U.S.S. Lincoln Begins 13,000-Mile Journey Home, and the Shortage That Could Take Down the Grid

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**Tracy Mumford** (0:35)
From the New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, August 21st. Here's what we're covering.
With the war in Iran almost at the six-month mark, President Trump is issuing new threats, this time aimed at Iran's economy. This week, he promised what he called an economic D-day, and quote, the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country, though his administration has not specified what that will look like.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:08)
What can we expect here?

**Scott Bessent** (1:10)
Yeah, you're going to expect I'll be holding a press conference on Monday to talk about exactly what we're going to do.

**Tracy Mumford** (1:17)
Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose department oversees things like sanctions, said a plan will be rolled out next week. But his comments also made something else clear.

**Scott Bessent** (1:27)
For now, for now, and it is at the president's discretion, if we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart.

**Tracy Mumford** (1:42)
Essentially, by going all in on economic warfare, the US is stepping back from its threats of military action. And experts say Iran is listening closely. One former Middle East negotiator who worked for presidents of both parties said Iran's leaders are likely reading Trump's pivot as a clear sign he does not want to go back to full-scale war. The question now, though, is how effective any new economic pressure on Iran can be. The US is already blockading its ports, and the country has faced years of crippling sanctions. Still, the regime has remained resilient. This week Trump expanded his threats to target any country that does business with Iran, trying to isolate it further. But experts say following through on that will be very difficult. Iran's most important financial lifeline is China, which buys most of Iran's oil. And one expert on economics at the Council on Foreign Relations told the Times, quote, I'm skeptical Trump is willing to risk instigating an economic war with China right now.
And one other quick update on the war. The USS Lincoln is finally leaving the Middle East. In recent weeks there had been a growing number of reports about deteriorating conditions on the aircraft carrier and how the crew had been pushed to its limits as the ship stayed at sea for months longer than expected, supporting President Trump's military campaign in Iran.
Earlier this month, hundreds of family members of the sailors flooded a town hall meeting with Navy officials demanding an update about conditions on board. Now the Lincoln has started its 13,000-mile journey back to its home port of San Diego, which could take a month or longer.
Last year, right after getting back into the White House, President Trump continued his flurry of executive moves. President Trump went on a firing spree.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:38)
The president fired the inspectors general from a number of federal agencies.

**Tracy Mumford** (3:43)
He dismissed around 20 inspectors general. They're essentially watchdogs who are supposed to provide independent oversight of federal agencies, looking for things like waste and fraud.
Many of those positions are still unfilled. But Trump has now started to put in some of his own replacements.

**Luke Broadwater** (4:02)
You know, traditionally, you would appoint accountants or law enforcement or previous internal investigators, people from non-political backgrounds. But what we're seeing is that Donald Trump is appointing people from overtly political backgrounds to these roles.

**Tracy Mumford** (4:19)
Luke Broadwater covers the White House for The Times. He says Trump's picks for the roles have included a former Republican congressman, a lawyer who worked for Republicans on Capitol Hill, and most recently, one of the authors of Project 2025, the well-known conservative policy initiative.
In their new roles, some of the IGs have started investigating or attacking the president's frequent targets, like California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

**Luke Broadwater** (4:48)
Typically, what an inspector general does is they scrutinize their own agency. So if you're the inspector general for, let's say, homeland security, you're looking at how the homeland security secretary is running the office. Are they spending dollars wisely? Are contracts going out to the lowest bidder? Things like that.