NPR News: 03-21-2026 3AM EDT
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More at usps.com slash ground advantage. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Iran is threatening to strike recreational and tourist sites around the world in retaliation for the continuing attacks on that country by the U.S. and Israel. And while President Trump has posted on social media that he's considering winding down the military operations in Iran, the U.S. military is now deploying three more warships to the Middle East, along with more than 2,000 Marines. Trump Friday gave an assessment of how the fighting is going.
We're doing extremely well In Iran, the difference between them and us is they had a Navy two weeks ago. They have no Navy anymore. It's all at the bottom of the sea.
The U.S. is temporarily lifting sanctions on some oil from Iran, as NPR's Julius Simon reports. This marks a major reversal for the Trump administration as oil prices climb.
The Trump administration had stepped up sanctions on Iranian oil when it returned to office last year.
What recent threats has Iran made in retaliation to U.S. actions?
But that was then. As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran enters its third week, the Strait of Hormuz is still closed. And oil prices have risen around 45 percent since the war began. This new lifting of sanctions applies to Iranian oil and oil products that are currently loaded on ships. It will last until April 19th. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant says the decision is expected to quickly add about 140 million barrels to the global oil market. which uses about 100 million barrels of oil each day. Julia Simon, NPR News.
Earlier this year, when President Trump was threatening to take control of Greenland, Danish soldiers were prepared to blow up that island's airport runways to prevent a U.S. invasion. That's according to Danish and British media, as NPR's Lauren Freer reports from London.
Denmark, which governs Greenland, sent troops there at the start of the year and apparently armed them with enough explosives to destroy the island's main runways. They were also given blood bags to use for transfusions in the event people were wounded by combat. Several European countries also sent troops under cover of a joint military exercise. But Danish media report the real reason was to prepare the island's defenses for a possible U.S. invasion. This was back in January when Trump, after capturing Venezuela's president, said the U.S. needed Greenland very badly and that he wanted to buy or just take it. His threats caused a row within NATO because Denmark and the U.S. are both members. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London.
Officials in Costa Rica say at least two people were killed and one other was injured following a U.S. military strike on a boat off that country's coast. The U.S.
How is the U.S. military responding to the situation in Iran?
Central Command says the boat was smuggling drugs. It's the latest in a series of strikes that began last year in the Pacific and Caribbean oceans. Stocks fell across the board on Friday. The Nasdaq closed down by 2 percent. You're listening to NPR News. Hundreds of people are heading to Cuba this weekend, delivering some 20 tons of humanitarian aid. The country has been on the verge of collapsing since President Trump imposed an energy embargo on Cuba in January. A small group of activists arrived in Havana on Wednesday, taking supplies to hospitals. Cuban doctors working abroad are a major source of money for the Cuban government, but more than half a dozen countries have started sending those doctors home or phasing out the arrangement.
As NPR's Gabriela Emanuel reports, this comes as a result of U.S. pressure.
For more than 60 years, Cuba has sent doctors and other medical professionals abroad to work in underserved communities. The Cuban government is often paid a hefty sum, and the doctors make a small fraction of that. Stephanie Panakelli-Batalla is at the University of Warwick in the UK.
It is the highest income of foreign funds for Cuba. So it's a huge support to the Cuban economy.
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