U.A.E. Preparing to Help Open Strait of Hormuz By Force

0:00We're the Hartford, with decades of experience insuring millions of unique small businesses. When it comes to your small business insurance, Thank you. one size absolutely does not fit all. Get a quote or find an agent today at thehartford.com slash smallbusiness. Is the Iran war escalating or winding down? We'll get the latest as a third U.S. aircraft carrier heads to the region. Plus, the Supreme Court takes on President Trump's push to limit U.S. citizenship. And a win in Washington's critical minerals push, even if exporting cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo is likely easier said than done.

0:39It's going to have to really turn these assets around. But if it manages to do that, it could produce up to somewhere around 5 % of the world's cobalt, which would be a huge boon to the U.S. critical mineral supply chain. It's Wednesday, April 1st. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

1:10After sustaining Iranian attacks for weeks, the United Arab Emirates is considering becoming a combatant in the Iran war, making it the first Persian Gulf country to do so. We're exclusively reporting that the UAE is now preparing to help the U.S. and others to open the Strait of Hormuz by force after having assessed its ability to do things like clear the waterway of mines. With more on what could be a turning point in the war and Gulf involvement in it, I'm joined by the Journal's Middle East Bureau Chief Andrew Dowell. Drew, why now? Gulf countries have been getting hit by Iran, including the UAE, since the start of the conflict, and yet they haven't today taken the fight directly to the country.

1:49What explains this shift, apparently, in calculus from the UAE? To this point, they've been concerned about defining themselves as a combatant because that's a posture that could outlive Trump's interest in the war and leave them at odds with a big neighbor right across the Persian Gulf for an extended period. They're looking at the situation and realizing that they are, in fact, a combatant, that Iran isn't just shooting at U.S. interests in the UAE, but took aim at things like luxury hotels, iconic buildings, the airport several times, in what they consider to be a deliberate attempt to sow panic and kind of undermine their economy and create pressure to end the war.

2:26And it's not a situation they think they could live with. The other thing is that Iran's making very clear that it wants to have an extended administrative role over the Strait of Hormuz, even after the war is over, which could involve charging tolls or deciding who gets to go through it doesn't get to go through, which again is just completely unacceptable to the UAE. Their economy is largely dependent on energy, which flows through the Strait of Hormuz. They have a big shipping industry, which also relies on free access through that waterway, and they get food through there. And so they're trying to rally support for a military solution to change things.

3:00The journals reported that Trump is considering ending the war without, you know, resolving the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, which to them is sort of a worst case scenario. Tell us more about what the Emirates is considering here, which from our reporting sounds like it kind of marries together the use of some Emirati military capabilities, but also the expenditure of the country's diplomatic capital. That's right. Yeah. So the main thing they're doing is lobbying for passage of a UN resolution that was introduced by Bahrain, under which the Security Council would authorize the use of force to open the Strait of Hormuz, which would give any country that wanted to participate in an effort like that diplomatic cover or, you know, the cover of kind of international legitimacy in order to go ahead.

3:39So that's one thing. And standing on the side of that resolution is standing on the side military action against Iran, which is a major step for a Gulf country. And then as we've reported, they're willing to get involved. And, you know, it's a small country with a small military, but they do have the potential to do things on the water, like potentially sweep mines. They are probably the best position country along the strait aside from Iran. So there's the possibility of using bases and, you know, yeah, they can provide support for the actual, you know, kind of military combatants. I think the other thing is they're probably aware that President Trump is trying to assemble a coalition and they want to help make that happen because the goal of any effort to restore traffic through the strait and remove Iran's role of governing that traffic is very much in their interest.

4:25I think one of the bets is probably that as international pressure builds Iran's position and its claim that it will have a permanent role over traffic in the strait becomes less and less tenable in international diplomatic terms. But, you know, strictly military consideration, it's a big job. Andrew Dowell is The Wall Street Journal's Middle East editor. Drew, appreciate the update. Thanks so much. You're welcome. Meanwhile, a third U.S. aircraft carrier is deploying to the Middle East. The USS George H.W. Bush left Virginia yesterday and could take weeks to reach the region where U.S. officials said three aircraft carriers could remain for the foreseeable future.

5:01The Navy declined to comment on the operations. President Trump is planning to address the nation on the war at 9 p.m. Eastern tonight. Trump yesterday said that he believes the war will wrap up in two to three weeks. News that sent global markets higher today and led to a pullback in oil prices. But whether a rapid end to fighting can bring oil back to its pre-war levels is another story, with analysts at Capital Economics saying that a U.S. exit from the war in two to three weeks still aligns with forecasts of Brent crude at$80 a barrel by year's end. While airlines aren't waiting to bake higher fuel surcharges and other fees into ticket prices in order to offset higher costs, JetBlue is charging more for bags, Air France, KLM, and Cathay Pacific are boosting fuel fees, and United's CEO has warned that fares could shoot up by as much as 20 % due to war-related fuel shortages.

5:56And Iran yesterday warned a number of U.S. companies with locations in the Middle East that their actions supporting the war make them legitimate targets. Iran's Revolutionary Guard accused the likes of Apple, Oracle, Palantir, Microsoft, Alphabet, and JPMorgan Chase of contributing to the deaths of Iranian citizens and warned employees of the companies to leave their workplaces in the region before 8 p.m. local time today. Also named in the warning were Cisco, HP, Intel, IBM, Tesla, NVIDIA, and Boeing. Coming up, President Trump heads to the Supreme Court, literally, as justices prepare to hear oral arguments on his push to end birthright citizenship.

6:37That and the day's business news after the break.

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7:36in washington president trump is turning up the pressure on the supreme court as it prepares to hear arguments today limiting u.s citizenship the supreme court tomorrow is going to hear arguments about your executive order trying to get rid of birthright citizenship and i'm going you're going to go i think so in a break from tradition trump plans to attend the hearing in person as the justices review his executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants or temporary residents. Lower courts have blocked the order, ruling that it conflicts with the 14th Amendment.

8:11Journal's Supreme Court reporter James Ramoser says the case is pushing Trump's relationship with the court to the brink. In a social media post, the president essentially predicted that the court would likely rule against him in the birthright citizenship case. He said the court will, quote, find a way to come to the wrong conclusion. But even if the president loses, he's unlikely to let the issue go. So if the Supreme Court affirms the conventional wisdom of the 14th Amendment, that nearly everyone born on U.S. soil is automatically a citizen, then that ruling should settle the question definitively.

8:48But there is a potential alternative course that the court could take, which would leave the door open for further debate about this. The court could try to dodge the constitutional question and simply rule that Trump's executive order violates statutes. And if the court did do this, I suppose the question of the underlying meaning of the 14th Amendment would remain a somewhat open question. In a continuation of his voting reform push, President Trump has signed an executive order directing his administration to create lists of people that it considers eligible to vote in federal elections. The lists, compiled from citizenship and social security data, would be sent to state election chiefs ahead of the midterms.

9:30The order is likely to face a flood of legal challenges, with the secretaries of state of Arizona and Oregon saying they already plan to challenge it in court.

9:41The Trump administration has scored a major win in its race against Beijing for critical minerals in Africa, with the U.S. company set to take over a copper and cobalt mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We exclusively report that Virtus Minerals has finalized its acquisition for Shemoff, one of the world's largest cobalt producers that's not already in China's hands. Alexandra Wexler covers business in Africa for the journal and says it will require a big commitment to turn around debt-laden Shemoff and get minerals out of one of the hardest countries in the world to do business.

10:18There's a limited labor pool. There's government corruption and quite a lot of violence as well in different parts of the country. The mine still needs several hundred million dollars in upgrades to finish processing plants and mechanization of its mining operations. There's a lot of damage that's been done from informal miners. So Virtus paid the family that owned Shemoff$30 million, and it's committed to spending some$720 million in investment to get these assets turned around and up and running and producing copper and cobalt for the U.S. If it manages to do that, it could produce up to somewhere around 5 % of the world's cobalt, which would be a huge boon to the U.S.

11:06critical mineral supply chain. In other markets news, OpenAI has completed the largest funding round in Silicon Valley history, raising$122 billion ahead of an IPO that's expected by year's end. Amazon, NVIDIA, and SoftBank put up the majority of funds for the round, which values OpenAI at$852 billion. The deal will also grant individual investors greater access to OpenAI, with the company set to be included in several ETFs managed by Cathie Wood's ARK Invest. Nike's turnaround plan has hit a snag, with the sneaker company projecting a 2-4 % pullback in sales this year, including a sharp drop in its key China market.

11:48CEO Elliot Hill came out of retirement in 2024 to try and restore Nike's market leadership and acknowledged yesterday the complexities of that effort. We're building brand by brand, country by country, partner by partner. And I will acknowledge that parts of it are taking longer than I would like, but we believe in the direction. We're moving with urgency, and the foundation is getting stronger. So I'm really good, feel great about that. Nike has had some success, though, with its running wholesale and North American businesses showing signs of progress. Though Hill said that alongside China, its sportswear business and Converse brand are taking longer to recover.

12:30And once a go-to sneaker for Silicon Valley and public figures alike, including President Obama, Allbirds has sold its assets for just a fraction of the$4 billion it was once valued at, with the eco-friendly wool sneaker brand striking a deal to sell itself to American Exchange Group for just$39 million. The premise that consumers would pay a premium for sustainably made products turned out to be flawed, with Allbirds stumbles opening the door for brands that have attracted tech and fashion trendsetters alike, such as On and Hoka. And that's it for What's News for this Wednesday morning. Today's show was produced by Hattie Moyer.

13:08Our supervising producer was Daniel Bach. And I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. And until then, thanks for listening.

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