NPR News: 03-18-2026 3AM EDT

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roman.

The head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kant resigned Tuesday over his opposition

to the war in Iran.

He's a military veteran who served multiple tours in Iraq.

He had staunchly supported President Trump because Trump had promised not to get the U.S.

involved in new Middle East wars.

NPR National Security Correspondent Greg Meiery reports.

He addressed this letter directly to Trump and was very blunt.

He wrote, quote,

I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.

Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.

And it's clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful

American lobby.

He also said he supported Trump in all three of his presidential campaigns because Trump

quote,

understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious

lives of our patriots.

NPR's Greg Meiery.

About a fifth of oil and liquefied natural gas supplies remained shut off from the world

as the straight of horn moods remains closed.

But as NPR's Julius Simon reports, some countries are better prepared than others for

an energy crisis.

On rooftops of millions of Pakistani homes are gleaming solar panels.

Pakistan still imports LNG from Qatad for electricity.

Those supplies are now cut off and prices for substitutes are sky high.

But Navia Imran at Pakistani think tank renewables first says the recent surge of solar and

battery installations in just the last three years means the country is less vulnerable.

The widespread adoption of solar and batteries is kind of serves as a hedge protection sort

of against these price shocks.

It's not just solar and batteries.

The experts tell NPR the recent growth of electric vehicles in countries like Nepal and

China also make countries more resilient as oil prices climb.

Julius Imran and Pierre News.

The Federal Reserve is expected to hold its benchmark interest rate steady today.

NPR Scott Horsley reports.

The price of gasoline and diesel fuel has jumped sharply since the U.S. launched its

attack on Iran two and a half weeks ago.

Even before the war began, inflation was running stubbornly higher than the Fed's target.

That makes it harder for the central bank to cut interest rates, even as the job market

shows signs of needing more support.

Over the last six months, the U.S. economies added virtually no jobs.

Jerome Powell is near in the end of his term as Fed Chairman, but the timetable for confirming

a successor is up in the air.

A key Republican Senator has promised a block confirmation of President Trump's nominee,

until the Justice Department ends its criminal probe with the central bank.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

Venezuela defeated the U.S.

three to two in the final game of the preseason World Baseball Classic held in Miami,

and you're listening to NPR News.

Voters in Illinois went to the polls Tuesday to select the Democratic and Republican nominees

for the U.S. Senate seat now being held by the Senate minority,

Whip Dick Durbin, who is retiring.

Illinois's lieutenant governor, Julie Ann Stratton won the primary

and is favored to keep the seat in the Democratic Party column in November.

Dozens of candidates were also running for several open seats in the House of Representative.

Illinois's governor, JB Pritzker, also won his primary to seek a third term in Springfield.

To keep foreign bad actors like terrorists and drug traffickers out of the country,

the federal government all fin and post his financial sanctions.

Anyone on the sanctions list is barred from doing business here.

But as NPR's Robert Ben Caso reports, the Treasury Department sanctions

have taken a new direction under President Trump.

The Treasury Department under Trump has sanctioned people after they've criticized the president

or his political allies. For example, shortly after Trump took office,

he sanctioned judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.

After the court issued a rest warrants for his really prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu

on war crimes allegations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called the International Courts

Actions politicized, but critics of the administration's use of sanctions make the same claim.

David Pressman, a former U.S. ambassador to Hungary, says sanctions should reinforce the country's

strategic interests and not, quote, advance personal vendettas. Robert Ben Caso, NPR News,

Washington. It was a mixed day on Wall Street Tuesday. The Dow was down 19 points,

but the NASDAQ and S&P were up fractionally. I'm Dan Ronan, NPR News in Washington.

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