NPR News: 03-20-2026 1PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright. Iran is striking energy targets in the Persian Gulf. After Israel damaged a key Iranian gas field. Global oil and energy prices remain volatile, with oil tankers not passing the Strait of Hormuz, and Pierre's Kerry Khan reports. Dubai reporting heavy explosions there as its air defense systems engaged in coming missiles and drones. An oil refinery in Kuwait was also hit today, and Katari officials tally damage estimates from an Iranian strike to a major natural gas complex there. They say it will top 20 billion dollars in lost revenue. The International Energy Agency says it's the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. It's asking governments, businesses, and households to conserve energy. The cost of oil is nearing $110 a barrel today compared to around 70 before the war. Gas prices in the U.S. are up almost a dollar in the past month. NPR has confirmed that more U.S. Marines are headed to the Persian Gulf, and Pierre's

1:02quill Lawrence reports. The USS Boxer Group of three ships carrying thousands of Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit has left California, and will take about three weeks to reach the Gulf, according to two U.S. officials who are not authorized to speak publicly. That's in addition to the USS Tripoli Group, with more than 2,000 Marines, expected to arrive soon from Japan. Sent comm would not comment on the deployment or its mission, but Marines are traditionally ground troops. Also U.S. Southern Command says it destroyed another small boat in the Eastern Pacific, allegedly carrying drugs. Southcom said the strike left three shipwrecked survivors. The U.S. has killed more than 150 people this way since September, in what human rights groups say is execution without evidence or trial. Quill Lawrence and Pierre News. Marshall art star Chuck Norris, who fought his way to fame in such 1980s action movies as Delta Force, Code of Silence, and a trilogy of missing in action films has died. He was 86. NPR's Bob Mandello has this remembrance.

2:03In a fight, Chuck Norris tended to lead with his right. But, the Albatrade Marta roundhouse kick that villains never seemed to see coming, it served him well in more than two dozen films after his pal Bruce Lee gave him his break as one of many villains in 1972's The Way of the Dragon. On TV, Norris played Sergeant Cordell Walker, a decorated Vietnam vet with Cherokee ancestry and about 200 episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger. Off screen, he established philanthropies for children and veterans became a nationally syndicated health and fitness columnist and wrote nine books, including the conservative activist handbook Black Belt Patriotism, how to reawaken America. He was also amused to find himself the subject of Internet memes, Chuck Norris facts that celebrated his supposed toughness with hyperbole and exaggeration. Bob Mandello, NPR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Muslims around the world celebrate Ed Elfitter today, marking the end of Ramadan.

3:06It's a time of prayer, celebration and family to break the fast of Ramadan. The holiday comes as the Middle East is embroiled in the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran. In Gaza, the holiday comes with tighter Israeli restrictions as NPR's Anas Baba reports. For the past two years, Gaza's streets were required on aid. Children's left-room muted, celebrations postponed and the territory scarred by war. This year, despite continued hardship, a glimpse of joy has returned. There are chocolates and chop windows, kids dressed in colorful new clothes and the sound of eat-players echoing through the streets. It's not only in Gaza that aid has changed. For the first time since 1967, Israeli authorities has barred worshipers from interning al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for eat-players, due to

4:10what Israel says are tighter restrictions from the world Iran. Police fire tear gas at Palestinians trying to prey in a nearby street. Anas Baba and NPR News Gaza City. Today is the first day of spring. The southwestern U.S. is sweating through a rare march heat wave with above-normal temperatures in the triple digits. Phoenix, Arizona is expected to hit 105 today and tomorrow. I'm Kristen Wright, NPR News in Washington.