MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The U.S. Military says this morning that it has guided two American flag merchant vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump says he's aiming to free hundreds of ships and their crews who have been stuck in the waterway since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. A U.S. task force is asking ships to reroute through Omani waters. In a few minutes, we'll hear from a senior Treasury official who helped design sanctions against Iran about this latest operation and how Iran is weathering the U.S. blockade. Meanwhile, Trump says he's also reviewing a new offer from Iran and he's left the option of war on the table. Here he is talking to reporters on Friday.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean, do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever, or do we want to try and make a deal? I mean, those are the options.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you want to go blast the hell out of them and finish them forever?
TRUMP: I prefer not. On a human basis, I'd prefer not. But that's the option.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
We have NPR senior political correspondent Mara Liasson here to try to make sense of where things stand today with the war. Good morning, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: OK. Let's start with Sunday's announcement. What more do we know about how the president plans to safely escort ships through the strait?
LIASSON: Well, we don't know a whole lot. Donald Trump has described this as a humanitarian mission to help ships that are stuck in the strait and running low on supplies. U.S. Central Command says it will involve guided missile destroyers, more than a hundred aircraft, 15,000 service members. But this is not so much an escort service, a military escort, rather than it's to guide them. In other words, to show them where the safe routes are without sea mines. Iran says the whole thing violates the ceasefire.
FADEL: Now, President Trump also said he is reviewing a new offer from Iran. What do we know about that?
LIASSON: We don't know much about that either. Donald Trump says he's been briefed on the concept of a deal, but that the Iranians are going to give him the exact wording soon. As we heard earlier, he is saying that the war is officially terminated. But he's not ruling out future military action. The war is at a stalemate. It's been that way for some time.
The bombing of Iran did not cause Iran to renege on their nuclear ambitions. And they seem to have attained a new power that they didn't have or didn't use before the war began, and that's control of the Strait of Hormuz. There is a U.S. blockade, but the Revolutionary Guard still controls the waterway, so those are like two different blockades. And unless the strait is opened, gas prices will not go down around the world, but in particular in the United States, where gas continues to be over $4 a gallon.
FADEL: How much is that economic impact weighing on Trump at this point?
LIASSON: Well, it is weighing on him politically. The new Washington Post poll shows that his approval rating on the economy is 34%. That's very low. His approval ratings are down across the board. And there are more and more Republicans in Congress that want this war to end.
FADEL: And where do things stand with seeking approval from Congress?
LIASSON: Well, Congress is on recess this week. That gives lawmakers a bit of a break. But the War Powers Act gives the president a 60-day deadline to seek congressional approval for military hostilities. That's why the president has told Congress that hostilities have officially been terminated. Hostilities began on February 28. So what he's doing is trying to give himself another 60 days before he has to seek congressional approval. So he's trying to reset the clock.
FADEL: That's NPR's Mara Liasson. Thank you so much, Mara.
LIASSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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