NPR News: 03-17-2026 9AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, on Corvo Coleman, Israel says it has killed senior Iranian officials that includes the head of the National Security Council and its paramilitary besiege forces. NPR's Kerry Khan reports Iran has not commented on the claim. Israel's defense minister made the announcement saying both men were killed overnight, and he's instructed the military to continue, quote, hunting the leadership. As military confirmed it had killed, Golem Reza Soleimani, the leader of the besiege paramilitary forces, responsible for violently suppressing street protests against the Iranian government earlier this year, and that an Israeli air strike killed Ali Lavranjani, who it says had been in charge of directing Iran's military effort since Israel killed the supreme leader in the beginning of the war. Iran continues to strike targets in the Gulf. The UAE Defense Ministry says it has, quote, engaged 10 ballistic missiles and 45 drones just in the early Tuesday hours.

1:01Kerry Khan and P.R. News, Tel Aviv. President Trump continues to turn up the pressure on allies to join his coalition and protect oil tankers crossing through the state of Hormuz. But NPR's Franco-Ardenia's reports several traditional allies say they want little to do with the war. Trump made his most forceful push yet, while also saying the U.S. doesn't really need the help. We don't need anybody. We're the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don't need them, but it's interesting, I'm almost doing it in some cases, not because we need them, but because I want to find out how they react. Trump teased he'll be making announcements soon on the coalition, but several Western nations, including Germany and the United Kingdom, said they won't participate. Trump is not happy about it, claiming he always believed, quote, if we ever needed help, they won't be there for us. And he said their reluctance to help was proving his point, Franco-Ardenia's and P.R. News. However, there are reports at least three ships have safely sailed through the state of

2:05Hormuz. Two were ships flagged by India, and the third was a ship flagged by Pakistan. When Trump is also saying that his administration could take over Cuba, he said yesterday that it would be, quote, his honor to do so. Trump also says the U.S. has been in talks with Cuban officials, and P.R. Aitor Peralta says this comes as the U.S. oil embargo on Cuba makes life harder on the island. President Diaz Kanel blamed the U.S. for, quote, cruelly squeezing energy resources, and that has made the situation in Cuba worse, because the country depends on imported oil to run its thermal power plants, and for three months now, Cuba hasn't received any oil. And P.R. Aitor Peralta reporting on Wall Street in pre-market trading, Dow futures are up 130 points. You're listening to NPR. Officials in Afghanistan say that Pakistan has carried out a deadly air strike in the

3:05Afghan capital, Kabul. Afghan officials say the strike hit a drug rehabilitation hospital, and that at least 400 people have been killed. Pakistan disputes the claim, saying it targets only military facilities. Reuters news agency says the facility is a former NATO military base that was converted to a hospital about a decade ago. America's democracy is at its lowest level in decades. According to a leading report on global democracy that's just been released. NPR's Frank Lankford reports. The Vita Institute puts out an annual report measuring the health of democracy across the globe. It found that last year America's Democratic ranking fell from 20th to 51st out of 179 countries, settling in between Slovakia and Greece. Staffan Lindberg, the institute's founding director, cited many reasons why. It's a very rapid and aggressive concentration on power in the presidency, encroaching and taking powers from the legislature, along with attacks on media freedom and freedom of speech.

4:09Lindberg says there's at least one bright spot. Elections have been free and fair, but he doubts Trump will accept a defeat in the midterms. NPR reached out to the White House for comment, but is yet to hear back. Frank Lankford NPR news. Other forecasters are posting heat advisories and warnings in the West, reaching from San Francisco to Phoenix. The National Weather Service says temperatures in Phoenix could reach well into the triple digits all this week. I'm Corvacolman, NPR News. At this year's Oscars, one battle after another took home the award for best picture. Michael B. Jordan won for lead actor, and the telecast had plenty of jokes at Timothy Shalamay's expense. Listen to a recap on pop culture happy hour via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.