Planning attack options

Good morning. US officials are said to be preparing for a possible strike on Iran. A SpaceX Starship explodes on a test stand. And the US adds thousands of millionaires to its ranks. Listen to the day’s top stories.

US officials are preparing for a possible strike on Iran as soon as this weekend, people familiar said. Even though the outcome of meetings in the situation room is still a mystery, the WSJ reported Donald Trump had earlier approved attack plans but withheld the final authorization. Trump’s hints at using the US military to help Israel destroy Iran's nuclear program have sparked a revolt from his typically faithful MAGA base. “We can’t have another Iraq,” his former chief strategist Steve Bannon said.

The cost of money: After the Fed’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged, surprising no one and angering the US president, today the Bank of England also held its key rate. Still in Europe, the Swiss National Bank lowered its benchmark rate to zero and signaled it’s ready to go deeper to protect the franc, and Norway’s Norges Bank surprisingly cut borrowing costs too.

A SpaceX Starship exploded on a test stand in Texas, causing a massive blast and plumes of flames and smoke. No one was injured and local residents aren’t at risk, the company said. But following another setback only last month, it’s a reminder that Elon Musk’s ambitions to operate return trips to Mars are fraught with danger.

In the NBA, billionaire Mark Walter agreed to buy a majority stake in the LA Lakers from the Buss family at a record $10 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the discussions. Walter, who owns the Dodgers and is CEO of investment firm Guggenheim Partners, crushed the previous record belonging to the Boston Celtics, which went to a group led by Bill Chisholm for $6.1 billion.

More corporate news: Amazon is said to be ordering some corporate employees to relocate to Seattle and other hubs. Alphabet’s Waymo applied for a permit to test its robotaxis in NYC, with a human supervising behind the wheel—potentially that’s bad for Uber and Lyft. And Morgan Stanley is shuttering a unit focused on electronic market-making for US equity options, people familiar with the matter said.

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Deep Dive: Trump Upends US Academia

The US State Department ordered a review of student visa applicants’ social media presence and told them to make their profiles public, stepping up measures to restrict foreign citizens’ entry to American campuses.

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The Big Take

Luxury goods maker LVMH is reeling from a sharp downturn in the €364 billion industry—and questions about succession are growing louder. Read the story.

Opinion

Trump's foreign policy is fraught with contradictions and his potential involvement in an attack on Iran may create a rift among his own base, not to mention the world, Andreas Kluth writes. If Trump does give the order to attack, he will likely lose a large and especially zealous part of his "America First" crowd.

Before You Go

Millionaire bonanza. The US added more than 1,000 new millionaires per day last year, with surging stocks driving the increase. There were more than 684,000 created worldwide in 2024, over half of whom were in the US, according to UBS’s 2025 Global Wealth report. But for average riches per adult, Switzerland topped the list.

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