Iran One Week On, Oil Prices Spike, Latin America Meeting

It could last, you know, six days, six weeks, I doubt six months.

Echoes of Iraq and the U.S. strikes on around.

As uncertainty grows over time and scope, I'm Aisha Roscoe.

And I'm Scott Simon and this is up first from NPR News.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was answering questions in Northern Italy in February

2003 on a trip to reassure European leaders in the run-up to the Iraq War.

Similar questions now, both from allies and from worried investors who are watching energy

prices rise.

We take a look today on the podcast.

That's after the latest developments in the fighting and a wrap-up of the Iran Wars

first week.

And later, President Trump's plans for American influence closer to home, so please stay with

us.

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Overnight, Israel continued air strikes throughout Iran, including the capital to Iran, and continued

striking targets in Lebanon.

And early this morning, Iran's president apologized in the recorded statement for attacking Gulf

states.

Death toll throughout the region is rising, with more than 1,300 reported dead in Iran,

according to the Iranian Red Crescent, and hundreds more in Lebanon, according to health

officials there.

And Paris Kerry con joins us now from Tel Aviv, and I'm told you had to go into a bomb shelter

Kerry?

Yes, I am.

The air raid sirens went off, and I am in the safe room now, a little echoey, but safe.

All right.

Thanks for being with us.

As military says, it hit number of sites overnight, and this morning, what do we know?

Right.

Israel's military did say early this morning, they sent more than 80 fighter jets into Iran,

and struck multiple targets across the country and in Tehran, including what it says was

the revolutionary guard's main military university.

Israel says it has attacked hard Iran's missile and drone systems.

I can tell you that the number of sirens going off in Israel have declined in this first

week, but Israelis are still spending hours and bomb shelters, and like he said, I'm

in one right now.

And in the last 24 hours sirens went off throughout the night and this morning, I'm just

waiting for the all clear signal.

Okay.

Iran's been firing missiles and drones around the region at nearly a dozen countries.

What did Iran's president say today and what's reaction been?

It was a recorded message.

It was very short and was put out on state media channels.

President Masood Peshikyan apologized for striking Iran's neighbors, but he stopped

short of saying there would be no more tax.

He said Iran would only strike its neighbors if, quote, an attack on Iran originates from

those countries.

And he added this, he says, I believe we should resolve this through diplomacy rather than

facing problems by fighting, he said.

But on Saturday morning, the air aid sirens went off in multiple countries throughout the

Gulf.

There was a drone intercepted in Dubai that temporarily suspended flights at that huge

international airport there, sirens in Bahrain.

And Saudi officials say they've intercepted nearly a dozen drones.

There's been no official reaction from Gulf states yet about the Iranian president's

apology.

But this morning, MPR did speak with a Gulf official who said, quote, we will only believe

it if we see it.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

And this is interesting in a statement after the president's message, Iran's military

stated that it still considers US military bases and other US interests in the region

fair game.

Uh, Israel is also bombarded, uh, the suburbs around Beirut, what's happening there?

Sure.

Israel says it's going after Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon and a Beirut suburb

believed to be a stronghold of the Iranian back group overnight.

They took heavy strikes and those areas of Beirut, tens of thousands of people have been

displaced.

Many are living on the streets and camping on the beach fronts in the capital.

MPR spoke with Mohammed Abu Akbar.

He's a 39-year-old father with two small children.

They all fled their neighborhood and are sleeping on Beirut's beachside promenade.

He says we're by the sea.

It's raining and cold and we are hungry and thirsty.

Life is so bad.

He says then he added, this is all frightening and war is no game.

And Israel's defense minister, Israel cats this morning, ward Lebanon's president to act

and take steps before we do even more to stop Hezbollah fighters.

Or Lebanon, he said, will, quote, pay a very heavy price.

And Paris carry con and Tel Aviv, thanks so much.

You're welcome.

Now to the energy markets, global oil prices spike this week.

And that's pushing US gasoline prices up too.

MPR's Camila Domenoski covers energy.

She joins us now.

Camila, thanks for being with us.

Happy to be here.

And what's the latest?

Well, prices really shot up yesterday.

For the first half of the week, prices were up.

But Rebecca Babin and oil trader told me on Monday that markets were not panicking.

Well, she emailed me on Friday afternoon and said, quote, panic has officially set in.

As an oil traders are panicking now.

The global benchmark for crude closed for the weekend at a little under $93 a barrel.

That's up from 70 before the attack.

And these higher crude prices have pushed up gasoline more than 14%, which is a bigger

week on week jump than we saw after Russia invaded Ukraine.

What changed from Monday to Friday?

Well, hopes for a quick resolution to the conflict faded over those days.

We have also seen attacks on oil infrastructure in countries across the Gulf region.

But above all, there is this key waterway, folks have heard about, right?

Here's Halima Croft with RBC Capital Markets earlier this week.

The straight-of-form news remains effectively a parking lot.

We have tankers avoiding going through the critical waterway that accounts for 20% of

global oil and LNG exports.

LNG is liquefied natural gas.

And yeah, 20% right?

Iran has threatened to close this straight many times before but never actually done it.

And the near halt of ships passing through has had knock-on effects as the days passed,

right?

Iraq and most recently Kuwait have had to stop some oil production because there is

simply nowhere to put it.

How is Iran keeping the straight closed?

Yeah, it's not physically blocked.

Some ships have actually gotten through.

But Iran has attacked multiple ships attempting the passage with drones and missiles.

So do ship owners and captains want to risk the loss of an oil tanker, the environmental

disaster that could create the lives of their crew, right?

Meanwhile ensuring a trip through the strait got a lot more expensive.

I chatted with Neil Roberts from Lloyds Market in London, which has been pricing the

risk of sending cargo through war zones for centuries since the days of the British

Empire when the ships in question had sales, right?

And he says that coverage is available but the price has to match the risk, right?

And this is very risky.

Now the US has now offered to provide both insurance and naval escorts to ships in the region.

But yesterday the agency handling that insurance said that they can cover up to $20 billion

total.

JP Morgan Chase has estimated that the need is more like $350 billion.

And as for the US escorts, Roberts said that a lot of ships would really rather have a

neutral escort from a country that is not a part of this war.

Can we look at the world replace the oil that is stuck waiting to come through the strait?

Partially.

So we're talking about some 20 million barrels per day that's not moving.

There are some stockpiles globally and some oil from the Gulf region can be redirected

through pipelines if those aren't attacked.

Kevin Book is the co-founder of Clearview Energy Partners.

He says by his math, the world might make up all but one to three million barrels.

But that's still an enormous gap.

And that's relying on reserves that would eventually run out.

During other price shocks, after the invasion of Kuwait, for example, the run-up to the war

in Iraq, crises in the 70s, the US was a lot more reliant on oil from the Middle East.

Isn't that some solace for investors and consumers?

Yeah, it is different now.

The US is the world's top oil producer making more oil than it uses.

That is one reason oil isn't like $200 right now, along with the rise of clean energy.

But you have to remember, this is a global market for crude oil.

So the oil passing through the strait would be mostly heading for Asia, not for the US.

But Americans are still going to feel the price hikes, not just in gasoline, but in everything

because transporting stuff is part of the cost of everything we buy.

And peers, Camila Domenoski, thanks so much for being with us.

Thanks, Scott.

President Trump is in Miami today, meeting with Latin American leaders in the hopes of countering

Chinese influence in the region.

It's part of a renewed focus by the administration on its so-called Don Road Doctrine, which looks

like, but doesn't quite rhyme with the Monroe Doctrine and holds that America should aggressively

dominate the Western hemisphere.

But several top Latin American leaders are not in Miami today.

Including those of the region's two largest economies.

And PR's White House correspondent Franco Ordonia's joins us.

Franco, thanks for being with us.

Thanks for having me, Scott.

The Shield of the America Summit sounds a lot like the Summit of the Americas.

What's going on?

Yeah, I mean, I will say, Scott, it's very different than the Summit of the Americas,

which is kind of meant to gather all the leaders from the Western hemisphere, from the left,

from the right, big countries, and small ones.

This is actually a group of conservatives who are broadly on board with the President's

agenda.

And what countries will have representatives there?

There's going to be 12 of them.

They include Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, and for what it's worth, it does

not include Brazil and Mexico, which are the two largest economies or Colombia.

But the White House says those attending will be signing a joint security declaration

that basically encourages military force against drug cartels.

And drug gangs across Latin America are a concern, aren't they?

Yeah, for sure.

And many would love more help from the U.S., which is, you know, long provided some

man on narcotics aid.

And just as an example, a recent one, the U.S. military launched her joint operations

with Ecuador to fight, quote, designated terrorist organizations.

Of course, the U.S. is at war in the Middle East.

How much time is there for President Trump to focus on Latin America's drug wars?

Or their relationship with China?

I mean, Ron may not be a big topic of conversation at these meetings, but I will say it is part

of the larger conversation.

Benjamin G'dan had the South America portfolio in the Obama and White House.

He says it's very significant that this is happening, considering U.S. history with

the region.

The expectation is always that Latin America will be bumped by a more prominent foreign

policy crisis.

The fact that the Secretary of Defense still traveled to Florida for a meeting about

Latin America and that the President himself is doing the same is a signal that the administration

really will continue to focus on Latin America and not be pulled toward the regions that

normally suck up so much attention in Washington.

And for context, Scott, in his first administration, Trump canceled his trip to attend this

somebody in America in Peru in 2018 because of the crisis in Syria.

That was supposed to be Trump's first trip to Latin America and it was largely seen as

evidence of his lack of interest in the region.

Well, this is a big reversal.

What about China's investments in Latin America?

Can U.S. realistically counter Chinese influence its growing?

Yeah, I think the administration may be able to mitigate some of that influence, but as

G'dan told me, you just can't wish China away.

You can't bully countries into turning their back on China.

China is just such a major source of capital for the region and it buys so many regional

goods.

And G'dan told me there is no clear example than Argentina of Trump's challenges with

China in the region.

This is a country that received a $20 billion bailout from the United States.

But where was its foreign minister just a few weeks ago, meeting with the Chinese foreign

minister to reassure him that Argentina was open to Chinese trade and investment?

Of course, the U.S. military recently staged an attack in Venezuela and the U.S. is putting

a lot of pressure on Cuba.

Today, someone's going to address any of that.

It's likely Trump will bring up Venezuela in Cuba.

But again, these are hand-picked leaders who are eager to align with Trump.

They're not going to raise concerns.

I mean, some are struggling with migration because of the exodus with Venezuela and they

would appreciate more open Venezuelan Cuba.

For them, the focus is seeing benefits working with Trump.

And be our White House correspondent, Franco Ordo News.

Thanks so much.

Thank you, Scott.

And that's up first for Saturday, March 7th, 2026.

And I'm Scott Simon, Elena Turek and Fernando Naro produced today's podcast.

Our editors were Ed McNulty, Jacob Finston, Diana Douglas, Hannah Block, Kara Platoni,

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Haring, J.S. and Zach Coleman.

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Our executive producer is Evie Stone.

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