NPR News: 03-21-2026 3AM EDT

Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman.

Iran is threatening to strike recreational and tourist sites around the world in retaliation

for the continuing attacks on that country by the U.S. and Israel.

And while President Trump has posted on social media that he's considering winding down

the military operations in Iran, the U.S. military is now deploying three more warships to the

Middle East, along with more than 2,000 Marines.

And Friday gave an assessment of how the fighting is going.

We're doing extremely well in Iran.

The difference between them and us is they had a navy two weeks ago, they have no

navy anymore.

It's all at the bottom of the sea.

The U.S. is temporarily lifting sanctions on some oil from Iran as NPR's Julius Simon

reports.

This marks a major reversal for the Trump administration as oil prices climb.

The Trump administration had stepped up sanctions on Iranian oil when it returned to office

last year.

But that was then.

As the U.S. Israeli war on Iran enters its third week, the state of Hormuz is still

closed.

And oil prices have risen around 45 percent since the war began.

This new lifting of sanctions applies to Iranian oil and oil products that are currently

loaded on ships.

It will last until April 19th.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant says the decision is expected to quickly add about

140 million barrels to the global oil market, which uses about 100 million barrels of oil

each day.

Julius Simon and Pierre News.

Earlier this year, when President Trump was threatening to take control of Greenland, Danish

soldiers were prepared to blow up that island's airport runways to prevent a U.S. invasion.

According to Danish and British media, his NPR's Lauren Freyre reports from London.

Denmark, which governs Greenland, sent troops there at the start of the year and apparently

armed them with enough explosives to destroy the island's main runways.

There were also given blood bags to use for transfusions in the event people were wounded

by combat.

Several European countries also sent troops under cover of a joint military exercise.

But Danish media report the real reason was to prepare the island's defenses for a possible

U.S. invasion.

This was back in January when Trump after capturing Venezuela's president said the U.S. needed

Greenland very badly, and that he wanted to buy or just take it.

His threats caused a rar within NATO because Denmark and the U.S. are both members.

Lauren Freyre and Pierre News, London.

Officials in Costa Rica say at least two people were killed and one other was injured following

a U.S. military strike on a boat off that country's coast.

The U.S. Central Command says the boat was smuggling drugs.

It's the latest in a series of strikes that began last year in the Pacific and Caribbean

oceans.

Stocks fell across the board on Friday, the Nasdaq closed down by two percent.

You're listening to NPR News.

Hundreds of people are heading to Cuba this weekend delivering some 20 tons of humanitarian

aid.

The country has been on the verge of collapsing since President Trump imposed an energy

embargo on Cuba in January, a small group of activists arrived in Havana on Wednesday

taking supplies to hospitals.

Cuba doctors working abroad are a major source of money for the Cuban government, but

more than half a dozen countries have started sending those doctors home or phasing out

the arrangement.

As NPR's Gabriella Emanuel reports, this comes as a result of U.S. pressure.

For more than 60 years, Cuba has sent doctors and other medical professionals abroad to work

in underserved communities.

The Cuban government is often paid a hefty sum, and the doctors make a small fraction

of that.

Stephanie Panachelli-Bataya is at the University of Warwick in the UK.

It is the highest income of foreign funds for Cuba, so it's a huge support to the Cuban

economy.

The U.S. calls the system human trafficking, and it has threatened to cut off U.S. assistance

to countries that participate.

Now Guatemala, Jamaica, Guyana, Honduras, and others are bowing out of their arrangements

with Cuba, or are trying to pay the doctors directly.

Gabriella Emanuel and P.R. News

CBS News is shutting down its radio news service.

The familiar sound of their hourly newscast has been heard across the country for 99 years.

Edward Armero offered reports for CBS documenting the blitz of London during World War II, often

broadcasting from a rooftop while bombs could be heard in the background.

The story's service will end its broadcasts in May.

I'm Dale Wilman and P.R. News.