NPR News: 03-30-2026 9AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kurova Coleman, President Trump is again threatening to blow up Iran's electricity plants and oil wells if Iran fails to reach a deal with the U.S. about the war. Writing online this morning, Trump says the U.S. could possibly blow up Iran's desalination plants, too. He says his administration is in talks with a new Iranian regime that he describes as more reasonable. Officials in Kuwait say Iranian attacks have killed a worker from India and targeted a Kuwaiti power and desalination plant. NPR's Aya Batrawi explains why these plants are vital. Desalination plants are vital for water scarced Gulf Arab countries, drawing seawater and removing salts and minerals so the water can be used for drinking and basic needs. The attack on Kuwait's power and water facility comes as Iranian media report power outages in parts of Tehran and another city, from Shrapnel that hit part of an electricity grid in Iran following U.S.-Israeli attack. And after Israeli attacks caused extensive damage at two of Iran's largest steel plants,

1:01Iran carried out attacks on aluminum factories over the weekend in the United Arab Emirates in Bahrain. Emirates Global Aluminum says the attack caused significant damage to its main facility in Abu Dhabi. The company in January had announced a joint venture to build an aluminum smelter plant in Oklahoma to boost U.S. production for national defense. Aya Batrawi and NPR News, Dubai. Russia says one of its oil tankers has now docked in Cuba with emergency fuel. The first such delivery since the Trump administration imposed an energy blockade three months ago. NPR's Charles Mainz has more from Moscow. Russia's Ministry of Transportation said the oil tanker and a totally collotkin arrived in Port Erli Monday, where it was set to unload nearly three-quarters of a million barrels of crude oil. The move amounted to at least a pause in a U.S. fuel embargo against Cuba, buying the island a few more weeks before its fuel reserves run dry. Over the weekend, President Trump indicated the U.S. would not block the Russian ship's passage. Saying one tanker could help the Cuban people survive, but would do little to ease U.S. pressure on Cuba's communist government.

2:02While the Kremlin has yet to comment directly on the oil delivery, it had signaled Russia intended to provide humanitarian aid to the island, its allies since the days of the Cold War. Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. Some TSA agents may start getting paid this week. The Trump signed an executive order telling the Department of Homeland Security to find money to do this, even though it's not clear if this is legal. George Bork is a local union leader and TSA worker at Atlanta's main airport. He says even if TSA workers get paid, they'll still face hardship. Until the government truly funds us, you know, it's not going to be over. We're still in the far-right-most. That is. The House and Senate have passed competing bills to fund DHS. When Trump has been demanding that Congress first pass a controversial measure on voting that he wants, that's even though Democrats and some Republicans oppose that. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, has concluded its annual conference

3:05near Dallas. About 1600 attendees cast votes in a straw presidential poll this past weekend. The winner was Vice President Vance, with about 53 percent. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was second with 35 percent, but that's a huge jump from last year when Rubio pulled at 3 percent. A new study by the University of Colorado Boulder finds that there is less ice in the ocean than ever before recorded. The researchers say sea ice is disappearing because of global warming. The final four teams are set for this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament. Topseats Michigan at Arizona will square off in Indianapolis, as will Illinois and Yukon. As Greg Ecklin reports, Yukon advanced after rallying to beat Duke 73-72 yesterday in the final second of the game. Yukon Freshman, Braylon Mullins, took a pass from teammate Alex Karoban and hit the game winning shot from 35 feet with four tenths of a second left.

4:08I had the ball and I know AK had just hit one, so I threw him at four seconds left and man he just threw the ball back to me. I knew I had to put one up, so man I'm just happy that was the one that went down tonight. It was the only three-point shot Mullins made in the game. The Huskies and Michigan Wolverines join Arizona and Illinois as the four national semi-finalists. For NVR News, I'm Greg Ecklin. The championship game will be played a week from tonight. I'm Corva Coleman, 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.