Good morning. This is the Up First newsletter. Subscribe for the full edition and listen to the Up First podcast for the day’s biggest stories.
Top stories
U.S. forces seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump announced on social media. U.S. Central Command said the ship refused U.S. warnings for more than six hours before U.S. forces fired on and boarded it. Trump said U.S. Marines now have custody of the vessel. The move is the latest escalation as a ceasefire involving the U.S., Israel and Iran nears its scheduled end this week.
Even as the seizure unfolded, American and Iranian officials traded accusations of ceasefire violations. Trump has pushed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to stabilize oil markets and has set a firm red line on Iran’s nuclear program. Gas prices are averaging near $4 a gallon for regular, and some drivers are cutting back on travel and expenses as prices pinch household budgets.
Trump also said he is sending a team of negotiators to Pakistan for in-person talks aimed at ending the war. Vice President Vance had not yet departed. Iran’s state news agency quoted a senior official saying Iran has ‘no plans’ for another round of talks, even as officials said they were examining recent U.S. proposals; the U.S. has not publicly disclosed those proposals.
Tariff refunds portal goes live
Two months after the Supreme Court ruled most of former President Trump’s tariffs unconstitutional, the federal government launched an online portal this morning for businesses to request refunds. U.S. Customs and Border Protection estimates it owes about $166 billion in tariff refunds. The agency is opening only the first phase of payouts, so not all imports covered by the illegal tariffs will qualify immediately. Federal guidance says once refund requests are approved, importers could receive money in roughly 60 to 90 days.
NPR’s Scott Horsley warns the refund effort could be chaotic: roughly 330,000 businesses were wrongly forced to pay the tariffs. Customs says the process will be similar to routine overpayment refunds, but officials have never attempted to process this many claims at once.
Tragedy in Louisiana
Authorities in northwest Louisiana say a gunman killed eight children and wounded two women in a domestic violence incident. The adult male suspect, believed to be the father of seven of the children killed, is dead. One of the women shot was identified as his wife and the mother of seven of the children.
Living better
GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound were developed for long-term treatment of chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity, but many people start these drugs and later stop. Reasons include the way treatment is presented as short-term, cost, loss of insurance or side effects. Some patients plan to restart later, but researchers are still trying to understand the health effects of cycling on and off these medications.
Limited studies exist on intermittent GLP-1 use. Early evidence suggests weight can return quickly after stopping, sometimes faster than with behavior-focused diets, and experts worry repeated cycles could accelerate loss of lean muscle mass. Mahmoud Salama Ahmed, a medical chemist at Texas Tech University, warns that GLP-1-related muscle loss can be more dramatic than typical dieting, producing a bonier appearance and looser skin. When people stop the drugs they often regain fat quickly, and it’s unclear how much lost muscle will recover.
Picture show
On a blistering day in Mattiyarenthal, a village in Tamil Nadu, southern India, women work over chile pepper fields. Women perform more than 70% of agricultural tasks in the area. The backbreaking seasonal work drives many men away, but for women the pepper harvest can provide a few months of income that helps run households for the entire year. See photos highlighting these often-overlooked farmers.
3 things to know before you go
1) Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object, is running low on power. NASA has shut down one of the spacecraft’s remaining science instruments to extend its life.
2) Communities across the Midwest are cleaning up after tornadoes and severe storms that swept parts of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri.
3) When Jay was 22, a bad choice landed him in a county detention center. Sitting alone in his cell, he began to lose hope until a man in the next cell asked to pray for him. The encounter happened nearly a decade ago, and Jay says that simple act still shapes him.
This newsletter was edited by Treye Green.