Oil Prices Jump as U.S. and Iran Resume Strikes, and Big Tobacco Makes a Big New Bet

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[news music] From The New York Times, it's the headlines.

I'm Tracy Mumford.

Today's Wednesday, July 8th.

Here's what we're covering.

In the last 24 hours, the US and Iran have started trading attacks again, launching the first major strikes in nearly two weeks.

According to the Pentagon, it began when Iran attacked three commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, including an oil tanker and a ship carrying natural gas.

In response, the US military said it carried out strikes against more than 80 targets inside Iran.

The US also reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales.

Iran has not claimed responsibility for the attacks on the ships, but this morning, Iran's armed forces said they were retaliating by targeting dozens of US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait.

At the center of the new flare-up is the continuing question of who controls the strait.

The US and Iran signed a preliminary agreement a few weeks ago that was designed in part to get traffic going again through the crucial waterway, but it didn't say how that should happen, and Iran has insisted that all ships must take the route closest to its shores in waters it controls.

The renewed hostilities put extreme pressure on negotiations between Washington and Tehran, which have been trying to reach a long-term peace deal.

This morning at the NATO summit, President Trump faced questions about what is next.

Is the ceasefire done? Is the MOU dead?

It's a very interesting question.

To me, I think it's over.

And he cast doubt on what will happen to those talks.

Frankly, I don't wanna waste my time with them.

Now, I'll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don't see it.

Uh, I don't like these people, you know that?

Meanwhile, following Trump's remarks and the latest attacks, oil prices rose sharply.

They are far below their peak at the height of the war, but the average price of a gallon of gas across the US is still almost 30% higher than it was before the fighting started.

Ce soir, vous dites que vous êtes candidate à l'élection présidentielle.

Donc, ce soir, je suis candidate à l'élection présidentielle.

In France yesterday, the far-right populist leader Marine Le Pen announced she's running for president right after a court lifted a ban on her from seeking public office.

It's a stunning reversal for Le Pen, who is one of the most prominent far-right figures in Europe.

She had faced the ban after being convicted on corruption charges.

This will be her fourth presidential campaign, and she has moved closer to victory each time.

Mark LandlerCorrespondent3:24

Marine Le Pen's party presents a very classic populist agenda with a major emphasis on cutting back immigration and a real assertion of France's national sovereignty, and this has proven to be a very effective pitch to voters in France.

Mark Landler is The Times' Paris bureau chief.

He says several polls show Le Pen is the front runner.

Mark LandlerCorrespondent3:48

Le Pen's political survival this week has huge implications for French politics.

Mark LandlerCorrespondent3:53

She is the undisputed leader of the far-right movement in France and a very familiar face in French politics.

Mark LandlerCorrespondent4:01

The ideas she's pushing have, of course, taken root in other European countries and even in the United States.

Mark LandlerCorrespondent4:08

And so for the next 12 months, this French campaign is going to draw attention from all over the world as perhaps the most important contest between populism and centrism that we've seen in a Western democracy in the last few years.

Le Pen's first rally is today, and Mark says it's possible, due to her corruption conviction, that she may have to campaign while wearing an ankle monitor, which would be an unprecedented sight.

But analysts say she may try to use that to her advantage and embrace it, like how President Trump has a framed photo of his mugshot in the West Wing.

We wanted to ensure all athletes have the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games and not be held responsible for their government's actions, and I-

Yesterday, the International Olympic Committee announced that it has lifted its suspension of Russia, clearing the way for the country to send a team to the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

Russian athletes have been largely exiled from global sports for years, starting in 2016 over doping scandals, and they then faced a new wave of suspensions after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

That meant that in the last Summer and Winter Olympics, only a handful of Russians competed, and they did so as so-called neutral athletes, not representing Russia.

In explaining the decision, the head of the IOC said the committee was not condoning the war and that there will still be some restrictions in place, including that Russian officials will not be invited to Olympic events.

On social media, Ukraine's foreign ministry called the change "deeply concerning" and added that sports should never be used to, quote, "whitewash the actions of a state that continues to wage war." For years, cigarette sales in the U.S.

have been on a steep decline, and it's left big tobacco corporations trying to find a way to offset that.

They embraced vaping, which helped their bottom line, and now they're going all in on flavored nicotine pouches that you tuck between your cheek and your gums.

The pouches are becoming more and more popular.

The tobacco companies are offering these as safer alternatives for the twenty-five million Americans who still smoke cigarettes.

But what we're hearing from public health advocates is they're very concerned about developing a whole new generation of nicotine-addicted Americans, and particularly young people.

Murray Carpenter's been looking at the rise of pouches for The Times.

He says the American Lung Association, the World Health Organization, and others have raised concerns, but that pouches have found support from the Trump administration.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been photographed carrying Zyn, the most popular pouch brand.

And earlier this year, the F.D.A. relaxed regulations on nicotine pouches and vapes a week after a tobacco company donated five million dollars to a Trump-backed super PAC.

Murray says several states are also welcoming the industry's growth, handing out tax credits for companies to invest in factories.

There's a lot of these new tobacco factories popping up.

The biggest, the most ambitious is in Aurora, Colorado.

It's a six hundred million dollar plant.

They're finishing up construction right now.

They're going to have hundreds of employees there.

So that's the exemplar of this trend.

But additionally, there are companies that are either having new or expanded plants in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida.

Probably over a billion dollars in investment so far in these factories all across the country.

And I think what you're seeing from this investment from the tobacco companies is the industry is poised for dramatic growth.

And finally, there are the classic sounds of summer at the beach.

Waves, lifeguard whistles, the ice cream truck, and now increasingly the whir of drones out there looking for sharks.

New York State announced this month it now has almost 30 drones for that, and many other places have their own fleets too.

They zoom out over the waves, and in some cases, if there's a confirmed shark sighting, swimmers can be ordered out of the water for an hour.

Shark attacks, of course, are exceedingly rare, and experts say the threat is minimal.

But more places are investing in this tech, which can also do things like drop life jackets down to struggling swimmers.

Near Sydney, Australia, where there's been an uptick in shark activity recently, officials there have now arranged for year-round drone surveillance at about 70 beaches.

One drone pilot in Australia The Times talked with said the key is that people reviewing the footage learn to identify different species so they don't set off the shark siren for a shark that's not a danger to humans.

An ocean swimmer told The Times that he was a little torn about the increased surveillance.

On the one hand, he appreciates getting a heads up, but on the other, seeing all the drone videos that have been popping up of the dark shapes lurking near the shoreline can be a lot.

He said, quote, "Sometimes I'd rather not know." Those are the headlines.

Today on The Daily, how a new accusation of sexual assault has upended the high-stakes Senate campaign in Maine, and what could happen next.

You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Tracy Mumford.

We'll be back tomorrow.

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