NTD News Today

Oil prices climbed to around $110 a barrel on April 2 after President Donald Trump said the United States would continue attacks on Iran. And the United Kingdom is hosting a virtual meeting of around 40 countries to discuss options for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The United States is not due to attend.
An end to the longest Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown in history is on the horizon. Trump and congressional GOP leaders have rallied behind a two-pronged approach to bypass Senate Democrats on immigration funding. Lawmakers will fund the DHS through regular order, but remove funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Those will be handled in a second party-line bill using a budget process that will allow passage without support from Democrats.

U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29, said talks with Iran are ongoing and making “very good” progress. He urged Tehran to take the deal or face destruction of its critical infrastructure. A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry denies negotiations are taking place.
Transportation Security Administration agents are expected to be paid again soon after Trump signed a presidential memorandum last week that would allow them to get paid despite the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, which is now officially the longest in history, with no end in sight.

The U.S. Senate voted on Friday (March) to end a partial government shutdown that has snarled airports across the country, though it did not resolve a dispute over immigration enforcement that prompted the six-week standoff in the first place. The House of Representatives must also pass the bill before Trump can sign it into law. A vote was expected later on Friday.

President Donald Trump announced actions to help U.S. farmers on Friday, as the White House host hundreds of farmers, ranchers and executives for an event highlighting the agricultural sector.

President ​Donald Trump on March 25 warned Iran to "get serious" about a deal to end nearly four weeks of fighting, after its foreign minister said Tehran was reviewing the U.S. proposal, but there were no direct talks on winding down the war.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday that Iran had been "militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback", and was "begging" for a deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 25 that the Israeli military had killed an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy commander responsible for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Wall Street's main indexes opened higher on Wednesday as prospects of a de-escalation in the Middle East conflict allayed some investor fears around prolonged energy supply disruptions.
A source at the Pentagon has told media that elements of the elite 82nd Airborne Division are being deployed to the region. A key element of the 82nd Airborne is the Immediate Response Force—highly-trained soldiers who can parachute into enemy territory. The deployment comes after U.S. airstrikes on Iran's Kharg Island, targeting military facilities but leaving oil infrastructure untouched. President Donald Trump also warning that the United States could target oil facilities if Iran interferes with the Strait of Hormuz.