- - Trump slaps tariffs on Iran's partners and Supreme Court weighs transgender athletes ban: Morning Rundown

Kaylah JacksonJanuary 13, 2026 at 4:06 AM

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In today’s newsletter: Trump ramps up economic pressure on Iran by announcing a 25% tariff on countries doing business with it. The Supreme Court prepares to weigh oral arguments on transgender student-athletes. And an unlikely presidential ally emerges as the administration rolls out a new economic agenda to address affordability concerns.

Here’s what to know today.

Trump says Iran wants to negotiate, weighs ‘strong options’ to respond to deadly protest crackdown

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that countries doing business with Iran will pay a 25% tariff on “any and all business being done with the United States of America.” It came after he repeatedly warned that the U.S. may intervene if authorities open fire on the anti-government demonstrations.

Hundreds of people have been killed by security forces in their bid to quash the unrest, activists say, and a days-long internet and phone blackout has cut the country off from the world. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the situation is under control, but a video verified by NBC News has captured rows of black body bags laid at an Iranian morgue, showing the scale of the government crackdown.

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Frustration over the regime has expanded to the U.S., with protests growing in west Los Angeles over the weekend, which eventually grew violent after a man allegedly drove a U-Haul box truck through a group of people. He was later booked on reckless driving charges.

Amid all of this, Trump told reporters Sunday that Iran’s leaders called him, saying “they want to negotiate.” He added that “a meeting is being set up,” but didn’t shy away from threatening U.S. intervention if Iran retaliates.

“If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Read the full story here.

Supreme Court weighs state restrictions on transgender student-athletes

Becky Pepper-Jackson outside the Supreme Court on Jan. 11, 2026. (Jose Luis Magana / AP)

The Supreme Court will hear arguments today to later decide on the legality of states banning transgender athletes from participating in girls’ or women’s sports.

The court is tackling two related legal questions: whether the bans violate the 14th Amendment to the Constitution or Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

Becky Pepper-Jackson, 15, who has taken puberty blocker medication and estrogen, is one of two transgender student cases involved in the oral arguments.

She has competed in cross-country, shot put and discus and previously challenged the ban in West Virginia that would prevent her from competing for her school.

West Virginia has argued that both the 14th Amendment and Title IX don’t discriminate based on transgender status but are instead a “sex-based classification” that’s currently allowed.

Pepper-Jackson’s lawyers said in court papers that her early transition prevented her from experiencing male puberty, and there’s no evidence she gained a physical advantage in sports.

In 2020, the Supreme Court surprisingly ruled that Title VII, the federal law prohibiting discrimination in employment, applies to gender identity and sexual orientation.

Whether two conservative justices in the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch, share the same view on similar language in Title IX could be a telling sign of this landmark ruling, which is likely to have nationwide implications.

Read the full story here.

Trump turns to progressives for ideas on affordability

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, on Jan. 9, 2026. (Alex Brandon / AP)

President Donald Trump is turning to unlikely allies as he rolls out a new economic agenda to address affordability concerns and position Republicans for the midterm elections: progressives.

Trump has renewed a campaign promise to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent, vowed to ban investors from buying up housing and directed mortgage giants Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac to invest $200 billion in mortgage bonds.

This new agenda, which includes several liberal wish-list items, has raised eyebrows among traditional economic conservatives by having the government take ownership stakes in some private companies and pressuring Federal Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, along with the Justice Department launching an investigation into his leadership at the Federal Reserve.

Liberal Democrats in the House and Senate have pushed to lower home prices by targeting investors for years, and Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. And Josh Hawley, R. Ro. Recently introduced legislation to limit credit card rates for one year.

With the nation’s unemployment rate continuing to rise, lowering prices could help the agenda of Republican candidates, even if the gains come at the cost of discarding what’s customary for the party.

Read the full story here.

Read All About It -

The Justice Department investigation into the Federal Reserve and Chairman Jerome Powell had been quietly building since late last year, sources told NBC News.

A teenage boy was shot dead inside the bathroom of a Chipotle restaurant in Philadelphia, police said.

A third person was killed in Western avalanches that blanketed Wyoming late last week and early this week.

The judge overseeing Luigi Mangione’s federal trial reversed her previous decision and ordered a new hearing to determine whether his backpack was lawfully searched during his arrest.

Michael David McKee now faces charges of premeditated aggravated murder in the deaths of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband, Spencer Tepe, in Ohio.

Staff Pick: Space does what to the brain?!

In this handout from NASA, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry Virts and Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore work outside the International Space Station on their third spacewalk on March 1, 2015. (NASA / Getty Images)

It should come as no surprise that launching on a rocket, traveling into space at more than 20 times the speed of sound and living for months on end in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station would take a toll on the human body. Scientists have known that astronauts can suffer bone loss, muscle deterioration and vision changes from their time in orbit, and now it seems that spaceflight can change the shape and position of astronauts’ brains, too.

The changes were most pronounced in crew members who stayed in space six months or longer. “It’s on the order of a couple of millimeters, which doesn’t sound like a big number, but when you’re talking about brain movement, it really is,” said Rachael Seidler, a professor in the department of applied physiology and kinesiology at the University of Florida and a co-author of the study.

So far, astronauts haven’t reported serious symptoms from the brain shifts, but as NASA plans for long-duration missions to the moon (and eventually Mars), understanding the ways that spaceflight can affect various organs and how they function will be crucial to keeping crews safe and healthy.

— Denise Chow, science reporter

NBC Select: Online shopping, simplified

January is all about resets. Our editors broke down red light therapy and whether it’s actually worth trying, plus rounded up the best nonalcoholic spirits for anyone keeping things dry this month. We also our weekly list of sales to help you shop smarter while sticking to your goals.

Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.

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Source: “AOL Breaking”