NPR News: 03-20-2026 6AM EDT
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What happened with the American F-35 fighter jet in Iran?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The Pentagon says an American F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing after a combat mission in Iran. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports the pilot was wounded by enemy fire but is in stable condition.
U.S. Central Command acknowledged that the F-35 made a safe but unplanned landing and said the incident is under investigation. But a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to NPR that the F-35 fighter was hit by enemy fire and that the pilot is stable after requiring stitches. It's the first known instance of Iran's anti-aircraft defenses damaging a manned American plane. This news broke hours after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Iran's air defenses have been, quote, flattened. Still, Iran has not shot down a single U.S. or Israeli pilot over nearly three weeks of war and thousands of bombing sorties over Iranian airspace. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
Israel is hitting Iran's capital, Tehran, with new strikes today. Iran is firing at its neighbors. Trump administration officials say that President Trump will decide when the war is over. Thomas Wright served in the National Security Council under former President Biden. He tells NPR Trump could increase the attacks in an effort to end the war quickly.
President Trump could take greater risks to try to achieve a major tactical victory that would allow him to say that he has achieved his objectives and to end the war, so he could try to take risks Karg Island, where a lot of Iran's oil is. And he could order a military raid on some of the nuclear facilities in Isfahan or Nance to take the highly enriched uranium.
But he warns that's very high risk. He says the U.S. could possibly take casualties. Global crude oil prices remain volatile. At about $107 a barrel, gas prices continue to climb. NPR's Camilla Dominovsky reports the scale of the disruption to global oil markets is profound.
About 20 million barrels per day typically passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Right now, maybe 5 million is making it around the Strait, like through pipelines. Dan Pickering is the chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners.
15 million barrels a day isn't easy to offset anywhere. That's the total production of the United States, and we're the biggest producer in the world. There is no easy fix anywhere.
Tapping stockpiles and easing U.S. sanctions only partly fills the gap. And waiving the Jones Act, which mandates goods traveling between U.S. ports be sent on American-built ships, might ease gasoline prices by a penny or less. Camila Dominovsky, NPR News.
The war against Iran has left the status of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia unclear. Ukraine says it is prepared to proceed. Russia says the war against Iran means the peace talks are, unquote, Situational pause. This is NPR. But it is the latest sign Trump is trying to close the education department. There is a continued reckoning over the legacy of the late United Farm Workers activist Cesar Chavez. The Texas newsroom's Lucia Vasquez spoke to historians who say this could be an opportunity to refocus on the broader farm workers movement.
For decades, Cesar Chavez has been revered as a central figure in the fight for farmworker rights. But new reporting that corroborates allegations of sexual assault and child rape is reshaping how that legacy is viewed. Cynthia Orozco is a historian with the League of United Latin American Citizens. She says the moment calls for a shift in focus beyond Chavez himself.
Let's celebrate the farmworkers, the farmworker movement, and let's celebrate Dolores Huerta. And let's celebrate the women who are now speaking out.
Orozco says movements are built by people, not just leaders, and that this is a chance to recognize contributions that have often been overlooked. For NPR News, I'm Lucio Vasquez.
People are hunting in Ohio for fragments of a meteorite that crashed to the earth Tuesday morning. The fireball could be seen zipping across the sky from Wisconsin to Maryland.
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