Reuters World News - Hormuz security, Cuba, TSA workers and the Oscars

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz appear to fall on deaf ears. Tehran's ambassador to Saudi Arabia tells Reuters that Iran's relations with Gulf states require a "serious review." Trump says a deal with Cuba is close but hints action is possible. Airline bosses urge Congress to end the partial government shutdown. And One Battle After Another wins best picture at the Oscars.  On Assignment: The Oscars industrial complex Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Manganui, New Zealand. It's Monday, March 16th. Today, Trump's call for other countries to send ships to the Strait of Hormuz falls on deaf ears. Trump says action in Cuba is possible after he's done with Iran. Tens of thousands of TSA agents work without pay and airports ask for donations. And one battle after another wins big at the Oscars. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. US President Donald Trump is demanding other countries help protect the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has essentially closed, holding 20% of the world's oil and gas supply hostage. Speaking on board Air Force One, Trump said Washington is in talks with seven nations about policing the strait. Trump didn't name names, but over the weekend, said on social media,

he hoped the UK, France, Japan, China and South Korea would act. EU foreign ministers are meeting later today to discuss bolstering their presence in the Middle East, but are not expected to extend it to the Strait of Hormuz. In Asia, South Korea is weighing its response, and Japan says it's not planning any deployment for now. The Chinese foreign ministry has not responded to Reuters' request. request for comment. Royter's chief national security correspondent Phil Stewart is in Washington, D.C. So I think what we're hearing from President Trump is increasing attempts to have leverage

over U.S. allies and even countries that aren't allies like China in an effort to make them help him open the straight of hormones and bring down energy prices that could really affect him politically. So what we've seen is President Trump, in an interview with the Financial Times, telling NATO that they're going to have a very bad future if allies don't help open up the Strait of Hormuz. And he also says he may delay a planned summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping. And so these two comments together suggest he is quite frustrated with his ability so far to reopen traffic in the Strait and wants to create this coalition to do that. But, you know, as we know, as we're becoming aware, it's much, much harder for countries to participate

in this operation, given questions about the legality. of it, questions for their own national security, given the real risks that Iran will attack the ships that are policing the street. Trump says Washington is in talks with Iran too, although he appears skeptical that will amount to anything. Central banks in a number of major economies will be holding their first full meetings this week since the start of the Iran War, with energy prices looming over all of them. For more on what to expect from markets this week, here's morning. bid host, Mike Dolan. Yeah, pretty much every major central bank is meeting this week, which is a very

unusual event. And, of course, everyone will be focused on the oil price shock that we've seen from the Gulf. The question is, is there a big move happening in interest rates? The simple answer is not this week, most likely, apart from Australia, which is already in the process of lifting rates. But the Federal Reserve, which decides on Wednesday, probably just signals. It's concern about the inflation impact as the rest will sit and watch as well. But crucial what they're signaling here and lots of memories of 2022 after the Ukraine invasion and the oil price shock then. Thanks, Mike. You can listen to Morning Bid wherever you get your podcasts. A few more updates on the U.S. Israeli war with Iran now.

In an exclusive to Reuters, Iran's ambassador to Saudi Arabia says Tehran believes relations with Gulfs, States now need a serious review because of the war. Ambassador Ali Reza Eniati says the region has relied too heavily on outside powers and is called for deeper ties between Iran, Gulf states and Iraq. The comments come as Gulf countries face thousands of missile and drone attacks since the war began, hitting oil infrastructure and U.S. military sites. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has posted a video dismissing false reports that he was dead or injured. Rumors aired by Iranian state media and spread online in Iran.

Filmed at a cafe outside Jerusalem, the video shows Netanyahu joking alongside an aid. President Donald Trump is signaling change is imminent for the communist-run island of Cuba. The pressure has intensified since the U.S. captured Venezuelan president Nikolas Maduro in January, cutting off Cuba's most important foreign benefactor. The White House has since halted Venezuelan oil shipments to the island and warned it could impose tariffs on any country that sells fuel to Cuba. On Friday, Cuba's president, Miguel Diaz Canal, said the country is in talks with the U.S., with the island facing one of its most severe economic crises in decades.

White House reporter Bo Erickson has more. For people who may be asking themselves, why now is Trump Trump, trying to make a move on Cuba. This is really a top priority for many top Trump administration officials who come from the state of Florida, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The president is also now a Florida resident, and he is kind of surrounded by people encouraging some of the action in this country

that's just 90 miles off the Florida coast. The president even mentioned recently how many Floridians are holding Cuban flags as they watch his motorcade go by. And so Republicans have really been trying to, to cultivate more and more Cuban and Hispanic voters in the U.S. here and around the country. And this is one area of foreign policy that could have some positive electoral effects for Trump's party in upcoming midterm elections this November. Trump says Cuba will be sorted once Iran is done.

The president has been willing to hold out military action or some type of covert action like we saw in Venezuela over the heads of leaders that he wants to kind of strong arm to going with his position. So it's unclear about if this is going to go more of the negotiation route or if there's going to be some, you know, kind of some physical element to this. In the U.S., global air travel disruptions are being added to by the now month-long government shutdown. 50,000 TSA officers are not being paid, and that's translating into more officers calling off work. and long security lines. Now, airline CEOs are telling Congress it's time to act.

Reporter David Chepitin says it's possible TSA agents are seen as necessary in the political shutdown fight. I do think in some ways, the TSA and air travel are really the only way that people even realize that there's a partial government shutdown, right? And so I think there's some reluctance to take that off the table because in future shutdowns sort of absent the public feeling some kind of pain, right, there might not be pressure, enough pressure, some sides would say to end the shutdown. Those pain points extend to TSA employees, many of whom earn around $20 an hour and who live

paycheck to paycheck. From the last shutdown, we know there were TSA officers that were, you know, struggling to, you know, fill up their gas tanks, pay for child care, you know, get to work. you know, some reported sleeping in their cars, right? So this is a real hardship for people who aren't making a lot of money, yet are a crucial cog in making the travel machine work. Some airports have food pantries or, you know, I'll try to get passengers or others to donate gift cards so TSA workers can buy food.

And as the airline CEOs point out, this is about a 95-5 issue, right? There's no, almost nobody in America who thinks people, people should be forced to go to work and not get paid. And finally, to the Oscars, where the Best Picture Award was a cliffhanger right up until the final moment. Here's Reuters Entertainment correspondent Lisa Richhine. When the final award was announced, the Best Picture Prize, it went to one battle after another, which is the Paul Thomas Anderson movie. It's a story of political resistance starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

It's kind of a wacky, offbeat movie. and it ended up with six awards on the night more than any other movie. It was in a battle with Sinners, which ended up with four awards. Sinners is a vampire story, another very original story, and it was really unclear until the end

which way Hollywood was going to go. Jessie Buckley's emotional performance in Hamnet won her best actress. Best actor went to Michael B. Jordan and not to Timothy Shullamay, who, after his viral interview, saying that no one cares anymore about opera or ballet,

did still get mentioned on stage. Conan O'Brien poked a little fun at Timothy Shalame. He joked that security was tight because there were concerns about possible attacks from the world of opera or ballet. Timothy laughed along and otherwise he wasn't seen much. Marty Supreme ended up not winning any awards. So he didn't take the stage. He sat in the audience with Kylie Jenner, his girlfriend.

And that was about it for him. For more on the 98 Academy Awards, head to Reuters.com, where we also have photos of all the best red carpet looks. We also have a great on-assignment podcast from the weekend, all about the business of the Oscars. Links to both are in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, you can check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app.

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