WASHINGTON (OSV News) – President Donald Trump said March 7 he wants to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran amid growing concern that the nation is approaching the capability to make atomic weapons.
The same week, a major Democratic official spoke critically of his party's advocacy for policies allowing transgender athletes to participate in women's athletics, and the House censured one of its members for an outburst during Trump's address to a joint session of Congress.
Trump seeks to renegotiate Iran nuclear deal
In a clip from an interview with Fox Business's Maria Bartiromo expected to air on the following Sunday, Trump said he sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in an attempt to renegotiate.
"There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal," Trump said, adding, "Because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon."
Trump suggested it would be in Iran's interest to do so, telling Bartiromo, "I'm not sure everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily."
Trump's move mirrors similar outreach made by former President Barack Obama, who also sent a letter to Khamenei in 2009 to propose nuclear negotiations. But Trump has sharply criticized the deal that resulted from that process, withdrawing from it during his first term.
Pope Francis has long called for nuclear disarmament. In a 2022 statement on the subject, the pontiff said, "The Holy See has no doubts that a world free from nuclear weapons is both necessary and possible."
Major Democrat bucks party on transgender athlete policy
Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., a Catholic widely seen as a likely candidate for his party's presidential nomination in 2028, spoke critically in a March 6 podcast of Democratic advocacy for policies allowing transgender athletes to participate in women's athletics.
"I think it's an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness – it's deeply unfair," Newsom said in comments on his new podcast, "This is Gavin Newsom," in which he was joined by conservative activist Charlie Kirk. "I am not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you."
Newsom, who frequently makes conservative media appearances, even holding a debate with Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., in 2023, has also been a staunch advocate of protections for LGBTQ+ Americans.
Earlier the same week, legislation requiring student-athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond to their biological sex rather than their gender identity failed to advance in the U.S. Senate. The Senate voted 51-45 to advance the bill on March 3, failing to reach a 60-vote threshold to overcome a Democratic filibuster and advance to a vote on the bill itself.
In a March 6 statement, Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and Bishop David M. O'Connell of Trenton, New Jersey, expressed disappointment in the failure of that bill, The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, calling it "commonsense legislation that would ensure fairness for female athletes."
Bishop Barron, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, and Bishop O'Connell, chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Catholic Education, said in a joint statement that "the teaching of the Catholic Church calls us to advocate for the equal dignity of men and women, recognizing that God created us male and female."
"This legislation would ensure a level playing field for women and girls to compete in fairness and safety with other females," the bishops said. "An ideological promotion of personal identity, detached from biological reality, undermines human dignity and the role sports play in true educational formation. We reiterate our long-standing support for this Act and encourage female student-athletes nationwide to continue to strive to uphold fairness and equality in athletic competitions."
House censures Rep. Al Green after Trump speech outburst
The House voted March 6 to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting Trump's address to Congress earlier the same week.
In his speech, Trump touted the "swift and unrelenting action" taken by his second administration in its first six weeks, telling lawmakers he was "just getting started."
During the speech, in objecting to some of Trump's arguments, Green began yelling during Trump's speech, and Republican members began chanting "USA" to drown him out. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ultimately directed the Sergeant at Arms to remove Green from the chamber.
The Republican-led effort to censure Green passed in a 224-198 vote, with two members, including Green himself, voting present. Ten Democrats voted with Republicans to censure Green. That vote was also tense, resulting in a shouting match between some members.
