NPR News: 03-03-2026 12AM EST

0:00The U.S. launches a military operation against Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. On State of the World, we'll bring you the latest on the operation, as well as reaction from the region and around the globe. Listen to State of the World on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defending the decision to attack Iran alongside the U.S. claiming on Fox News Monday evening that Iran was rebuilding its atomic bomb program. You'd think they learned a lesson, but they didn't, because they're unreformable. They're totally fanatic about this, about the goal of destroying America. So they started building new sites, new places, underground bunkers that would make their ballistic missile program and their atomic bomb program immune within months.

1:00Netanyahu echoed remarks made by President Trump Monday that the war was needed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. On Saturday, when he announced the strike, Trump urged Iranians to, in his words, take back your country, implying a goal of toppling the Iranian government. Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner says the Trump administration has been giving a wide range of reasons for attacking Iran, but he says it has not made a convincing case that the U.S. faced an immediate threat. Warner is a member of the group of senior congressional leaders known as the gang of aid. They were briefed by Trump administration officials late Monday afternoon. Iranian drones have struck the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There are no reports of injuries, but many videos are circulating online of a major fire. As appears from sokelement reports. The Saudi Defense Ministry says the Iranian drone attack resulted in a, quote, limited fire and minor material damage to the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. mission has issued a shelter-in-place notification for Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dahran,

2:03and are limiting non-essential travel to military installations in the region. Several days into the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, the State Department is urging Americans in more than a dozen countries across the Middle East to leave using available commercial transportation. And they've set up a 24-7 hotline for Americans in need of assistance. Michelle Kelliman and PR News, Washington. Ukraine says it can offer air defense expertise to U.S. allies in the Middle East, dealing with retaliatory strikes from Iran, and PR's Germanic Eccussis reports from Kiev. Speaking to reporters via voice message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 57,000 Iranian-designed drones at Ukrainian cities in the last four years. Our air defense units have a lot of experience with these drones, he said, and we are ready to help. Zelensky says he's concerned an extended conflict in Iran might affect air defense supplies for Ukraine, which Europe purchases from the U.S.

3:04He added that he hopes peace talks will take place later this week as scheduled. These meetings must happen, Zelensky said. The results are very important, and we are talking about another exchange of prisoners of war. Joanna Eccussis and PR News, Kiev. This is in PR. The Supreme Court has blocked a California law that prohibits schools from telling parents of their children identify as transgender unless they have the student's permission. In a six to three decision, the court granted an emergency request from parents and educators who are challenging the law. They sought to have a lower court's ruling reinstated while the case plays out. The state says the students have a right to privacy. Trump administration is cutting its losses in case where it tried to punish major law firms. And PR's Kerry Johnson reports the Justice Department is walking away from appeals in those cases. President Trump went after law firms that employed people who investigated him or did work for

4:05clients Trump didn't like. He imposed a series of punitive orders against four big law firms, ones that went on to challenge his actions in court. Those firms won as judges from both political parties ruled the orders were wildly unconstitutional. Now the Justice Department says it will drop those appeals. Nine other law firms agreed to settle with the White House last year, a decision that's been scorned by some of their own partners who quit in disgust. Kerry Johnson in pure news. President Trump says he plans to attend the annual White House Corp. correspondence association dinner. Trump posted on social media Monday evening that he was asked nicely to serve as the events honoree. Trump skipped the dinner throughout his first term. And also mislast year's event he has stayed away because he has said that the press treated him badly. I'm child Snyder. This is MPR News.