Reuters World News - UPDATE - US Marines deploy to Middle East, Europe under pressure and BTS

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

*This podcast has been updated to include news of the U.S. sending Marines and an amphibious assault ship to the Middle East.  Attacks on Middle Eastern energy infrastructure threaten the world economy. Europe puts on a united front, but the bloc is under pressure to help the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz. A new poll shows Americans think President Donald Trump will send troops into a ground war in Iran, and they don't support the idea. And K-pop fans descend on Seoul for the BTS comeback concert. 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 Vinell in Wanganui, New Zealand. And I'm Sharon Reisch Garson in New Jersey today. The U.S. deploys Marines and assault ships to the Middle East. The fallout from massive new attacks on energy infrastructure across the Middle East continues. Trump blasts NATO as cowards over the lack of support for the U.S. Israel war on Iran. And BTS fans and government officials prepare for a huge, The Union Show in Seoul. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week.

The U.S. is sending a major amphibious assault ship and thousands of Marines to the Middle East. Three sources tell Reuters. The deployment comes as Iran's new supreme leader praises the country's unity and resistance, and oil prices spike nearly 50 percent amid the biggest disruption to global energy. supply in history. Earlier on Friday, Trump unleashed on allies and a social media post, calling NATO a paper tiger and member states cowards for not helping to open the Strait of Hormuz. National security reporter Idris Ali has more. From our understanding and the sources we have spoken to, the Pentagon is moving additional

troops, specifically Marines and sailors to the Middle East region. This is a warship known as the USS Boxer that will be heading to the Middle East about three weeks ahead of schedule. They're on board an amphibious warship, assault warship, that in many ways is sort of a mini aircraft carrier. It has fire jets on the deck. They have Marines who really specialize in protecting embassies and personnel there, but they can also be used for other reasons, one of them being going on shore, being one of the first forces that would be needed if you were to try and place troops in a hostile environment. And it's important to remember that there's already a marine expedition unit, about 2,500, that are already heading to the region. So this is going

to add to that situation where the number of U.S. troops in the region in the Middle East are growing. As for what these troops will do once they arrive in the region, Adrease says that'll become more clear in the coming weeks. I think it's important to point out that the administration has not yet approve U.S. troops going onto the ground inside Iran. This is sort of positioning them close to Iran, and it's still going to take them a couple of weeks to get there. These ships are big. They move slowly. And so, you know, even though one batch of the Marines that are heading from Asia should be there around next week, this batch, the one we reported today, is probably going to take a bit longer than that. Badrice says the increase in troops is a reflection of the conflict spreading as it enters its third week.

On Friday, a U.S. and Israeli strike killed a spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. And Kuwait's state oil firm says its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery has suffered multiple drone attacks. Israel launched a wave of strikes on Tehran early this morning. A day after U.S. President Donald Trump told it not to repeat its strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure. EU leaders are joining the calls for a halt on. strikes against energy facilities in the Middle East in the wake of unprecedented attacks, which are pushing already high energy prices even higher. Here's what Trump had to say about his demands of Israel.

You talked to Prime Minister of Mennihaniathu about attacking the oil and gas fields. Yeah, I did. I did. I told him, don't do that. And he won't do that. That follows conflicting messages about whether the U.S. knew about Israel's plan to hit Iran's main energy source, the South Paz gas field, which marked a significant escalation. Trump said he knew nothing about the Wednesday attack in advance. And while Israeli officials told Reuters it was conducted in coordination with the U.S., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said Israel had acted alone. In retaliation, Iran launched unprecedented strikes on energy infrastructure across the Middle East, including hits on Qatar's LNG facilities, all the more

devastating given Qatar is one of the world's largest LNG producers. Qatar Energy's CEO, speaking exclusively to Reuters, said that's wiped out almost 20% of the country's LNG export capacity, threatening supplies to Europe and Asia, adding that repairs will take three to five years. to Iran, ain't a day an opportunity to ashire uranium. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran no longer has the ability to produce ballistic missiles nor to enrich uranium. But he added that work to dismantle those capabilities continues.

As we mentioned earlier, European leaders are calling for strikes on energy infrastructure to stop as they're feeling the pinch too. Here's EU Commission President to Ursula von der Leyen speaking following a leader. leaders meeting in Brussels. The European Union's physical security of supply is secure. However, Europe is not immune to global price spikes. In response, the EU is looking at ways to take the edge off for consumers. Here's European Affairs editor Andrew Gray.

If you look at public opinion surveys, this war is not popular in Europe. But on the other hand, they do know that they very much need the United States and for them. European security is the absolute priority. NATO is the absolute priority. And helping Ukraine is a major priority. And obviously the fear for them is, if President Trump is angry with them and feels they are not doing what he expects of them as allies,

that could have repercussions for NATO, for European security, for support to Ukraine. Most of that support now is paid for by Europe, but there's still very valuable components of that support to Ukraine that come from the United States in terms of military hardware and in terms of intelligence support. So they're very anxious to preserve that.

So that's the balancing act that they have to try and pull off here. As such, EU leaders also say they're ready to join appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. We've had tremendous support and relationship with Japan on everything. President Donald Trump speaking alongside Japan's Prime Minister Sanai Takaiichi in Washington, Their highly anticipated meeting went fairly smoothly, a relief for Takaiichi given it was Trump's first in-person meeting with any of the U.S. allies that he's pressuring for help with the war in Iran. White House correspondent Trevor Hunniquet was there.

Everyone, including Japanese officials going into this meeting, were wondering exactly what the tone was going to be and how much pressure President Trump would heap on Japanese Prime Minister of Sanai Takachi. What we saw was a pretty warm encounter. went in for a hug when she came to the White House. Trump accepted. But that didn't mean he kept the pressure off. He did say that Japan needed to do more to support the United States' response to the consequences of the Iran War. And he was even tougher on NATO saying that they don't want to help us defend the straight-of-hormuz. But the meeting wasn't without tension. When a Japanese

journalist asked Trump why Japan and other allies were not notified about the attack, Trump said this. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay, why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay? Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Takaiichi said she had briefed Trump on what support Japan could and could not provide in the strait under its laws, but she did not elaborate.

New Reuters Ipsos polling shows 65% of Americans think the president will deploy troops into a ground war in Iran and most do not support it. Here's Reuters Politics Editor Scott Malone. We found some support for a small-scale ground incursion involving special operations forces. About a third of respondents were okay with that. Just 7% were okay with a large-scale ground strike. 55% opposed any troops in the region at all.

This comes early in a mid-term election year when Trump's Republicans will be defending narrow majorities in the House and the Senate, and growing dissatisfaction with the war could influence voting come November. Workers put the final touches on a massive stage in the middle of Seoul's busy Guanguamun Square, ready for K-pop's most anticipated comeback. On Saturday, boy band BTS will reunite

for the first time in more than three years with a free concert. Organizers have conducted pre-traffic analysis to make sure gridlock doesn't bring the city to a start, standstill, and telecoms manager Sim Kiu Cho says they've also installed temporary mobile base stations to ensure every BTSer in the crowd can upload their videos without a hitch. The event is set to be live streamed on Netflix to 190 countries. The event also marks the start of a new BTS World Tour, which starts in April,

predicted to be the biggest K-pop tour in history. Now, a recommended listen for your weekend. Christopher Waljaspur takes us on assignment in search of the British street artist Banksy, the world's most famous anonymous man. The search took Reuters from Ukraine to London to New York. That podcast drops on Saturday morning. 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.