Reuters World News - Trump’s mixed messages, World Cup and a charcoal‑powered car

Episode Date: March 21, 2026

Trump’s conflicting signals on the Iran conflict raise real questions about who’s shaping U.S. strategy. Security warnings for the 2026 World Cup are piling up as federal support arrives lands months late. Plus, in Cuba one mechanic turns to charcoal to keep his car and his community moving. Listen to the latest On Assignment episode "In Search of Banksy" here or watch on YouTube here 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

I'm your weekend host, Sharon Reich Garson. It's Saturday, March 21st. Today, Israel and Iran trade new strikes. A federal judge rules the Pentagon's limits on press access are unconstitutional. And a Cuban mechanic engineers a charcoal solution to power his car. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. We start in the Middle East.

Israel and Iran are trading more attacks today. Iranian media confirming that the nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz has been hit. Technical experts have found that no radioactive leaks had occurred and nearby residents aren't at risk. Israel says it's unaware of the strike and the IAEA is investigating. Israel carried out strikes on targets into Iran, Karaj, Isfahan, and in Beirut, saying it was targeting Hezbollah. More than a thousand people have been killed in Lebanon so far, and more than a million have been pushed from their homes. It's the deadliest this fighting has gotten since March. Before those strikes in Beirut, Israel told residents in seven neighborhoods in the city's suburbs to evacuate.

Iran has been firing back with a cluster of missile striking Israel, including at a kindergarten. The mayor of that town told Reuters that if that attack happened on a school day, it could have been more severe. It also launched two ballistic missiles toward a U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Those missiles didn't hit the base, but they did show Iran's reach. And Britain has authorized the U.S. to use U.K. base. to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The agreement there is that it covers U.S. operations to degrade those sites as part of regional self-defense. As the conflict heads into its fourth week, so does its economic impact.

Oil prices are up 50 percent, European gas prices are climbing, and airlines are feeling it too. United says it's cutting flights by 5 percent for the next two quarters, fuel costs to stay high. In an effort to ease some of that pressure, the U.S. is waiving sanctions for 30 days on buying Iranian oil at sea, a move that should add about 140 million barrels to global markets. And as all of this is unfolding, Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Fatar, and Iranians are marking no ruse, the Persian New Year. Iran's new supreme leader Ayatollah Moshhtab al-Hamanai did not appear at Eid prayers, but he has issued a message, saying Iranians have shown, quote, unity and resistance and dealt a disorienting blow to the enemy.

Over to Washington now, where on Friday, President Trump said the U.S. was getting very close to meeting its objectives and is considering winding down its military efforts. But then Trump also said this. Look, we can have dialogue, but I don't want to do a ceasefire. You know, you don't do a ceasefire when you're literally obliterating the other side. I reached out to White House reporter Nandita Bose about the mixed messaging. She says it suggests Trump is struggling to keep a grip on the fighting and on the story being told about it. The president appears to be losing control. And despite a host of military successes, just this past week, we saw Iran strike a natural gas complex.

Qatar in response to Israel's bombing of Iran's major gas field. And the president accused Israel of not coordinating with the U.S., even though Israel later said that they informed the U.S., so the differences with Israel have begun surfacing. And the president said yesterday that he will not be putting American boots on the ground in Iran, but the Pentagon is sending three warships and thousands of additional Marines to the Middle East. So with that in mind, what options does the U.S. this point. Is there an off-ramp? We've spoken to several analysts, and from what we understand, the president can go all in and intensify the operation, possibly even seizing Kyrgyz Island, which is a major oil hub in Iran. But that would sort of risk a long-term military commitment

that the American public is very opposed to. Or both sides could go back to the negotiating table. that's another option. Or, you know, Trump could just declare victory and try to walk away. But the risk with that is that it would alienate Gulf allies who would then be left with a hostile Iran that will continue to attack. There are several voices in the presidency here right now. There are the hawks who are pressing him to continue. His top aides who are sort of laying out the consequences of what this would mean for the midterms and rising gas prices. You know, then there are folks within the MAGA movement who are making their arms. opposition clear. You know, he's decided to so far continue with the war and escalate the conflict. And it's sort of unclear whose advice he's going to continue taking. But for now, it appears that the

Hawks are winning. A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's new Pentagon press access policy, a rule that allowed the Defense Department to label reporters as security risks for seeking information not cleared for release. The New York Times sued, arguing that the policy gave the Pentagon sweeping power to sideline critical coverage. And the judge agreed, calling the rules vague, expansive, and unconstitutional. Most major outlets, including Reuters, refused to sign on to the Pentagon's new terms. The Pentagon says it'll appeal, setting up a major First Amendment fight. And inside the Pentagon, Reuters has revealed that the Defense Department is moving to make Palantir's Maven AI its core targeting system.

A memo reviewed by Reuters from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg says Maven will become a formal, quote, program of record, locking in funding and expanding its use after weeks of U.S. strikes on Iran. Maven analyzes battlefield data and flags potential targets. Pentagon officials say people still approve the strikes, but UN experts, Experts warn, AI-driven weapons targeting raises serious legal and ethical risks. The shift is set to take effect by September. Security worries around the 2026 World Cup in the U.S. are getting louder.

Intelligence warnings are piling up. The federal money meant to help cities protect the tournament is just starting to arrive, months later than planned, and host cities say the delays could be catastrophic. To find out how it could all impact, the match is slated to start in June, I called up reporter Ted Heson. There are 104 matches as part of this event. And one of the lawmakers who's been working on the security around this said it's essentially like having 104 Super Bowls.

And with that in mind, we've seen that with this event less than three months away, some officials are saying that preparations are falling behind and that there's also a pall over the event related to President Trump's immigration crackdown. and whether ICE could potentially be at any of these events and disrupt the festivities. These locations, they're already trying to get ready for the games from a security perspective. From what we gather, it's going to be an intense scramble to do that. In our conversations with officials, no one has suggested that the matches themselves would be canceled. They think that they can go forward with it.

What is more complicated are some of the side events that are happening outside of the match itself when you have these fan gatherings in a more informal setting. And I think the challenge will be securing those, getting contracts in place. One issue in particular that has come up is the capability of each of these cities and host stadiums being able to guard against any kind of drone attack or even just unauthorized drone use. As one person mentioned to me, even a drone flying on to a site where you have tens of thousands of people could panic fans and cause a stampede. So those are just a few of the examples

of sort of the scale of preparations that need to go on here. As we wrap up today's show, we wanted to close on a story about human ingenuity because it never disappoints. And while the world's watching efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz,

Cuba is facing its own problem, an energy crunch made worse by the U.S. oil blockade. And in the middle of it all is one man who says he's found a workaround. That's the sound of coal being dumped into what used to be a propane tank. And it's how Juan Carlos Pino, a mechanic in the town of Aguacete, is powering his 1980 Fiat Polsky.

He's even turned recycled steel milk jugs into an air filter. And somehow, this thing gets him up to 70 kilometers an hour, which has made him a bit of a celebrity. puttering through those pothold streets. And he's not done. Next, he wants to modify a tractor to help farms keep running. For more on any of the stories from today,

check out reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.