NPR News: 03-20-2026 7AM EDT

Line from NPR News in Washington, an encore of a coalman, the war against Iran continues.

The Pentagon says U.S. forces are destroying Iranian naval targets that threaten international

shipping.

That includes the very narrow strait of Hormuz.

But Iran is continuing to attack neighboring Arab countries.

Officials in Kuwait say Iranian drones hit one of their oil refinery, sparking a fire.

Saudi Arabia says it is shooting down Iranian drones too.

President Trump has ordered a marine rapid response force to go to the Middle East.

This comes as Iran halts most of the oil shipments leaving the Persian Gulf.

It is allowing some tankers to get through.

That could include oil from its key facility, Carg Island.

NPR's Tom Bowman says it is not clear if Carg Island is a U.S. military target.

Now we have this 31st Marine Exhibitionary Unit out of Okinawa's 2200 Marines heading

to the Middle East.

Now, of course, no one is talking about what the mission is.

It could be, you know, helping evacuate embassies, humanitarian mission, or boarding ships.

But again, it could be what they've talked about for decades, seizing some Iranian territory

and that could be this Carg Island.

NPR's Tom Bowman reporting.

The Trump administration says it will move significant management of the nation's federal

student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department.

NPR's Sequoia Carillo reports President Trump is continuing his efforts to eventually

close the education department.

In the administration's latest move to shift responsibilities away from the Department

of Education, management of much of the country's student loan portfolio worth nearly 1.7 trillion

dollars will be phased over to the Treasury Department.

The administration says Treasury is better equipped to manage the program.

Loans in default will move over first, followed by loans that are in good standing.

And in the final phase, Treasury will take over the free application for federal student

aid or FAFSA.

More than 40 million borrowers hold federal student loans while about 12 million of them are

either in default or on their way there.

Sequoia Carillo and Pyrrhenes.

Officers are still high today as the southwestern U.S. swelters under an extreme heat wave.

A new scientific analysis finds climate change has made this heat wave more intense.

And Pyrrhenes lore and summer explains.

Temperature records have been set this week across Arizona, California, and Nevada, with

the hottest March days ever recorded in some cities.

The National Weather Service has issued heat warnings for millions of people.

The earliest in the year these warnings have ever been issued according to the agency.

Scientists with World Weather Attribution, a research collaborative, analyzed the heat wave.

They found that because of heat trapping emissions, climate change has made this heat wave

four times more likely to happen now than it was a decade ago.

Loans summer and Pyrrhenes.

On Wall Street, in pre-market trading, Dow futures are lower.

It's NPR.

A large group of states, cities and counties is suing the Environmental Protection Agency

they're challenging the EPA's recent decision to overturn a scientific finding.

It was the basis for federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in effort to fight climate

change.

Previously, the agency found certain greenhouse gases in danger, the health of Americans.

Now the EPA says this lawsuit is based only on politics.

Crews in Nebraska are making progress against significant wildfires.

The moral fire is one of the state's biggest ever blazes.

It's burned more than a thousand square miles and left one person dead.

The moral fire is now two-thirds contained.

Muslims around the world are celebrating the end of Ramadan today.

This year, the Sacred Month was observed amid rising anti-Muslim rhetoric in the U.S.

and the war in the Middle East.

From religion news, service, Ula Kuziz has more.

Ramadan is marked by fasting, charity, and gatherings, but in parts of the Middle

East or between Iran, Israel and the U.S. has marred Ramadan observances.

Over a million people have been displaced in Iran and Lebanon, and Jerusalem, Israeli

authorities have shut down an oxal mask for what they say are security reasons.

Meanwhile, anti-Muslim rhetoric from conservatives in the United States has escalated, Alabama's

Republican Senator Tommy Tuberval called Islam a quote, cult.

Still, Muslims around the world celebrate AIDS and footer marking the end of Ramadan

with prayer, gatherings, and gifts.

For NPR News, I'm Arla Kuziz.

Again, on Wall Street and pre-market trading, down futures are lower.

This is NPR.

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