NPR News: 03-19-2026 7AM EDT

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Live from NPR News and Washington, Ankour Vakulman, President Trump is issued a new threat toward Iran.

He's threatening to blow up the world's largest gas field in Iran if Iran keeps attacking Qatar.

This comes after Israel struck the same gas field yesterday.

Trump says the U.S. was not part of that Israeli attack.

Later this morning, the House Intelligence Committee will question national security leaders, including

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

NPR's Greg Maire says both were asked yesterday by a Senate panel about the worst effects on world oil shipments.

But Democratic senators got to press them, specifically whether they warned President Trump that Iran was likely to choke off the flow of oil from the state of Hormuz.

Both Ratcliffe and Gabbard were pretty evasive. Gabbard said the intelligence community long believed that closing the state was a possibility.

Ratcliffe declined to say whether he'd made this point in the days just before the war.

NPR's Greg Maire reporting.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says he does not believe that current war in Iran can entirely eliminate that nation's nuclear program.

NPR's Jeff Rumpfield has more.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi says Iran's nuclear program has been heavily damaged by repeated strikes.

But speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., he said he expects it will survive the current conflict in some form.

That's because the program isn't just located in Iran's main nuclear sites, he says.

It's also scattered across the university's laboratories and industrial facilities throughout the country.

When the current war ends, he predicts we will still have a number of issues that will require a solution.

Grossi says his agency is ready to aid negotiations and it's ready to restart nuclear inspections when the fighting stops.

Jeff Rumpfield and PR News.

A Senate committee is said to vote today on whether to advance the nomination of Oklahoma Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullin to be the next Homeland Security Secretary.

NPR's Claudia Grisallis reports the GOP chairman of the committee is ready to vote no.

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Rand Paul said he was against Mullin's nomination because of his past violent remarks.

Last month, Mullin called Paul a snake and said he understood why a neighbor brutally beat the Kentucky Republican back in 2017.

Now, President Trump's nominee says he's ready to move forward.

I can have different opinions with everybody in this room.

But as Secretary of Homeland, I'll be protecting everybody including Kentucky as much as I will my own backyard in Oklahoma.

Mullin says he'll bring a new piece of mind to the agency in the wake of the controversial tenure of his dismissed predecessor, Chrissy Known.

Despite Paul's objections, Mullin could be on track for full Senate confirmation to become the next DHS Secretary next week.

Claudia Grisallis in PR News.

You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

The federal government says the national debt has reached a new record $39 trillion.

The increasing debt makes it more expensive for Americans to borrow money and to pay for goods and services.

MC Kiki Shepard has died. For years, she co-hosted Showtime at the Apollo, a storied showcase for black entertainers.

NPR's Netta Ulibi has this appreciation.

Starting in 1987, Kiki Shepard was the impeccable elegant face of Showtime at the Apollo.

She worked alongside prominent MCs like Sinbad and Steve Harvey.

The variety shows filmed live at the historic theater in Harlem were Shepard's journal light on newcomers and paid tribute to legends, such as Motown Musician Eddie Kendrick's.

His was a clear, crystal, powerful, tinner, false set of voice.

On top of her work, on screen and on stage, Shepard also founded a nonprofit that helped people with sickle cell disease and their families. Netta Ulibi, NPR News.

The powerful cyclone is expected to cross two peninsula of northern Australia soon.

The joint typhoon warning center says this storm has top-sustained winds of nearly 144 miles per hour. That is the same as a category for hurricane.

The Saudi Supreme Court has declared that today will be the final day of the holy month of Ramadan.

The UAE Qatar and Bahrain have also announced tomorrow is the first day of Eid. These will conclude Ramadan, the holy month observed by Muslims worldwide with fasting, prayer and good works for others. This is NPR.

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