Reuters World News - Middle East bombardment, Iranian soccer squad and SAVE America

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

The U.S. and Israel pound Iran with what is described as the most intense airstrikes of the war. One member of the Iranian soccer squad who chose to stay in Australia has now changed her mind – we look at how the offer of asylum for the group came about. Some Iranians flee across the border into Turkey– while others are crossing the other way back home. Plus, U.S. President Donald Trump looks to the SAVE America Act for midterm success. 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 Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Wednesday, March 11th. Today, the US and Israel hit Iran in the most intense attacks of the war so far. Two more members of the Iranian women's soccer team claim asylum in Australia, but one changes her mind. And how Trump is urging Republicans to enact voting restrictions for success in the midterms. This is Reuters' World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. The US and Israel have pounded Iran with what the Pentagon and Iranians are calling the most intense airstrikes yet. One Tehran resident Reuters spoke to described the night of bombardment as hell, saying they were bombing everywhere, every part of Tehran. Iran hit back, setting off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,

and launching missiles at a US base in Qatar and Iraq's Kurdistan, according to the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Iran's UN envoy, Amir Saeed Irvani, told reporters, nearly 8,000 homes have been destroyed and more than 1,300 civilians killed. They show no respect for international law and no respect. restraint in committing these crimes. Irvani also called attacks on oil depots and refineries, which resulted in huge oil fires tantamount to war crimes.

The fires sent thick smoke laden with harmful chemicals, including hydrocarbons, sulfur and nitrogen dioxide into the atmosphere, covering large parts of Tehran. The World Health Organization's Christian Lindmayr, warning that poses another risk. The black rain and the acidic rain coming with it is indeed a danger for the population. Iranian authorities are warning residents to stay indoors

and officials in neighbouring Pakistan are also issuing their own alert, saying winds may carry pollutants over the border. Meanwhile, the Pentagon says approximately 140 US troops have been wounded in the 10-day-old war with Iran, a figure it only disclosed after Reuters reported as many as 150 injuries. Until now, the Pentagon had only publicly acknowledged just eight seriously injured service members. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt says the Trump administration's goals in Iran remain unchanged. The trend is clear. U.S. combat capabilities are increasing and growing more lethal and dominant by the day,

while the Iranian terrorist regime's ability to respond has rapidly declined. To restrain soaring crude prices, the International Energy Agency has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in its history, according to the Wall Street Journal. The release would exceed the 182 million barrels of oil that IEA member nations put on the market in two releases when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the newspaper said.

To hear about the ongoing market's impact of the war, listen to our daily sister podcast Morningbid. Members of the Iranian women's soccer team greet supporters in Kuala Lumpur on a stopover on their way from Australia back to Iran. They are the ones who turned down an offer of asylum. Five of their teammates took up an initial offer from Canberra to stay. And now it's been revealed two more women

with the group at the last minute, also decided not to board the plane. But one of those two has since changed her mind and decided to return to Iran, according to Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. One of the two who had made the decision to stay last night had spoken to some of the teammates who had left and had changed her mind. Alistair Powell in Sydney has more on how the asylum office came about for the delegation. The Home Minister said that all the members of the team were separated from their Iranian government minders.

They were interviewed by immigration officials and they were given a choice. They were told that there was a possibility of them to remain in Australia to claim asylum. And then they were given the choice whether they wanted to do that or whether they wanted to get on the plane to head back eventually to Iran.

The first group of women who took the initial offer were extracted from their hotel by police and taken to a safe location. where they remain under police protection. Alistair says efforts to grant the women asylum have been going on since shortly after the team had their first Asian Cup match. Before the first game, the women footballers,

once the Iranian national anthem started, they did not sing the national anthem. Now, that was taken in Iran as a gesture of protest, and you had figures on Iranian state TV calling them wartime traitors. and based on what the Australian government has been saying, ever since then there have been efforts behind the scenes to grant those women in asylum,

or at least to let them know through members of the diaspora or through interpreters, that the offer of asylum was there. Iranian media quoted the country's prosecutor's office as saying the remaining team members were invited back to Iran with peace and confidence. Tehran says it has arrested dozens of people, including a foreign national, accused of spying for the country's enemies, as its war with the United States and Israel continues. Tehran says the detainee was acting on behalf of Washington, Israel and two Gulf states.

Rights groups say Iran has a history of using security arrests to pressure other countries, a claim Tehran denies. At a snow-covered mountain pass in eastern Turkey, Iranians wheel their suitcases across the border, expressing a mix of. of fear, exhaustion and relief. Hundreds have crossed in recent days. Some, like 61-year-old Abraham Idi, says Iranians are watching for signs

the government has been sufficiently weakened for an opposition figure like Reza Pavlavi, the son of Iran's last Shah, to reclaim control. He says people are more afraid of their own government than they are of the US. But the flow of Iranians is moving. moving in both directions as some expats seek to return home. 45-year-old Leila used the mountain pass to head back to Iran

to find her family after communication was cut off. How can I be safe when I feel my family, maybe they are in danger? She says she plans to remain in Iran until the war is over. Over in the U.S., there's been some mixed messaging from the White House as to when the military campaign in Iran will end. This isn't helping Trump politically at a time when the possibility of a protracted war in the Middle East that is pushing up US gas prices

threatens Republicans' chances of winning in November's midterm elections. But the president says he has a solution for that. The Save America Act. Trump telling Republicans in Florida this week that enacting this sweeping voting restrictions legislation, is his number one priority. Reporter Andy Sullivan has been covering the proposed bill. So this would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote.

People would have to provide something like a passport or a birth certificate before they could even register. It also adds really, really strict photo ID requirements, preventing people from showing something like a student ID or, you know, certain forms of tribal ID. So it potentially could really make it difficult for millions and millions of Americans to cast a ballot this fall in the midterm elections. But Andy says it's not a sure thing. So it's past the House of Representatives. It's now in the Senate. Trump is really pressing them to pass it through the Senate, get it to his desk to sign into

law. He's saying he won't sign any other legislation before he gets that. Problem is that's not likely to happen. You need 60 votes to pass most things through the Senate. Republicans only have 53 votes and Democrats say they're not playing ball on this. Plus, some studies signal that the law could backfire against Republicans. In conservative Republican-leaning states like West Virginia, fewer people actually have a passport than in your coastal cosmopolitan democratic-leading states. Another hurdle is that Republican conservative women are more likely to change their name when they get married so that their name doesn't match the name on the birth certificate.

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