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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
Chapter 2: What executive order is President Trump expected to sign regarding fraud?
President Trump is expected to sign an executive order this hour launching a whole-of-government approach to tackling fraud. The president announced the effort in a State of the Union address last month. Here's NPR's Deepa Shivaram.
Trump tasked Vice President J.D. Vance with overseeing the task force that will look into fraud on the federal and state level. In an interview with Fox News, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt specifically mentioned tackling fraud in states like New York and California, both led by Democrats.
We're going to turn every page to find and identify this fraud, to prosecute the individuals who are engaged in it. This will be, again, a whole-of-government effort. Vance has also been tasked with looking into fraud in Minnesota, another Democrat-led state. Last month, the administration suspended Medicaid payments to the state until they came up with a plan to tamp down on fraud.
Deepa Shivaram, NPR News, the White House.
The president slamming allies who are rebuffing a U.S. request for warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The Iran war's closure of the strategic bottleneck has an impact on global oil supplies and prices. But Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, says the straits open to countries not at war with Iran.
It is only closed to the tankers and ships belonging to our enemies, to those who are attacking us and their allies. Others are free to pass.
Meanwhile, the State Department is giving its embassies talking points to try to encourage more countries to impose sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps and Iran's proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. This coming as President Trump seeks help again in reopening the Strait. More from NPR's Michelle Kellerman.
U.S. diplomats are being told they should lobby their host governments to designate the IRGC and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, and they should work on that with Israeli diplomats. The diplomatic cable seen by NPR says that the Iranian regime is more sensitive to collective action than unilateral action.
It gives examples of the history of Iran's nefarious actions in Asia, Europe, Latin America, as well as across the Middle East. It also says the goals of the U.S. and Israeli strikes are to, quote, neutralize Iran's nuclear program, destroy its ballistic missile program, disrupt its proxy networks, and diminish its naval capabilities. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department.
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