NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Mets will retire Carlos Beltrán’s No. 15 and he will enter the team's hall of fame before their home game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 19.
Beltrán will become the ninth player in franchise history to have his number retired. Previously, Tom Seaver (41), Mike Piazza (31), Jerry Koosman (36), Keith Hernandez (17), Willie Mays (24), Dwight Gooden (16), Darryl Strawberry (18) and David Wright (5) had their numbers retired.
The Mets also have retired the numbers of former managers Gil Hodges (14) and Casey Stengel (37) and all major league teams have retired No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.
Mets outfielder Tyrone Taylor, who currently wears No. 15, will change his number to 28.
Beltrán was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame earlier this year. He announced he would wear a Mets cap on his plaque. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be on July 26.
Beltrán was hired as the New York Mets’ manager on Nov. 1, 2019, then fired on Jan. 16, 2020, without having managed a game. New York announced its decision three days after he was the only Astros player mentioned by name in a report by Major League Baseball regarding the team’s illicit use of electronics to steal signs during Houston’s run to the 2017 World Series championship — his final season.
He was hired by the Mets as a special assistant to the general manager in February 2023. He continues to work as a special assistant to president of baseball operations David Stearns.
Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen released a statement on Monday praising Beltrán as “one of the greatest offensive players in team history, combining power and speed with elite defense.”
Beltrán said having his number retired and entering the team's hall of fame is "the highest possible tribute, and I truly feel blessed. The Mets hold a special place in my heart. This summer will be incredibly meaningful, from my induction into the baseball Hall of Fame to this Mets hall of fame honor, with the cherry on top being my number retirement. I’m deeply grateful.”
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FILE - New York Mets' Carlos Beltran follows through on a line-drive single to center field that scored Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo during the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks in a baseball game June 11, 2008, in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
FILE - New York Mets' Carlos Beltran smiles during an introductory baseball news conference in New York, Nov. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Facing a looming U.S. deadline, Iran’s president said Tuesday that 14 million Iranians, including himself, have volunteered to sacrifice their lives in the war.
President Masoud Pezeshkian made the comment on X just ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline to bomb power stations and bridges in Iran if it doesn’t loosen its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
The figure is double other figures mentioned by state media in the past about volunteers the government had been soliciting by text messages and media as the war went on.
Iran is home to 90 million people. Many remain angry at the government over its bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations and the 14 million figure likely is aimed at trying to dissuade the promised American bombing campaign.
“More than 14 million Iranian people have declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives in the (self-sacrificing) campaign,” Pezeshkian wrote. “I too have been, am, and will remain ready to give my life for Iran.”
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Airstrikes across Iran killed at least 15 people on Tuesday, while Iran fired on Israel and Saudi Arabia, prompting the temporary closure of a major bridge. The attacks came as Iranian officials urged youths to form human chains around power plants to protect them, as the latest deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz drew closer.
Trump has threatened to bomb all of Iran's power plants and bridges if Iran does not meet his Tuesday 8 p.m. EDT deadline to allow shipping traffic to fully resume through the strategic waterway, through which a fifth of the world's oil transits in peacetime.
“The entire country can be taken out in one night,” Trump said. Trump has repeatedly extended previous deadlines, but suggested this one was final, saying he’d already given Iran enough extra time.
Israel's military warned Iranians in Farsi to avoid taking trains throughout the day, likely telegraphing intended strikes on the rail network.
“Your presence puts your life at risk,” the warning posted on X read.
France joined a growing chorus of international voices calling for restraint, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying attacks targeting civilian and energy infrastructure “are barred by the rules of war, international law.”
“They would without doubt trigger a new phase of escalation, of reprisals, that would drag the region and the world economy into a vicious circle that would be very worrying and, most of all, very damaging to our own interests,” the minister said on France Info television.
Iran choked off shipping through the strait after Israel and the U.S. attacked on Feb. 28, starting the war. On Monday, Tehran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war.
Early Tuesday, Tehran launched seven ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia, which authorities said rained debris on the ground near energy facilities as they were intercepted. Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said the damage was being assessed.
The attacks prompted Saudi Arabia to close the King Fahd Causeway, a bridge that links Saudi Arabia to the island kingdom of Bahrain for several hours. The 25-kilometer (15.5 mile) bridge is the only connection by road for Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, to the Arabian Peninsula.
Elsewhere, activists reported a new wave of strikes on Tehran, for which Israel later claimed responsibility. Nine people were killed in the city of Shahriar and six more in Pardis in other airstrikes, Iranian media reported.
Iran also fired on Israel, with reports of incoming missiles in Tel Aviv and Eilat.
Iran's attacks on the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbors, coupled with its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and is causing global economic problems.
In early spot trading, Brent crude, the international standard, was above $111 per barrel, up more than 50% since the start of the war.
Under growing pressure at home as consumers feel the pinch, Trump has demanded that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic or see power plants and bridges wiped out. The threat to hit civilian infrastructure has sparked widespread warnings about possible war crimes.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Tuesday urged Trump not to follow through, saying the “focus needs to be on not seeing this conflict expand any further.”
“Any of those actions including bombing bridges and reservoirs and civilian infrastructure would be unacceptable,” Luxon told Radio New Zealand.
Iran sought to up the ante, calling on “all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors” to form human chains around power plants ahead of the threatened strikes.
“Power plants that are our national assets and capital, regardless of any taste or political viewpoint, belong to the future of Iran and to the Iranian youth,” Alireza Rahimi, identified by Iranian state television as the secretary of the Supreme Council of Youth and Adolescents, said as he issued the video call in a newscast.
Iran has formed human chains in the past around its nuclear sites at times of heightened tensions with the West.
Later, a Revolutionary Guard general urged parents to send their children to man checkpoints, which have been repeatedly targeted in airstrikes.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned the U.S. that attacks on civilian infrastructure are banned under international law, according to his spokesperson. Trump, speaking with reporters, said he’s “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes with such attacks.
As the deadline neared, efforts were still underway to reach a negotiated solution. Even though Iran has rejected the latest proposal from the U.S., officials involved in the diplomacy say that talks are still ongoing.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
Japan said Tuesday that one of its citizens who had been detained in Iran since January had been released on bail. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters in Tokyo that Japan is demanding his full release from Iranian authorities.
Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy reported from Cairo. Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, John Leicester in Paris and Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, contributed to this report.
People drive their motorbikes past a billboard that shows a graphic depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Displaced people wait to receive donated food beside the tents they use as shelters after fleeing Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A man inspects the damage to cars and an apartment building struck by an Iranian missile in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
