NPR News: 03-29-2026 10AM EDT

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston.

A newspaper closely linked to Iran's Theocratic leaders has put forth new demands it says

need to be met before it will end missile and drone attacks on its neighbors.

This comes after Iran already rejected a U.S. proposal to end the conflict.

NPR's Emily Fang reports.

Iran's K-Han newspaper, which is closely linked with the Office of Iran's Supreme Leader,

says the U.S. must withdraw all of its troops from the Middle East and dismantle military

bases in the region if it wants the war to end.

Earlier this week, Iran's military command quickly rejected a 15-point U.S. proposal

countering with demands of its own, including that the U.S. stop assassinations of Iranian

leaders pay Iran war reparations for damages in the war so far and ensure that it will never

attack Iran again.

Iran's parliament is also tabling a symbolic bill that would allow Iran to collect fees

from ships, amounting to possibly millions of dollars in exchange for safe passage through

the Strait of Hormuz.

Emily Fang and Pyrenees Van Turkey.

Gas prices in the United States are nearing $4 a gallon that's up the dollar since the

U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.

Vicki Barker reports the crisis means pain at the pump in the United Kingdom as well.

Some filling stations in the U.K. have reported running dry, but with gas prices approaching

$7 a gallon, these are seen as temporary local shortages caused by drivers rushing

to fill their tanks before prices rise even further.

Nick Butler, a former BP executive, turned academic, telling the BBC,

I think really the government should now be coming up with a plan of how they're going

to deal with these really serious potential shortages which could develop if this conflict

goes on and if Hormuz is not opened pretty soon.

That could ultimately involve the kind of government rationing last seen during the Suez

crisis of 1957.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

DSA agents could see their first paychecks in more than a month as soon as tomorrow, but

it remains unclear whether that will start to ease long wait times at airport security.

President Trump signed an executive action on Friday to pay agents as Congress remains

deadlocked over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

Borders are, Tom Homan tells CNN that it's ultimately up to lawmakers to reach an agreement.

So, as Congress opens up the government and funds to Department Homeland Security, that's

what has happened, but there is a plan to get these T.S. agents pay, hopefully by tomorrow

or Tuesday.

The partial government shutdown has caused hundreds of T.S.A. agents to quit, leaving security

operation, short staffed and long waits at airport security checkpoints.

This is NPR News.

At the Vatican, thousands filled St. Peter's Square this morning for Palm Sunday celebrations,

marking the start of Holy Week and his homily Pope Leo urged the faithful to reject a vision

and embrace compassion.

But Pope also condemned leaders who waged war, calling the violence atrocious and warning

that faith cannot be used to justify it.

The traditional Palm Sunday procession in Jerusalem has been canceled because of the ongoing

war in the Middle East, instead a small service has been held outside the city.

During the celebrations, worshipers carried palms to commemorate Jesus' entry to Jerusalem

before his crucifixion.

The BBC Sebastian Usher reports from Jerusalem.

I'm on the Mount of Olives, just outside a church-beth page where there is a small mass being

said around 7.80 of a local Christian community here for Palm Sunday.

Now Palm Sunday is normally a huge event here, thousands of people from a local community

but also from around the world.

They are given pangs.

They would walk out of the church after mass and they would walk up to the top of Mount

of Olives and then down into the old city through Line Gate, the end of a church of

a Holy Sepulchre.

But all of that is closed, there's fears, if a missile was intercepted, a fragment

came down, any kind of mass event like that could be a serious risk.

That's the BBC's Sebastian Usher reporting from Jerusalem.

I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington.

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