Tension In Two Ceasefires, Navy Secretary Out, Trump's Slumping Approval

Iran sees two ships in the Strait Of Hormuz. The White House says it's not a ceasefire violation because neither of them was American or Israeli. Meanwhile, a journalist was killed by an Israeli air strike on Lebanon even as ambassadors meet today to extend their ceasefire. I'm Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. The secretary of the navy is out. It's the latest in more than 30 high level dismissals at the Pentagon under defense secretary Pete Hegseth. And this one comes as the war in Iran is in its eighth week. Is this level of turnover a problem? And the president's economic approval rating is on a downward turn. The Iran war is two weeks past his own deadline. His tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court and the Republican redistricting push could backfire too. We'll examine president Trump's political position ahead of false midterm elections. Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day. This week on sources and methods, the latest on a Pentagon controversy, defense secretary Pete Hegseth takes the highly unusual step of personally intervening to block military promotions, plus the latest escalation in Iran after an American helicopter is shut down. We digest the week's biggest national security headlines on sources and methods from NPR. Iran has tightened control on the Strait Of Hormuz while The US continues to claim success in its blockade of Iranian ports in the strategic waterway. Iran is still not officially acknowledging a unilateral US ceasefire declared by president Trump. For more, we go to NPR's Jane Araff in Amman, Jordan. Jane, hello. Hi, Michelle. So there's been a flurry of competing messages over what's happening in the Straits since US warships in the Indian Ocean began efforts to intercept the traffic there. So what do we know about what's going on? Well, Iran yesterday fired on three ships, seizing two of them in the Strait Of Hormuz, that narrow waterway between Iran and Oman. And it released video with dramatic music swelling, an Iranian gunboat, and troops boarding one of the container ships that were taken to Iranian port. It's the first time in this war that they have seized vessels. The US military put out a release noting that it had 10,000 personnel and 17 warships As part of its blockade of the Strait Of Hormuz, it said it directed 31 vessels to change course since beginning it this month, and it said the majority complied. It wasn't clear what happened to the others. So, well, it seems like that release is an effort to show that The US really still is in charge. But having said that, there do seem to be attempts by the president to deescalate. Can you tell us about those? Absolutely. Earlier this week, president Trump had threatened to bomb all Iranian bridges and power plants. Yesterday, he wrote that he had been informed that eight female protesters who were to be …