NPR News: 03-13-2026 9AM EDT
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What recent military actions have the U.S. and Israel taken in Iran?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. and Israel have struck over 15,000 targets in Iran in nearly two weeks of war there. Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Kaine, spoke at a news conference at the Pentagon a short time ago. Kaine confirmed a report issued earlier by U.S. Central Command that a U.S. military refueling plane has gone down in western Iraq, killing four American service members.
The incident occurred over friendly territory in western Iraq while the crew was on a combat mission and, again, was not the result, as CENTCOM has said, was not the result of hostile or friendly fire. We're still treating this as an active rescue and recovery operation. As CENTCOM announced this morning, four airmen have been recovered. and the Air Force and U.S. Central Command will provide updates as information becomes available.
Two other crew members have not been accounted for yet. The Defense Secretary says that the new Iranian Supreme Leader, Majdaba Khamenei, is believed to be wounded and likely disfigured. The United Kingdom's Defense Secretary says Iranian drone tactics bear the hallmark of Russian help. British forces based in Iraq helped shoot down some Iranian drones yesterday, as NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from London.
U.K. Defense Secretary John Healy says British forces managed to shoot down some Iranian drones over Iraq but did not get all of them. Some ended up hitting a coalition base in Erbil, injuring U.S. troops based there, he says. Healy told reporters in London that Iran's drone tactics bear the hallmark of, quote, Putin's hidden hand.
We see from Iran some of the same tactics we see from Russia in Iran.
What details are known about the U.S. military refueling plane incident in Iraq?
Healy cited a link between Russia and Iran in the way attack drones are being used, calling them an axis of aggression. Both countries menace their neighbors, he said. President Trump has temporarily lifted sanctions on some Russian oil during this conflict. Healy says high oil prices benefit one leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London.
The Department of Homeland Security is identifying Eamon Ghazali as the attacker who rammed his truck into a synagogue outside Detroit yesterday. From member station WDET, Alex McLennan reports Ghazali was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon.
NPR has confirmed that two of Ghazali's brothers and two of his brother's children were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon last week. His parents were wounded. Authorities are still investigating the act at Temple Israel in Michigan as an act of terrorism and have not yet shared a motive. 30 first responders were treated for smoke inhalation, and a security guard who was struck by Ghazali's vehicle was checked at a local hospital. Nobody inside the building was killed. Ghazali was found dead in his truck after an exchange of gunfire with security guards. For NPR News, I'm Alex McLennan in Detroit.
This is NPR. The FBI is also investigating a deadly shooting yesterday at Old Dominion University in southern Virginia as terrorism. One person was killed and two others were wounded. Authorities say the gunman was overpowered and found dead. New federal drought data show much of the American West is now experiencing its lowest snowpack in history. NPR's Kirk Siegler reports. This comes as record heat is expected to bear down on the region next week.
March is typically the snowiest month of the year in Colorado, but this year the state is reporting its lowest snow totals on record. The Cascades in Oregon and Washington are in a similar dire state. According to new data from NOAA's Drought Monitor, in California, warm temperatures have already caused rapid snowmelt and an early spring runoff. Every single river basin in the West has experienced its warmest or second warmest winter on record. Snow is the West's primary water storage, and tens of millions of people rely on it for drinking water, food, and power. The Federal Bureau of Reclamation now predicts the water level in Lake Powell may drop so low that the Glen Canyon Dam will cease producing power by December.
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