against Hezbollah in early march, which have displaced more than a million people.
President Trump is threatening to bomb Iran back to the stone age if they don't agree to a deal to end the Iran -- to end the war.
He delivered a primetime address to the nation Wednesday, claiming that the U.S. is very close to completing its objectives without providing a clear timeline on how. And he says gasoline prices in the U.S. will come down quickly once the conflict ends.
In the hours ahead, the U.K. will host a virtual summit with almost three dozen countries to discuss options for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. For weeks, NATO allies have rebuffed the U.S. president's calls to help regain control of the key waterway. And Donald Trump is once again threatening to leave NATO.
"The Telegraph" asked if he would really withdraw. And he said, oh yes, beyond reconsideration, and called the alliance a paper tiger. But his NATO bashing is really nothing new.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So I learned about NATO. NATO won't be there if we ever have the big one.
We spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO, hundreds protecting them, and we would have always been there for them. But now, based on their actions, I guess we don't have to be, do we?
I'm so disappointed in NATO because this was a test for NATO. This was a test. You can help us. You don't have to.
But if you don't have -- you know, if you don't do that, we're going to remember.
The big fear I have with NATO is we spend tremendous amounts of money with NATO. And I know we'll come to their rescue, but I just really do question whether or not they'll come to ours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Reminder, NATO did indeed come to the U.S. aid after 9/11. And the U.S. is the only country to have ever invoked the alliance's mutual defense clause, which declares an attack on one member is an attack on all.
The head of NATO, by the way, is set to visit the U.S. next week. That will be interesting.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is following all this live from Hong Kong.
Kristie, as President Trump threatens to pull out of NATO -- again threatens, hasn't actually done it -- what is the alliance's next move? KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Elex. It's interesting, you
know, this rift between the United States and Europe is widening with U.S. President Donald Trump lashing out at NATO over the Iran war with these new threats to leave.
Now, NATO sources tell CNN that they're not overly concerned about these threats from Donald Trump. In fact, one NATO official called it, quote, "Groundhog Day", underscoring that this is something that they've heard before and said NATO is focusing on the here and now, namely, finding a way to reopen that strategic and vital waterway that is the Strait of Hormuz.
So NATO will be hosting this virtual summit that will take place on Friday. Representatives from 35 different countries will be there, including the United Kingdom.
And earlier, we heard from the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who addressed the moment. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Firstly, NATO is the single, most effective military alliance the world has ever seen. And it has kept us safe for many decades and we are fully committed to NATO.
Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I'm going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions that I make. And that's why I've been absolutely clear that this is not our war, and we're not going to get dragged into it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: The NATO secretary-general will be meeting with the U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington next week.
Now, we are also monitoring fresh comments about the economic outlook from the United Nations, sounding the economic alarm as Iran continues with its iron grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
This is what we heard from a U.N. agency. They're saying that global trade is expected to fall from 4.7 percent last year to 1.5 to 2 percent this year.
[01:39:51]
STOUT: According to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. They say this, quote, "The Strait of Hormuz remains virtually closed, with effects spreading through the global economy within weeks by disrupting energy flows, raising prices, increasing financial pressure on developing countries," unquote.
Again, some 20 percent of global oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz. In Asia, this region here is particularly vulnerable. 80 percent of the oil, liquefied natural gas and oil products that flow and oil products that flow through the Strait of Hormuz head here to the Asia-Pacific region. And already we are feeling the effects in rising oil prices and rising gas prices and rising prices of aviation plane tickets, as well as -- and this is very desperate for poorer nations in Asia and across the world -- the rising price of fertilizer as well as food.
Back to you, Elex.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And as you showed us last hour, the Asian future market not looking great because of all of this and what the president just said.
Kristie Lu Stout, thank you for that.
We want to get to some breaking news just in to our newsroom. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is warning that Iraqi terrorist groups aligned with Iran may carry out attacks in the city in the next 24 to 48 hours, and is now urging all U.S. citizens to leave immediately.
There are no further details right now. We'll bring you any updates as soon as we get them.
But again, concerns about an imminent Iran attack in Iraq. It's also worth noting that this warning comes two days after American journalist Shelly Kittleson was kidnaped in Baghdad. Sources telling CNN that Kittleson had been warned about the threat of being abducted or killed by an Iranian proxy. And she had also reportedly been warned to leave Iraq multiple times in recent weeks.
Again, we'll be following any new developments from the Iraqi capital in the hours ahead.
You're watching THE STORY IS. For our international viewers, "WORLDSPORT" is next. For our viewers here in North America, I'll be right back with a very cool story about women's college basketball.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is my pleasure to announce that the 2026 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Women's Player of the Year for outstanding college basketball player is Sarah Strong of UConn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That is UConn's Sarah Strong being named Naismith Women's National Player of the Year for Basketball. Strong's 21-point performance against Notre Dame led UConn to their 25th final four. The school has won 54 games in a row.
Sarah Strong joins us now from Phoenix, where she just got that trophy. Welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time. Congratulations.
SARAH STRONG, UCONN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM: Thank you so much. MICHAELSON: Walk us through that moment. And what does that trophy
represent to you?
STRONG: Yes. I mean in the moment it was -- well I guess now still, it's great. I mean it's a great feeling to be able to get that.
But I think it just -- it wouldn't have happened without people behind me. My family, my coaching staff, support staff and my teammates. I mean, it wouldn't have happened without them. So all of them.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And you talked about them on the stage as well. The first thing you did was give a shout out to your teammates. You guys have won 54 games in a row.
We see how great this team is on the court. What's the secret sauce off the court to the chemistry of this team?
STRONG: Yes. I think just how comfortable everyone is with each other. Like anyone can walk into your apartment and bust in your room and see what you're doing and hang out.
And I think everyone loves each other. Everyone's happy for each other all the time. We just love being around each other. So that helps on the court.
MICHAELSON: And you also got a great coach, right? Geno Auriemma has won 12 national titles, more than anybody in history. He's going for lucky number 13 this year.
What would you say is the most important leadership lesson you've learned from him?
STRONG: I would say to always try to impact the game in a positive way, whether that's defensively or offensively.
I mean just -- whenever you come in just try to help your team win.
MICHAELSON: Yes. And he's certainly won quite a bit. And this time UConn, it's a good time to be a Husky right? Because you've got the men's team going to the final four as well after one of the most incredible last second threes in basketball history.
What was the party like for your team cheering on the fellas after that?
STRONG: Yes. I mean we were in the hotel room like screaming and jumping down the hallways. We went downstairs to the lobby because all of the families were watching it down there.
So we just went to celebrate it and we were just very happy for them.
MICHAELSON: Yes. I mean, that really was pretty incredible.
And meanwhile, let's talk about your guys' game. You're facing off against South Carolina. Another number one seed in the final four. Break down that matchup. What are what is the biggest threat when it comes to South Carolina.
STRONG: Yes. I mean they have a lot of good players. They're so physical. They rebound the ball super well. So trying to match that physicality and still trying to play UConn basketball without getting rushed.
MICHAELSON: And lastly, can you just reflect on the magic of this season to be on a team that literally has not lost a game and just what that feels like, what this ride has felt like?
STRONG: Yes. I mean, it's great not losing a game, but I think we all want to kind of put our best foot forward for the seniors. Like AZ and Carol, I mean, they've been through so much adversity with injury and all that other stuff. So just trying to perform well for them.
MICHAELSON: Well, congratulations. Very well-deserved. Pretty much everybody thought it was going to be you, but it's still got to be fun to get up there and get it. The player of the year.
Good luck in the final four, Sarah Strong.
STRONG: Thank you so much.
MICHAELSON: We'll be back with more of THE STORY IS right after this.
[01:49:54]
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MICHAELSON: There is a new option in the rapidly growing market of weight loss treatments. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a second GLP-1 medication in pill form.
CNN's Meg Tirrell explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A second new pill for weight loss is coming to the market. The FDA has approved a drug called Foundayo. It's made by Eli Lilly. It's given as a daily pill, and it works similarly to drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound by mimicking a hormone known as GLP-1.
[01:54:48]
TIRRELL: This one follows another pill that was approved in December, hit the market earlier this year, called the Wegovy pill sold by Novo Nordisk.
And Eli Lilly says that its drug represents an advance compared with that pill because Foundayo doesn't need to be taken at any particular time of day or with any restrictions on food and water.
Whereas the Wegovy pill must be taken right when you wake up in the morning on an empty stomach. Nonetheless, that drug has had an incredibly successful first few months on the market, being taken by hundreds of thousands of patients, according to estimates from some Wall Street firms.
So it's expected that Lilly's pill will also be taken by some huge number of people, potentially. Already, millions of patients are taking these GLP-1 medicines for weight loss and also for diabetes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Elon Musk's rocket and satellite company SpaceX has reportedly filed confidential plans for an initial public offering. The filing reported Wednesday by multiple media outlets, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
The published reports say the filing will lead to a sale of shares by June or July. And it could make Musk, already the world's richest person, a lot richer.
SpaceX merged with Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI in February. The stock sale could create one of the most valuable companies on the planet and could make Elon Musk the world's first ever trillionaire.
Thanks for watching. I'm Elex Michaelson. We'll see you tomorrow for more of THE STORY IS.
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