Morning Wire - Iran Deal Imminent? & Economic Silver Lining | 4.6.26

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

President Trump puts the Iranian regime on the clock to reopen the Hormuz Strait—after an American airman is rescued, a positive jobs report offers hope for the economy as energy shocks spread, and Virginia stands by its sanctuary policies amid a string of illegal immigrant violence. Plus, the Artemis II mission is about to make history today. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. - - - Ep. 2718 - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - Today's Sponsors: Zocdoc - Go to https://Zocdoc.com/WIRE to find and instantly book a doctor you love today. Vanta - Get started at https://Vanta.com/MORNINGWIRE - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy morning wire,morning wire podcast,the morning wire podcast,Georgia Howe,John Bickley,daily wire podcast,podcast,news podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump issues a dramatic ultimatum to Iran and signals that a deal may come as early as today. The president's going to eliminate their ability to operate as a regime if they're not willing to capitulate. He's made that very, very clear. This, after the U.S. brought back a downed airman from behind enemy lines, we have the details on the daring rescue. I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Hal. It's Monday, April 6th. This is Morningwire. The energy fallout from the Iran conflict continues. while the Trump administration touts some welcome economic news.

I can say that this is an absolute blockbuster number. It's one of the best numbers that you've seen in a long time. And the state of Virginia has suffered a series of violent crimes at the hands of illegal immigrants, but the leadership in the state continues to double down on sanctuary policies. Spanberger took over and she moved so far left, she's not even recognizable anymore. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. your hand if you've been putting off a dental cleaning, an annual checkup, or honestly,

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That's Zoc-D-O-C dot com slash wire. Zocdoc.com slash wire. Thanks Zokdoch for sponsoring this message. President Trump has issued a fiery ultimatum to Iran's Islamic regime, threatening to hit its bridges and power plants if it does not make a deal. The president also signaled that that deal could be announced as soon as today. Daily Wire Foreign Affairs reporter Cassie Akiva joins us now with the latest on that and the new details we've learned on this stunning rescue operation that brought back one of our own airmen this weekend.

Morning, Cassie. So let's start with what we've just heard from the president. Where do things stand now? So on Sunday morning, President Trump announced that if Iranian official did not make a deal by Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern, he would make good on his promise to hit key infrastructure and what he's going to be calling power plants in bridge day. Trump told Fox News that while the deadline is Tuesday, he thinks a potential deal could be made today.

And that claim is creating quite the buzz in D.C. But in the same ultimatum, he issued, he also used some. pretty strong language, so fair warning here. He threatened the, quote, crazy bastards running the Iranian regime, saying that they would be, quote, living in hell if they don't open the effing straight of Hormuz. That statement is turning a lot of heads to say the least, as is that claim that a deal seems very close. Now, there was some other huge news over the weekend regarding the successful rescue of an American airman from Iran. A lot more has been revealed about this really incredible undertaking. What do we know so far? Yeah, this is shaping up to be one of the most

complex and high-risk rescue missions in recent U.S. military history. According to President Trump and multiple reports, this all started after an F-15E fighter jet was shot down over southwest Iran, both the pilot and the weapons system officer, or WSO, ejected. The pilot was rescued pretty quickly in what the president described as a broad daylight operation that involved U.S. forces flying over Iran for about seven hours. But the WSO, a colonel, was wounded and ended up deep in the mountainous terrain. He evaded capture for nearly 48 hours, climbing up 7,000 feet in hiding in a mountain crevice, while Iranian forces, who were offered a bounty to get him, were closing in.

It really feels like something out of Hollywood. How did he manage to avoid being captured for so long? So because of his job, he underwent training in survival, evasion, resistance, and escape, or what the military calls Sears School. He also had a beacon on him, which allows U.S. forces to track him via encrypted satellite signals. President Trump said he was personally monitoring the situation and ultimately ordered dozens of aircraft into the region to get him out.

This turned into a massive operation. I'm talking special forces, war planes, helicopters, drones, cyber intelligence assets all working together. And we've learned that this wasn't just a U.S. only effort, correct? That's right. Israeli officials were reportedly giving intelligence support and even paused air strikes in the region to help the rescue window. At the same time, the CIA was running a deception campaign inside Iran, spreading false information that the colonel had already been rescued to throw off Iranian forces. Meanwhile, U.S. drones had created a legal perimeter targeting Iranians who got within a three kilometer radius of his position. Amazing. And what about the extraction itself? That sounds like it didn't go entirely. smoothly, is that right? Right. This is where things got even more intense. At least one, possibly two U.S. aircraft were disabled during the mission, likely due to rough terrain. Their report saying they got stuck in the sand or mud. And ultimately, the commanders had to bring an additional aircraft

to get everybody out in the extraction. And then our forces bombed our disabled planes in the ground to prevent Iran from taking them. Wow. So what happens next? We're expecting more details soon, correct? Correct. President Trump will be holding a press conference. conference today at 1 p.m. Eastern with military officials, and we're likely to get a much clearer picture about what exactly happened. We'll certainly be tuning in for that. Cassie, thank you so much for reporting. Thank you. No, it's not your imagination. Risk and regulation are ramping up, and customers now expect tangible proof of security just to do business with you. That's why our sponsor, Vanta, is a game changer. Vanta automates your compliance process and brings

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staying audit-ready year-round. Why wait? Get started at vanta.com slash morning wire. That's vanta.com slash morning wire. The Iran conflict has led to spiked energy prices, putting some strains on the economy, but a new jobs report shows sharp growth in some sectors in March. Daily Wire contributor, Tim Pierce, is here to bring us up to speed. So, Tim, we're going to ask about the new economic numbers. But first, a major factor, of course, is the negotiations between Washington and Tehran. If the war ends, as President Trump is hinting, could happen soon. Markets will be thrilled about that.

Do we have any insight into how those talks are going? Yeah, the president seems bullish on these talks, but there are still plenty of skeptics. For some insight into that, we talk to Professor Eugene Kantorovich. He teaches at the George Mason University School of Law and is a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Kontrovich told Morning Wire that he doesn't expect a deal today and that he thinks there's a good chance that this is the last time Trump pushes his deadline back. I think it's quite likely that if Iran does not take the opportunity presented to them to walk this down, President Trump will start targeting their energy infrastructure, which is essentially undermining the economic basis of the regime. the Revolutionary Guard is itself an economic powerhouse, and it makes money off this energy.

Recall, the protests that, you know, triggered this were started in part by economic problems, by Iran's massive economic mismanagement. It's hyperinflation, water shortages. So further economic hits are only likely to strengthen internal dissent, if not overnight, than in the period of the coming years. It's unclear whether the Iranian regime will fall because of all of this, but there is no doubt that it is certainly much more vulnerable now than it was. Now, as for energy prices, always a top concern for Americans. Where do they stand right now?

According to GasBuddy, the national average is over $4 a gallon. It's been a few years since Americans have seen prices this high. Gas was last over $4 in mid-August, 2022. Since the war started, the climb has been steep. Just a few months ago in February, the national average was under $3. So that's a pretty significant jump and it's had consequences. For instance, airlines United and JetBlue have put a new surcharge on baggage, and Amazon is charging sellers more for fuel.

The chief cause of this is the shutdown of the Hormuz Strait, which Kontorovich said is a violation of international law by Iran. They must be open for peaceful navigation by neutral countries. so they might not have to let American or Israeli ships pass by, but there are, in fact, very few American or Israeli ships. They cannot impose a private toll booth. That goes against every principle of maritime law. However, while gas prices are high, the economic news isn't all bad. The latest jobs report blew past economist's expectations. Right. So I wanted to ask you about the Labor Department numbers. They were just released for March. The Trump administration, very happy about them. What are those numbers show? Right. The White House is really excited.

over these numbers, which it says shows that the American economy is still strong, despite all the chaos in the Middle East. According to the report, the U.S. economy grew by 175,000 jobs last month, when economists only expected about 65,000. And that's a sharp turnaround from the 133,000 jobs lost in February. Here's what National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Fox News. What it shows is that all of the cumulative policies that President Trump has pushed, the no-tax-on-tip, no tax on overtimes, making the old Trump tax cuts, permanent, deregulation, $18 trillion in new investments in the U.S. through our trade deals. All of that stuff, plus a big reduction in the trade deficit,

has created an enormous amount of momentum for the U.S. economy. Digging into the numbers, the sectors that really powered growth were healthcare and leisure and hospitality. Analysts are pointing to a couple of specific reasons why those two would show such strong growth. One is that tens of thousands of hospital workers are now back to work after a strike. And the massive snowstorm that pounded the South and East Coast earlier this year damped tourism in February. So another way of looking at all this is that the economy corrected last month after some short-term shocks drove down the numbers in February. Well, good to see some resilience despite everything going on. Tim, thanks for reporting.

Thanks for having me. A string of murders committed by illegal immigrants in Virginia is drawing renewed scrutiny to the state's sanctuary. policies. Daily Wire immigration reporter Jenny Tare joins us now to discuss morning, Jenny. So why Virginia? Why are we seeing this surge in killings by illegal immigrants in that particular state? Right. So the first thing to understand here is that this is all really centered in Fairfax County, Virginia, which is a notorious sanctuary county. The sheriff there has ended agreements with ICE, doesn't want to work with them, doesn't honor their detainers most of the time. So the first of these murders happened in late February. There was an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone who allegedly killed 41-year-old mother,

Stephanie Minter at a bus stop. He fled the scene. Luckily, local authorities were able to nab him. Then you had a Guatemalan illegal immigrant who was arrested for allegedly killing his three-month-old daughter, a really gruesome and terrible case. Her death was determined to be caused by blunt force trauma. And then you also had another Guatemalan elite. immigrant who allegedly repeatedly stabbed a man to death in Fairfax County. So this is three murders in recent weeks committed by illegal immigrants in Fairfax County and in Virginia. Now, many are placing the blame on Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger for enacting sanctuary policies in the first place. Does she share any of the blame here? Yeah. So in the case of

the killing of Stephanie Minter, Spanberger said that local authorities would not honor ICE's detainer. She said they would require a judicial warrant. So a warrant signed by a judge. This is a common tactic by sanctuary states and cities. They often request these judicial warrants to basically make it nearly impossible for ICE to operate an area to get local detainees out of the jails and into their hands. It's also important to note here some of Spanberger's recent actions as governor.

Upon entering office, she actually ended these cooperation agreements between local authorities and ICE. And then if you remember, she gave the Democratic response to the state of the union. And in that, she said that ICE were, quote, unaccountable agents who, quote, terrorize our communities. So I think that really shows where she stands on all of this. Now, we've seen the Trump administration targets sanctuary cities and states where crime is rampant in the past. Can we expect the feds to step in here at all? So Trump's borders are actually weighed in on this, and he did say that he has an offer for Virginia authorities that's similar to what he did in Minnesota. So if you'll remember, he went into Minnesota to kind of quell the chaos and to eventually draw down ICE and border patrol's footprint in the area.

And so what he did was he brokered these what he called unprecedented levels of agreements with local sheriffs and local police chiefs to have ice. And those local authorities work better together. So he stationed more ICE officers outside of jails and nearby jails. And he also no longer required those police chiefs and those sheriffs to hold inmates longer than they needed to, that there would be a swift handoff to ICE for deportation and for detainment. Holman appeared on Fox News discussing what this plane would look like. Here's what he said. We can do the same thing we did in Minneapolis.

Talk to the sheriff, talk to the chief, say, no one, if you don't want the under detainers, I get it. We can litigate that in course. However, there's nothing illegal about you calling ICE before you release them and we'll be there to take custody. You don't have to hold them one minute, pass you and normally hold them on your charges. Just give us a call. It's free. So again, he just wants them to hand these inmates over to ICE much more quickly and just get them out of their hands as soon as possible. We haven't heard any responses yet from Virginia authorities on this.

or Spanberger. Well, after the string of violence in Virginia, let's hope something does change to improve the situation. Ginny, thank you so much for reporting. Thank you. Another story we're tracking, we are in day six of the Artemis II mission to the moon and back, and today is the day that the Orion spacecraft will finally begin its highly anticipated lunar orbit, which will put the team at the furthest distance from the Earth that any humans have ever been. For 40 to 50 minutes today, the Artemis crew will lose all contact with NASA while they pass behind the far side of the moon. Since launching, the crew has been streaming regular updates and one particular poignant moment came in the form of an impromptu Easter message from the mission's pilot, Navy Captain Victor Glover Jr.

Here's what he said during an interview with CBS News yesterday morning. You know, when I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us who were created, It's, you have this amazing place, this spaceship. You guys are talking to us because we're in a spaceship really far from Earth, but you're on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe and the cosmos. Just trust me, you are special. In all of this emptiness, this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe. You have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together, whether you believe in God or not.

this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing and that we got to get through this together. Amen. And Captain Glover is now my favorite person on and off the planet. Thanks for waking up with us and for those listening to the show. You can also now watch the show free on Daily Wire Plus. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.