CNN 5 Things

Hey, from CNN, I'm Ifeoma Dike with the five things you need to know for Wednesday, February 25th.

The Trump administration slapped new sanctions on Iran ahead of talks tomorrow in Geneva. The Treasury Department says the latest round of sanctions hit ships operating as part of Iran's shadow fleet and target the country's ballistic missile production. It comes as Iran accused President Donald Trump of repeating, quote, big lies about its nuclear and ballistic program during the State of the Union address last night.

They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.

'In an exclusive interview with India Today, Iran's foreign minister insisted that its missile program is strictly defensive. He says Iran is fully prepared for war and peace, but remains committed to diplomacy and a fair nuclear agreement. More news coming up, including the latest prominent figure making moves over ties to Epstein. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is threatening to suspend TSA pre-check lines amid the partial government shutdown. The service allows travelers to get through airport security more quickly. Noem denied that her department reversed its decision to pause TSA Pre-Check over the weekend, saying agency officials talked it over.

As we go forward and without funding for DHS, if we end up in a situation where these TSA officers can't have to go get other jobs and provide for their families, we'll have to prioritize where the most travelers go through their security checkpoints.

Congress did an act to fund DHS by its deadline earlier this month as lawmakers demand reforms in the agency's immigration enforcement operations after federal immigration agents shot and killed two U.S. Citizens in Minneapolis last month. There's new fallout in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Today, economist and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says he plans to retire as a Harvard University professor at the end of the academic year. CNN's Matt Egan breaks it down.

Summers says that this was a quote, difficult decision, right? And it's clearly coming as there's more scrutiny over his links to Jeffrey Epstein. Documents that were released in recent months have showed that Summers kept ongoing correspondence with Epstein for many years. And that correspondence included emails that showed Summers making at times sexist comments and even seeking romantic advice from the convicted sex offender. Now, Summers has previously said that he is quote, deeply ashamed over his relationship with Epstein. The Harvard University spokesperson says that they decided to accept his resignation from this top post at the Harvard Kennedy School as part of the university's ongoing review of the Epstein files.

The FBI searched the Los Angeles Unified School District's headquarters and its superintendent's home as part of a federal investigation. A spokesperson for the FBI's LA field office confirmed agents were at the property to serve search warrants, but declined to comment further because affidavits laying out details for the basis of the searches were under seal. The nature of the investigation and what allegations were being examined wasn't immediately clear. The superintendent is Alberto Carvalho, who's been serving the role since February 2022. The LA Unified School District is the nation's second largest, with more than 500,000 students across more than two dozen cities. The district said in a statement Wednesday that it's cooperating with the investigation and doesn't have further information at this time.

Coming up, the astronaut behind an early exit from the International Space Station.

'Veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fink confirmed that it was his medical issue, which led to Crew-11's sudden departure from the International Space Station last month. CNN's Jackie Wattles has more.

He didn't say the nature of his issue or exactly what that medical concern was. All he said was that it was a medical event that required immediate attention, but that he was quickly stabilized. NASA had never taken this step before of bringing a premature into an ISS staffing mission because of a health issue. And it came about at a very unexpected time. Mike Fink and his colleague. Zina Cardman, they were actually supposed to step outside the space station and conduct a space walk. And it was during preparations for that event that this medical issue was identified. And their departure left just three people on board the International Space Station, and that's not ideal.

That is it for us. We're back at 7 a.m. Eastern.