U.S. and Iran threaten escalation, and Robert Mueller dies: Weekend Rundown

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday defended U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran’s infrastructure, saying “sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.” His comments came just hours after President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he was giving Iranian leadership 48 hours to open the Strait of Hormuz or risk strikes that “will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Bessent defended Trump’s rhetoric, saying it’s “the only language the Iranians understand.” Scott Bessent: U.S. won’t raise taxes to fund Iran war Earlier Sunday, a spokesperson for Iran’s military command headquarters warned that if the U.S.

strikes oil infrastructure, Tehran will respond in kind with further escalation. “If Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is attacked, then fuel, energy, information technology systems and desalination infrastructure used by America and the regime in the region will be struck,” Col. Ebrahim Zolfaqari said, according to the IRNA state news agency.

Robert Mueller III, the long-serving FBI director who later served as the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, died at 81. Mueller took his post just days before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

He worked under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who credit him with transforming the bureau in the wake of the tragedy. A decorated Marine, Mueller became a frequent target of Trump’s after his probe found that Russia interfered in the 2016 election in a sweeping and systematic fashion, including efforts to boost the now-president’s campaign.

Cuba’s deputy foreign minister said Saturday that the nation’s military is preparing for “the possibility of military aggression” from the U.S. and that it would be “naive” for Cuba’s leaders to ignore the possibility of conflict. “Our military is always prepared, and in fact it is preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression,” Carlos Fernández de Cossío told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday.

Fernández de Cossío said the country’s leaders “truly hope that it doesn’t occur. We don’t see why it would have to occur, and we find no justification whatsoever.” The ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Cuba come as the island nation began restoring its energy system Sunday, a day after a nationwide collapse of the entire grid left millions of people in the dark for the third time this month.

Rachel Accurso, the popular children’s entertainer known as Ms. Rachel, has become a prominent voice speaking out on the plight of kids in war-torn Gaza and Sudan. Now, she’s embarking on a mission closer to home: working with lawyers and immigration rights activists to close the family detention center in Dilley, Texas, and “make sure that kids and their parents are back in their communities where they belong,” she told NBC News.

Last week, Accurso heard directly from children held there, including 9-year-old Deiver Henao Jimenez, who won his school spelling bee and is worried he’ll miss New Mexico’s state competition in May. “We’re just trying to get a child out of a jail to do a spelling bee,” Accurso said. “I just never thought those words would go together.” The Kremlin’s tightening grip on Russian life has a new target: the country’s most popular messaging app.

Ordinary Russians and even pro-Kremlin hawks have offered rare public pushback against the campaign to throttle Telegram, warning it could backfire, not just at home but for Russia’s military in Ukraine. The app is woven into the daily existence of those who support and oppose the government alike. But the Kremlin is instead pushing people to its new “national” messenger MAX, which many fear could be used to surveil them as part of a deepening crackdown on freedoms since the invasion of Ukraine.

“I can only assume that there is a lofty goal of making everything sovereign, but what’s happening right now is just sabotage,” said pro-Kremlin gamer and activist Grigory Korolyov, who uses the app to help fundraise for the Russian army. Some days for Rachel Jordan start at 5 a.m. and don’t end until midnight — sometimes for multiple days in a row.

“I’m just exhausted, honestly,” she said. The Florida resident, 43, is one of the millions of Americans who work two jobs to get by as they try to pay down debts they incurred early in life. With about $75,000 in outstanding student loan debt, Jordan often works 70 hours a week, but worries she’s still financially behind.

It just looked like a rock, and ain’t no rocks got no business falling out of the sky. A bright fireball that was spotted Saturday afternoon in the skies over southeastern Texas was confirmed to be a meteor that likely broke apart over the Houston area, according to NASA. Platforms editor for NBC News Mark Hodge is a platforms editor for NBC News based in London.

Amina Kilpatrick is a weekend platforms editor for NBC News. Jeremy Mikula is the weekend director of platforms for NBC News.