NPR News: 03-11-2026 5AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingley. U.S. Central Command says American forces have destroyed at least 16 Iranian vessels used to lay mines near the Strait of Hormuz. That's where roughly 20 percent of the world's crude oil normally passes through. Iran has effectively closed the narrow strait with its attacks and threats against ship traffic, including oil tankers. Tehran vows to block the region's oil exports. The British military says a container ship was hit by some type of projectile today in the Strait of Hormuz and was sent on fire. It happened off the coast of Oman, the crew was forced to abandon ship. The White House is clarifying President Trump's remarks about Iran and the need for its unconditional surrender to end U.S. and Israeli air strikes. NPR's Franco-Ordonious has more. The White House has been clear about its four military objectives, but it's been less clear about the political ones. Trump has said he would settle for nothing short of unconditional surrender, and that the

1:02U.S. needed to be part of the selection of an acceptable leader. White House press secretary Caroline Levit told reporters Trump did not mean that literally. When President Trump says that Iran is in a place of unconditional surrender, he's not claiming the Iranian regime is going to come out and say that themselves. She says he meant that when Iran no longer poses a credible threat to the U.S., that's when he would determine the end of U.S. operations. In the meantime, Iran's choice of a new Supreme Leader is the late Ayatollah's son, who Trump is called unacceptable. Franco, Ordonious, NPR News, the White House. The U.N. says nearly 700,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon because of the ongoing fighting involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran. A special congressional election in Georgia to fill the seat left vacant by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene is heading for a runoff. As Roe Balli with member station W-A-B-E reports, the winner of the runoff will fill Greene's

2:04open house seat for the rest of the year. Greene resigned in January after a falling out with Trump. Republican Clay Fuller, a former district attorney, got the endorsement of Trump, who came to the district and rallied for him last month. Fuller says the endorsement made a difference in helping him get the most votes among the Republicans on the ballot. More advances to an April 7th runoff against Democrat Sean Harris, who lost a green in 2024 by a 64 percent to 36 percent margin. There will be a separate May primary and November general election to fill the congressional seat after January 2027 that features many of the same candidates, including Fuller and Harris. For NPR News, I'm Roe Balli in Atlanta. Greater and Democratic Congressman Benny Thompson was among the winners in Mississippi's election primaries. This is NPR News from Washington. A new survey shows nearly half of all Americans say they would support the idea of National

3:06Guard members patrolling polling places in the U.S. in the November elections. The survey finds Republicans are especially open to the move, but as NPR's Miles Parks reports, such action is not legal. President Trump hasn't explicitly said he wants to use the National Guard to monitor this year's elections, but it's something voting officials have been worried about since Trump did say he wished he had deployed the Guard in 2020. A new NPR PBS News Maris poll finds such unprecedented action would be supported by 46 percent of Americans and roughly three in four Republicans. Experts NPR spoke with said those numbers could indicate that many people do not know its illegal for the federal government's deployed troops to monitor voting. And that Trump has falsely but effectively convinced many that voter fraud is a widespread problem in American elections. Miles Parks and NPR News Washington. The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a preliminary report on last month's deadly crash of a police helicopter in Arizona. It left the pilot and a paramedic dead.

4:08While the cause is still unknown, investigators are looking at a potential mechanical problem involving the helicopter's main rotor. They say radio communications captured the sound of two loud bangs before a voice says we're going down. That crash occurred in Flagstaff. At the time, the helicopter was aiding police officers on the ground, who were exchanging gunfire with a suspect in a neighborhood. Investigators found no signs of ballistic punctures. I'm Dave Mattingley, NPR News in Washington. 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.