NPR News: 03-03-2026 4AM 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. The war in the Gulf has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil passes. Brent Crude trading 9% higher at around $80 per barrel. NPR Zaya Patrawi has the latest one to buy. Iran's counter-attacks in the region have now expanded to energy targets in the Gulf. Qatar Energy says attacks on two of its facilities force the state-owned company to halt production of LNG gas Monday. Qatar is one of the world's biggest exporters of gas. Also, oil giant Saudi Arabia says it shot down drones targeting its biggest oil refinery

1:02in the country's east. The military says debris caused the fire and that some refinery units were shut down as a precaution. Meanwhile, four vessels have been hit in Gulf waters since the war began Saturday. The latest was a tanker carrying nearly 600,000 barrels of gasoline bound for Saudi Arabia, according to Windward, a maritime intelligence platform. Omani's securities say the attack sparked a fire, killing one Indian crew member. Aible Trawi and Pair News, Dubai. The Americans are being warned away from the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. The Embassy in Riyadh is advising Americans to stay away until further notice, following an attack by Iranian drones. No reports of injuries, but videos are circulating online of a major fire as NPR's Michelle Kalaman 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, and are limiting non-essential travel to military installations

2:04in 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 Kalaman and Pair News, Washington. All's open today in the first primary races of the 2026 midterm elections. Voters will be casting ballots in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Texas. Our Republican Senator John Corden is seeking to hold off a challenge from State Attorney General Ken Paxson and Congressman Wesley Hunt. Reporter Andrew Schneider is following the race for Houston Public Media. Corden, who was first elected in 2002, is running for a fifth term. If he's elected this fall and serves out a full term, he'll become the longest-serving U.S. Senator in Texas history. And more to the point, he's one of the most senior senators in an institution where seniority still counts for a lot, particularly in the ability to steer federal dollars

3:05to your state. That seniority goes away if he loses the Republican primary or the general election to follow. As Senator Corden tries to hold on for a fifth term, Texas Democrats, choosing whether to send Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett or State Representative James Taylor Rico to the November general election. This is NPR. The Supreme Court has cited with Republicans in the latest redistricting case in an unsigned order. The Court said the boundaries of the only Republican held congressional district in New York City do not need to be redrawn for this year's midterm election. The order blocks a lower court's decision that the district is unfair to black and Hispanic voters. That seat is currently held by GOP Congresswoman Nicole Malditocaz. The origins of human affinity for alcohol may be visible in our primate relatives. Reporter Ari Daniel has more. When fruits ripen, they ferment and produce alcohol. For some primates, that smell may be a shortcut to finding sugar and calories. But there wasn't much evidence that chimps were actually

4:10consuming the alcohol. So a team of researchers, including UC Berkeley PhD student Alexei Marrow, sampled urine from wild Ugandan chimps. At least 10 of the animals urine contained a concentration equivalent in humans to having had one or two drinks. The plausible that our ancestral diet may have had similar alcohol just baked into our everyday existence. Perhaps leading to our modern attraction to the stuff, except that today we can produce and consume it at much higher concentrations. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel. Global financial markets showing the strain amid the war in Iran, European shares largely down in the early going. Following losses in Asia, a bit uncertainty about energy surprise, oil prices up sharply as the word disrupts tanker traffic to the state of for moves. This is NPR News. Listen to this podcast sponsor free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.