The US military and the Pentagon must determine within 30 days how they will find and identify transgender soldiers and what process they will follow to remove them from the military.

This challenging task may depend on soldiers self-reporting or informing on their colleagues.

A memorandum sent to Department of Defense officials on Thursday, following a note submitted by the Pentagon late Wednesday in response to a lawsuit, ordered the military to establish procedures by March 26 to identify soldiers diagnosed with or receiving treatment for “gender dysphoria” (gender identity disorder).

They will then have 30 days to begin removing these soldiers from the military.

This order expands the presidential executive order signed by President Donald Trump shortly after taking office, which outlined steps to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military. That order had been challenged in court.

A senior defense official said Thursday that they believe there are currently about 4,200 soldiers diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” on active duty, in the National Guard, and the Reserve Forces.

The official, who did not want to be named to discuss personnel matters, said the total cost for psychotherapy, gender-affirming hormone therapy, gender-affirming surgeries, and other treatments between 2015 and 2024 was approximately $52 million.

Approximately 2.1 million soldiers serve in the US military.

Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are working to eliminate them, arguing that their medical conditions do not meet military standards.

Under Secretary of Personnel Darin Selnick said in the new note, “The medical, surgical, and mental health limitations of individuals diagnosed with, having a history of, or demonstrating symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards required for military service.”

The memorandum claims that the “lethality and integrity of the military” are “incompatible” with what transgender personnel experience during their transition to the gender they identify with, and states that gender is “immutable, fixed throughout a person’s life.”

Lawyers for six transgender soldiers who filed a lawsuit against Trump’s presidential executive order argued in court filings that the order explicitly expressed “hostility” towards transgender people and demeaned them in the eyes of other soldiers and the public by calling them “unequal and unnecessary.”

Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, said the new policy puts soldiers in a difficult position and forces transgender soldiers to reveal themselves.

Warbelow said, “Suddenly you’re going to have to out yourself. Other people are going to have to out you. If you have a best friend in the military who knows you’re transgender, under this new guidance, that friend, if you’re a transgender woman, is going to have to refer to you as [male pronoun] “he” and “sir” from today.”

Soldiers are “being forced to choose between the safety of their friends and not following direct orders,” Warbelow said, adding that transgender soldiers may feel pressured to reveal themselves because they know they could be punished if they do not.

On Thursday, US officials said that according to initial figures, approximately 600 transgender soldiers in the Navy, 300 to 500 in the Army, and fewer than 50 in the Marine Corps could be quickly identified. Officials acknowledged that individuals could be identified, for example, through documented medical treatments, and that this number would likely increase.

However, officials stated that the initial figures might be lower than the true total because some soldiers may have joined the military after transitioning and may not have undergone medical or surgical procedures that would identify them.

Officials also warned that they might be limited by health privacy laws regarding what they can distinguish from records and what they can report.

An independent study conducted in 2018 by the Palm Center, which researches LGBT issues, estimated that there were approximately 14,000 transgender soldiers among more than 2 million service members.

The Pentagon’s new policy provides for two exceptions: if transgender personnel seeking to enlist can prove on a case-by-case basis that they directly support combat operations, or if an existing soldier diagnosed with gender dysphoria can prove they support a specific combat need and have not transitioned to the gender they identify with, and can prove they have been stable in their biological sex for 36 months “without clinically significant distress.”

Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s biological sex and gender identity do not align.

If an exemption is granted, the applicant will face situations such as recognition only of their biological sex in restrooms, barracks, and even formal address like “sir” or “ma’am.”

Warbelow said that transgender soldiers should wait for further clarification from the military and their commanders before taking any steps that could affect their military service, and also noted that ongoing lawsuits could affect this policy.

Nick Turley, manager of the ChatGPT unit at artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, said in a court hearing on Tuesday, June 18, that OpenAI would be interested in buying Google’s Chrome browser if a federal court decides to separate it.

As reported by Bloomberg, when asked if they would want to buy Google’s browser, Turley replied, “Yes, we would, just like many other parties.”

Turley was called to testify by the Department of Justice as part of a three-week hearing aimed at determining what changes Alphabet Inc.’s Google should be required to make to its business practices after a federal judge ruled last year that the company had monopolized the search market.

Judge Amit Mehta is expected to decide by August what business practices Google must change.

The Department of Justice has requested that Google be forced to divest Chrome.

Currently, OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT has an extension available for users to download on Google’s Chrome browser.

However, Turley stated that deeper integration of Chrome with OpenAI would allow them to offer a better product.

“If ChatGPT were integrated into Chrome, you could offer a truly incredible experience. We would have the ability to introduce users to what an AI-centric experience looks like,” Turley added.

Turley said that one of the most difficult problems the company faces today is distribution, noting that the company had reached a deal to integrate ChatGPT into Apple Inc.’s iPhone but had not achieved any success with Android smartphone manufacturers.

Earlier, a Google executive had acknowledged that the company began paying Samsung Electronics Co. in January to pre-install its Gemini AI application on its phones.

That deal is not exclusive, but Turley said OpenAI had made little progress in discussions with the South Korean company due to Google’s ability to spend more than the startup.

“It’s not for lack of trying,” Turley said. “We just never got to a point where we could discuss concrete terms.”

Later in his testimony, Turley said they were “deeply concerned about being shut out” by some of the large companies in the market, such as Google.

“We have powerful competitors who control the access points for how our products are discovered,” Turley stated. “People discover through a browser or an app store. Real choice fosters competition. Users should be able to choose.”

Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT quickly achieved viral success as one of the fastest-growing consumer software products of all time.

In February, OpenAI reported having over 400 million weekly active users.

Turley stated that the company had exceeded its weekly active user targets for 2024 but did not provide a number.

This week, Google began facing off against the Department of Justice and dozens of state attorneys general over what changes Mehta will order to prevent the company from monopolizing the online search market.

The remedies proposed by the Department of Justice include forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser, licensing search data to competitors, and stopping paid agreements for exclusive positions on apps and devices.

Google argues that the government’s proposal would harm consumers by degrading everyday Google products and would damage US leadership in technology.

If the court orders Google to sell its popular web browser, it would mark the first time a major US company has been broken up by court order since the breakup of AT&T in the 1980s.

As preparations continue for the third round of US-Iran nuclear negotiations, new sanctions against Iran have emerged. The US administration announced new sanctions targeting an Iranian LPG company and its affiliated entities. Iran condemned the new sanctions, stating they “contradict the dialogue process.”

At a time when nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington were reportedly “progressing better than expected,” the US imposed new sanctions on Iran’s energy sector. Days before the third round of nuclear talks, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting Seyyed Asadollah Emamjomeh, a leading Iranian businessman in the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sector, and his associated corporate network. The sanctions were imposed within the framework of the “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, which US President Donald Trump continued despite the nuclear negotiations.

In its statement, the US Treasury Department alleged that Emamjomeh and the affiliates of his son, Meysam Emamjomeh, a British and Iranian citizen residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), “provide revenue to the Iranian regime and its proxies.” The department stated that the father and son “own and operate an LPG sales, transportation, and delivery network worth hundreds of millions of dollars using multiple Iran and UAE-based companies,” and made the following claim:

“In addition to crude oil, LPG continues to be a significant revenue source for the Iranian regime, and this revenue finances Iran’s nuclear and advanced conventional weapons programs, as well as regional proxy groups and partners such as Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas.”

In a written statement regarding the new sanctions, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ismail Bekayi said that the sanctions were a clear indication of the Washington administration’s hostile attitude towards the Iranian people and contradicted the US’s claims of dialogue.

Bekayi stated that the US was “bullying for political pressure” and that the sanctions were “illegal.”

The new sanctions were announced at a time when sources speaking to al-Arabi al-Jadeed said that “nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington are progressing better than expected.” These sources had stated, “We expect an agreement between Tehran and Washington within the next two months – which is likely to be sooner. Iran-American negotiations are progressing better than expected.”

The report noted that “the serious conduct of the American negotiator surprised the Iranian side; unrealistic demands unrelated to the nuclear dispute were not raised,” and used the phrase, “The US approves Iran’s right to enrich uranium in principle.” The sources also said that Iran had “submitted proposals to provide assurances regarding the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.”

The first round of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, mediated by Oman, took place last Saturday in Muscat, and the second round was held on April 19 in Rome. The third round is planned to take place this Saturday in Oman.