NPR News: 03-17-2026 2AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder, President Trump is accusing some U.S. allies of in gratitude after several turn back his demand that they send warships to help escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Numerous countries have told me there on the way. Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some are in some countries that we've helped for many, many years. We've protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren't that enthusiastic. Trump spoke at a White House event Monday as the Strait of Hormuz remains largely shut down, and Iran continued to target oil facilities in the Gulf, a number of long-standing allies, including Germany, Spain, and Italy, have said they have no immediate plans to send ships to the Strait. While Iran continues to block the U.S. and its allies from the Strait of Hormuz, India appears to have secured some exemptions. Indian authorities say Tehran has allowed three of its 22 stranded ships across the region

1:04since the weekend in Piers-Umpkhar Khantakar reports. Indian state media said India welcomed its first fuel ship since the war started, and is expecting two more this week. When the war broke out in Iran, New Delhi appeared to side with the U.S. and Israel by maintaining a conspicuous silence on the assassination of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Kamani for days. But once the Iran blocked ship movements in the Strait of Hormuz, millions in India faced a cooking gas supply crunch. Gulf states apply more than half of the cooking gas India needs. India's foreign minister has had a series of phone calls with his Iranian counterpart since. Hormuz, Khantakar, and Biyad News, Mumbai. President Trump says his administration is a non-going talks with Cuba and that he believes he will have in his words the honor of taking the country, though it's not clear if he meant diplomatically or militarily in Piers-Deepa-Shipper on reports. In an event in the Oval Office, Trump called Cuba a quote-failed nation.

2:06He said taking the country would be a quote-big honor. Taking Cuba in some form, you know, taking Cuba, I mean, whether I free it, take it, I could do anything I want with it. You want another truth. Trump has been saying for weeks that Cuba needs to make a deal with the U.S. or face consequences similar to the ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro. After seizing Maduro, the U.S. imposed a blockade on Cuba's oil supply from Venezuela. The island is facing a collapsed power grid and growing protests. Deepa Shiverham and Piers News, the White House. In earthquake has struck Cuba, the U.S. Geological Survey says it had a preliminary magnitude of 5.8. The quake hit amid an island-wide blackout, the third over the past few months. Cuba blames its struggles on the Trump administration's energy blockade. And you're listening to NPR News. The Trump administration is lashing out a major news outlets over their coverage of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran.

3:08In Piers-David Fokomplik reports on a threat by the nation's chief federal broadcasts regulator to take away TV licenses. President Trump expressed anger over coverage of the war from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth denounced CNN. None of those outlets have TV licenses, not the newspapers and not CNN, which is on cable, not broadcast. For that matter, the Federal Communications Commission and its chair, Brendan Carr, only licensed local TV stations, so on paper that's a whole lot of posturing. But the journal's owners, the Murdoch's own local Fox stations and the Ellison's the likely future owners of CNN, possess local CBS stations. On Sunday night, Trump egged on Carr, calling much of the media treasonous, all part of an effort to quell unwelcome questions about the war from journalists and from their corporate owners. David Fokomplik and Piers News. The storms that have been sweeping across the eastern half of the country, disrupting air travel, the flight tracking website flight aware, says more than 4500 US flights were canceled Monday,

4:09and delays topped 11,000. The storms had already dumped heavy snow across parts of the Midwest bringing strong winds on the threat of tornadoes to the east coast. Financial markets in Asia, mixed in Tuesday trading, South Korean shares up 2.8%. And Japan's Benchmark Nikkei has gained 4.10s while stocks in mainland China have slipped a drop in oil prices Monday, led to advances on Wall Street, but oil now hovering around $98.00. I'm Jial Snyder, this is MPR News.