NPR News: 03-17-2026 5PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. Israel says it killed two top Iranian officials overnight. Ali Larajani was the head of the country's Supreme National Security Council and acted as the country's defacto leader. It was also a close confidant of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Hamanay. NPR's Emily Fang has more on what his death means for the U.S. is really war in Iran. There are fears that in his absence, his replacement might be even more hardline than Larajani. Larajani was seen as very, very pragmatic, someone who could work with outside powers while still being very, very loyal to the Supreme Leader to the office of the Ayatollah. And so taking him out, it would be a very, very big deal. NPR's Emily Fang. Israel also killed Brigadier General Salamani. The head of the powerful militia that's aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Meanwhile, Joe Kent, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, quit today, saying Iran posed no imminent threat to the U.S. and that it was clear Washington started the

1:03war because of, quote, pressure from Israel. He's the first senior member of the administration to quit over the war. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi to appear for a closed-door deposition next month over the Justice Department's handling of the files of convicted, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Pierce Ryan Lucas reports. The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Kentucky's James Comer, says in a letter to the Attorney General that the panel has questions for Bondi about the department's handling of the Epstein investigation and the DOJ's compliance with the law requiring the Epstein files be made public. The committee has subpoenaed Bondi to appear for a deposition on April 14th. There was no immediate comment from the Justice Department. Separately, Comer says Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will appear Wednesday for a private briefing with Oversight Committee members. That meeting will focus on the Epstein files, according to a person familiar with the matter, not authorized to speak about it publicly. Ryan Lucas and Pierce News, Washington.

2:05New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani observed Ramadan last night with men incarcerated at Rikers Island, the city's jail complex. Mamdani arrived through heavy security, joining a group of men many held as they await trial, together they knelt to pray. Mamdani spent an hour with the men talking and breaking the fast with a meal. He spent much of the last month holding public Ramadan celebrations. This is me just being a Muslim New Yorker and I think there are some for whom that is a political act. Mamdani and many Muslim Americans have faced growing hostility in the U.S. from some politicians on the right, including Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, who last week reposted a photo of Mamdani celebrating the holiday next to an image of the 9-11 terror attacks. The post Mamdani described as bigoted by a man in Pierce News, New York. This is NPR News. The new poll by the National Alliance for Mental Illness or NAMI finds that one in four

3:06employees has considered quitting their job because of mental health impacts of work. Three out of four respondents think mental health is an appropriate topic for the workplace and yet nearly half are worried about being judged for sharing their mental health problems. Magdelp is Director of Workplace Mental Health at NAMI. Most people in our study this year so that they are more comfortable talking about their ethnicity, their gender identity, sexual orientation, physical health, religion, spirituality, than talking about their mental health. These think managers play a key role, but Delp says less than 30% of managers have been trained to support mental health conversations. We know that workplaces can be a really vital place to impact mental health in a way that supports individuals, families, the organization itself, but that ripples out to communities. Retouchology and PR News. A meteor exploded over Lake Erie, North of Cleveland this morning, causing a thunderous

4:10boom. And even though it happened during daylight hours, it was bright enough to be seen for about five seconds, meaning people across several states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, could see it. Many felt either the sonic boom or the explosion. The American Meteor Society is still looking through reports to figure out the path it took, its size, trajectory, and whether any fragments hit the ground aren't known yet. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from 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.