Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for May 5, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

THE LATEST

The U.S. war with Iran is over, Marco Rubio said at a White House press briefing this afternoon — but an entirely new U.S. operation has begun to put the Strait of Hormuz “back the way it was.” The secretary of state was filling in for Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave.

Pete Hegseth also insisted during a separate Pentagon press briefing this morning that the battle for control over the strait is a “separate and distinct” conflict — and that this week’s renewed hostilities fall “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations.”

• Two American-flagged commercial ships and multiple U.S. destroyers transiting the strait were targeted by Iranian fire this week, threatening an already-fragile ceasefire.
• Rubio insisted that the ceasefire remained in effect because all attacks launched by the U.S. were “defensive” in nature. “We’re not attacking them, they’re attacking us,” he said.

• He added that the U.S. planned to go to the United Nations to formally ask for help reopening the strait.

P.S. When asked about a viral moment in which he briefly took over as DJ at a recent family wedding, Rubio replied that the public was not “ready for my DJ name.”

THE HILL

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is pushing for a vote on a resolution to authorize the military operation in Iran beyond the 1973 War Powers Act’s 60-day window, The Hill reported. Senate Republican sources told the outlet it’d be an uphill battle for Murkowski, as she would need Majority Leader John Thune to put it on the Senate’s cramped calendar.

THE ADMINISTRATION

Border czar Tom Homan threatened an ICE surge in New York, vowing to use the same aggressive tactics seen in cities like Minneapolis. He singled out the state after Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed a bill that would bar police departments from partnering with federal agents on immigration enforcement, NOTUS’ Jose Pagliery reports.

• “We’re gonna flood the zone. You’re gonna see more ICE agents than you’ve ever seen before,” Homan said at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix.

The first wave of tariff refunds are expected to be issued electronically starting on May 12. The funds are set to go directly to companies that paid import taxes before they were struck down by the Supreme Court in February, The Hill reports.

Soil at the D.C. golf course where Donald Trump dumped debris from his East Wing demolition tested positive for toxic metals like lead and chromium, according to National Park Service data published last week. The results, while showing relatively low levels of toxicity, have added fuel to the nonprofit D.C. Preservation League’s fight against the president’s planned overhaul of the 105-year-old East Potomac Golf Links course.

The FDA has confirmed that it blocked publication of multiple studies supporting the safety of COVID-19 and shingles vaccines. Scientists at the agency used millions of dollars in public funds to determine that serious side effects caused by the vaccines are rare, but the studies were withdrawn in October and February.

PEEKABOO

Thank you for reading! Today’s newsletter was produced by Kelly Poe and Andrew Burton. If you liked it, please forward it to a friend. If someone shared it with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Got a tip or comments to share? Email us at finalnotus@notus.com.