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Trump administration starts to panic over rapidly rising oil costs

3 hr ago | CNN Politics

A fuel pump as a driver refuels a vehicle with diesel fuel at a Shell gas station in Seattle, Washington, US, on Monday, March 9, 2026. Gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices have jumped, as the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran chokes off oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

M. Scott Brauer/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Trump administration has started to panic about the spiking price of oil.

While senior Trump aides had anticipated some brief surge in oil prices in the first days of the war with Iran, the size and sustainability of the market reaction caught them off guard, people familiar with the internal discussions told CNN.

Now, as oil prices hover near $100 a barrel just over a week into the war and US gas prices are moving sharply higher, it’s prompted a belated rush to try to reassure investors and seek ways to tamp down the impact. But the administration is confronting the limits of its power — and the reality that President Donald Trump’s decision to wage war abroad threatens to wipe out some of his key economic accomplishments at home.

“It’s hard to see anything but continued upward pressure on prices,” said Neil Atkinson, a longtime energy analyst and former head of the International Energy Agency’s oil industry and markets division. “People will get hurt at the pump.”

Officials spent the weekend and Monday urgently drawing up a wider array of options aimed at calming financial markets and limiting the impact of oil’s surge on US gas prices, the people familiar said. Those ideas have ranged from more limited regulatory actions, such as easing restrictions on the flow of domestic oil, to far more extreme steps like directly intervening in the global oil trade. Trump aides were expected to present a slate of options to the president as soon as Monday, according to the people familiar.

Futures-options traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange’s NYSE American (AMEX) in New York City, on March 9, 2026.

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

For now, shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains at an effective standstill, disrupting roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply with little sign of when tankers will again be able to safely traverse the critical waterway off the coast of Iran.

Few shipping firms have been willing to risk the threat of Iran firing on their tankers since the US and Israel bombed Iran more than a week ago, creating a backlog that’s driven up global oil prices at a historic pace.

Oil prices early Monday neared $120 a barrel before backing off somewhat, a level not seen since the early stages of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2022. That run-up has swiftly rippled through to gas prices in the US, spurring a 51-cent-per-gallon jump in the national average over the last week.

The spike has prompted alarm throughout the Trump administration, where officials had originally planned to make lower gas prices a key pillar of the GOP’s efforts to hold onto their majorities in November’s midterm elections.

That level of urgency picked up markedly over the weekend, the people said, as the price of oil hit $100 a barrel and it became clear that the administration’s initial steps had largely failed to allay fears of a prolonged energy crisis.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have taken the lead in developing a slate of new options, alongside staffers on the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright attends a working lunch at the “Shield of the Americas” Summit at Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida, on March 7, 2026.

Rebecca Blackwell/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

Wright and other officials have sought to downplay the concern in public appearances over the last several days, blaming oil traders for irrationally bidding up prices and insisting that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would soon resume as normal.

“We are not too long away, I think, before you’ll see more regular resumption of ship traffic,” Wright said Sunday on CNN. “This is a weeks, this is not a months, thing.”

Trump in recent days has also dismissed the war’s impact on gas prices, writing Sunday on Truth Social that it’s a “very small price to pay” and that “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!”

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers called the surge “a short-term change in oil prices, which will drop dramatically once the objectives of Operation Epic Fury are achieved.”

President Trump and his entire energy team have had a strong game plan to keep the energy markets stable well before Operation Epic Fury began, and they will continue to review all credible options,” she said.

But behind the scenes, officials have frantically sought ways to ease a crisis they worry will damage Trump with voters already anxious over the cost of living and has the acute potential to ripple across the wider US economy. They’ve also pressed oil industry representatives for ways to accelerate production, though there’s little inclination among companies to produce significantly more oil without any clear sense of how long the high prices will last.

President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Miami International Airport.

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Aides have explored a range of potential administrative levers, including easing Jones Act restrictions to boost the flow of domestic oil around the country and loosening other regulations that might slow the rise in gas prices.

They have also weighed more aggressive steps, including new restrictions on US exports, the possibility of imposing price controls and even having Treasury intervene directly in oil futures markets to put downward pressure on prices, the people familiar said.

And Trump officials have now broached the potential for deploying the US’ strategic petroleum reserve, after days of firmly ruling it out as an option. But there is still deep aversion to using the SPR, which the Biden administration leaned on to ease oil prices in 2022 — to only marginal success.

Trump has repeatedly criticized former President Joe Biden’s use of the reserve, accusing him of depleting it for political purposes.

On Monday, the Group of Seven nations discussed a coordinated release of their countries’ reserves in a bid to address the supply crunch. But the US was among those skeptical of that step, one of the people familiar said, and the group opted against any immediate action.

The White House deferred a request for comment to a joint G7 statement that the nations “stand ready” to release their stockpiles if necessary.

The remaining options under discussion within the administration could have some marginal benefit for the oil markets and US gas prices, energy experts said. Yet they’re unlikely to shift the trajectory and would do little to make up the loss of as many as 20 million barrels of oil a day that typically transits the Strait of Hormuz.

Already, one initiative that Trump officials were optimistic might shift the dynamics — offering up to $20 billion in insurance for tankers willing to cross the waterway — has fallen flat.

“Even if you’re insured against the risk of your ship being sunk, you don’t want your ship to be sunk,” said Tobin Marcus, the head of US policy and politics at financial research firm Wolfe Research. “They’re not bad ideas, but they’re not enabling people to ignore the fact that the Strait has had nothing go through it for six days.”

Trump officials in recent days have also floated the potential for military escorts through the Strait. But it remains unclear how quickly the US will be able to organize those escorts. And in the meantime, it’s only further reinforced that the only certain way to stabilize the oil markets is to bring an end to the war — and do it fast enough to avert lasting economic consequences.

Still, it remains unclear how quickly the US will be able to organize those escorts. And Trump himself said in an interview with CBS News on Monday that his administration is “thinking” of taking over the Strait.

In the meantime, the idea has further reinforced that the only certain way to stabilize the oil markets is to bring an end to the war — and do it fast enough to avert lasting economic consequences.

“The other options that the administration has, other than ending the war, are actually pretty limited,” Atkinson said. “The oil market is massively short of supply.”

特朗普对伊朗战争态势发出前后矛盾信号

2026年3月10日 07:02 / 联合早报

美国总统特朗普就美国和以色列对伊朗发动的战争会持续多久发出前后矛盾的信号，他先是暗示这场战争可能很快结束，几个小时后又称美国“还没取得足够多的胜利”，他的目标是要赢得“终极胜利”。

《纽约时报》报道，特朗普星期一（3月9日）下午接受哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）的电话采访时说，这场战争“非常接近完成”，还说“我们远超计划”。

特朗普说，他认为对伊朗的战事已进行得“非常彻底”，并称伊朗现在“没有海军，没有通讯设施，没有空军，导弹已经所剩无几，无人机被摧毁，包括他们的无人机制造厂”，“从军事角度说，他们什么都没有了”。

特朗普这番话播发后，似乎缓解了市场对战争旷日持久的担忧。当天下跌的美国纽约股市三大股指应声上涨，油价回落。

但在市场收盘后，特朗普在佛罗里达州的一场共和党议员集会上说，美国还有更多工作要做。

特朗普告诉共和党议员，“我们已在多方面取得胜利，但这还不够。我们将比以往任何时候更加坚定地继续前进，以争取最终胜利，彻底终结这个长期存在的危机。

他还说：“在敌人被彻底、果断地击败之前，我们绝不松懈。”

9日晚间，特朗普再次警告，如果伊朗领导人试图切断世界能源供应，美国将采取更加激进的行动。

特朗普在多拉尔迈阿密特朗普国家度假村举行的新闻发布会上说：“我们将对他们进行沉重打击，以至于他们或任何帮助他们的人都永远无法恢复那个地区。”

上月国际基准原油价格一度低于每桶70美元（约89新元），3月8日晚一度飙升至每桶近120美元。特朗普接受CBS新闻采访后，油价再次下跌，最终收于每桶90美元以下。

Trump demands SAVE Act vote as Thune says path forward ‘still unclear’ | Fox News

Schumer vows ‘total gridlock’ as Democrats refuse to support SAVE America Act under any circumstances

By Alex Miller
Fox News

Published March 9, 2026 4:35pm EDT

President Donald Trump’s declaration that he won’t sign any new bills until the Senate passes voter ID legislation threatens to derail his own legislative priorities and sideline confirmation of the newest addition to his Cabinet.

Trump wants Senate Republicans to ram the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act through the upper chamber with the talking filibuster, even at the cost of the Senate’s most valuable commodity: floor time.

“It must be done immediately. It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed,” Trump said on Truth Social.

SCHUMER ONCE BLOCKED TRUMP’S MOVE TO FILL THE NATION’S OIL RESERVES, NOW HE WANTS THEM OPENED

President Donald Trump attends the Shield of the Americas Summit on March 7, 2026.(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

But that comes as the Senate is wrestling with reopening the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which entered its fourth week of being shut down. A White House official told Fox News Digital that Trump was “referring to other bills, not DHS funding.”

“If the Democrats do the right thing and pass funding for DHS, the president will, of course, fund the agency,” the official said.

Trump’s edict and push for the Senate to turn to the talking filibuster has intensified the pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who has vowed to have a vote on the bill, but could not guarantee it would pass.

When asked about the growing campaign from both Trump and social media to use the talking filibuster, Thune said, “A lot of that is, it’s in that kind of, you know, paid influencer ecosystem.”

“But there’s a lot of support for it,” Thune said. “Like I said, we’re, I think, for the most part, not everybody, but there’s a lot of really strong support among Republican senators for the policy. But the process and how do you ultimately try and get a result is still unclear to me.”

SCHUMER, DEMS HOLD FIRM ON DHS FUNDING DESPITE NOEM’S BOMBSHELL OUSTING

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued that Democrats were continuing their push to keep DHS closed because it was “politically advantageous.”(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Republicans are also working to advance a massive affordable housing package that Trump backs, to consider a likely supplemental spending package to resupply munitions for the conflict with Iran, and go through the confirmation process for Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., the president’s latest pick to lead DHS.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., noted that the top priority for the GOP right now is funding DHS.

“The Democrats have blocked that right now,” Barrasso told Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “And the greatest threat to the American people today is terrorism.”

And while the SAVE America Act is supported by most Senate Republicans, it’s not an easy bill to pass in the upper chamber, given the hardline stance Senate Democrats have taken against it.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reiterated that the bill is “Jim Crow 2.0. It would disenfranchise tens of millions of people.”

“If Trump is saying he won’t sign any bills until the SAVE Act is passed, then so be it: there will be total gridlock in the Senate,” Schumer said on X. “Senate Democrats will not help pass the SAVE Act under any circumstances.”

THUNE GUARANTEES VOTER ID BILL TO HIT THE SENATE DESPITE SCHUMER, DEM OPPOSITION: ‘WE WILL HAVE A VOTE’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Turning to the talking filibuster is unlikely, too, because of a major fear among Republicans it would dominate floor time for hundreds of hours of debate. But another factor is that there may not be unity among Republicans to kill amendments put forth by Senate Democrats.

Further complicating matters is which version of the SAVE America Act Trump wants.

House Republicans advanced the SAVE America Act last month, which would require voter ID to vote, proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, mandate states to actively verify and remove noncitizens from voter rolls, expand information sharing with federal agencies, including DHS, to verify citizenship and create new criminal penalties for registering noncitizens to vote.

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But Trump asked Republicans to “GO FOR THE GOLD” with a bill to show voter ID and proof of citizenship, nix mail-in ballots except for military service members or people with illnesses, disabilities or travel issues, no men in women’s sports and “NO TRANSGENDER [MUTILATION] FOR CHILDREN!”

That version of the bill would again have to go through the House before making its way to the Senate. Whether it could survive either chamber is an open question. Thune acknowledged that Trump wanted a modified iteration of the bill, but still remained firm that the talking filibuster, or nuking the current filibuster, likely weren’t going to happen.

“The one thing I’ve said all along is, and I’ve told him and others that I can’t guarantee an outcome. I can’t guarantee a result,” Thune said. “If the result is only achieved by nuking the legislative filibuster, we don’t have the votes to do that. And so that’s just not a realistic option. And I’ve made that clear to anybody who’s asked.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

For 2nd time, judge rules top DOJ officials in New Jersey are serving unlawfully

March 9, 2026 / 5:18 PM EDT / CBS News

A federal judge disqualified the heads of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey on Monday, marking the second time in less than a year that a judge has ruled the top leaders of the Justice Department outpost were serving unlawfully.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann, who ruled last summer that President Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba was illegally appointed to acting U.S. Attorney in the District of New Jersey, ruled Monday that the Justice Department’s replacements to the role were also unconstitutionally appointed.

Habba left her role in the office in December after a federal appeals court backed Brann’s ruling.

After Habba’s departure, Attorney General Pam Bondi replaced her by appointing Philip Lamparello, Jordan Fox and Ari Fontecchio to divide the responsibilities of the U.S. attorney’s role between the three of them.

On Monday, Brann found that the department had unlawfully split the power of the office to a three-person leadership team.

He ruled that the leadership structure “exceeds” Bondi’s authority and was a violation of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, and warned that “any further attempts to unlawfully fill the office will result in dismissals of pending cases.”

The judge stayed the implementation of his order pending appeal, and did not immediately dismiss the criminal indictments against the men who brought the challenge.

“One year into this administration, it is plain that President Trump and his top aides have chafed at the limits on their power set forth by law and the Constitution. To avoid these roadblocks, this administration frequently purports to have discovered enormous grants of executive power hidden in the vagaries and silences of the code,” Brann wrote in his 130-page opinion.

He pushed back on the government’s arguments, which he described as a belief that “the Attorney General can appoint anyone to any subordinate position in the Department of Justice and delegate them the authority to act in any other subordinate role, no matter how significant.”

Brann wrote that instead of going through the “viable methods” of filling the vacancy left by Habba’s disqualification, including President Trump nominating a successor and going through the Senate confirmation process, “the Government tells us: the President doesn’t like that he cannot simply appoint whomever he wants.”

“It is crystal clear and not capable of factual dispute that the Government’s conduct in this case is intended to fill the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey unilaterally,” Brann wrote, adding that “through its statements and actions, the Administration has made clear that it cares far more about who is running the USAO-NJ than whether it is running at all.”

The judge cautioned that “scores of dangerous criminals could have their cases dismissed or convictions eventually reversed” if there is not a legally proper appointment of a U.S. attorney in that office. He warned the same issue could apply to Justice Department offices around the country that are currently facing vacancies, as judges could invalidate criminal charges brought under illegally appointed prosecutors.

New Jersey is one of at least five states where federal judges have ruled that a Trump administration-appointed temporary U.S. attorney is serving in their role unlawfully, with similar orders issued in New York, Virginia, California and Nevada. Many of the rulings focus on the administration’s efforts to keep interim U.S. attorneys on the job after a 120-day limit set by federal law.

Habba, now a senior advisor at the Justice Department, wrote on X that Brann’s ruling is “ridiculous.”

“The unconstitutionality of this complete overreach into the Executive Branch, time and time again, will not succeed. They would rather have no U.S. Attorney than safety for the people of NJ,” Habba wrote.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

普京与特朗普通话 提出迅速结束伊朗战争方案

发布/2026年3月10日 07:15

去年8月15日，普京和特朗普为俄乌问题在美国阿拉斯加州安克雷奇举行会晤。 （路透社）

俄罗斯总统普京星期一（3月9日）应约与美国总统特朗普通电话，重点讨论伊朗局势、乌克兰局势等国际问题，普京就通过政治外交途径尽快结束围绕伊朗的战事提出一些建议。

新华社报道，俄罗斯总统助理乌沙科夫9日晚表示，普京和特朗普通话持续约一小时。乌沙科夫说，就通过政治外交途径尽快解决“在伊朗的冲突”，普京“表达了若干想法”，包括考虑推动有海湾多国领导人、伊朗总统佩泽希齐扬及其他国家领导人参与的沟通。

特朗普向普京介绍了他“在美以行动持续的背景下对近期局势的评估”。“双方就这一主题进行了具体且有益的交流。”

乌沙科夫说，特朗普再次表示希望俄乌冲突尽早进入停火阶段，以达成乌克兰问题长期解决方案。

另外，俄美领导人还从全球原油市场角度讨论了委内瑞拉问题。

延伸阅读

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特朗普对伊朗战争态势发出前后矛盾信号 特朗普将在“适当时机”作出结束对伊朗军事行动决定

这是美国和以色列2月28日联手对伊朗发起大规模军事行动以来，俄美总统首次电话交谈。普京6日与佩泽希齐扬通电话时表示，俄方对于此次冲突的原则立场是必须立即停止军事行动，放弃以武力方式解决伊朗及中东地区问题，尽快回归政治和外交解决的轨道。

Capturing Iran’s highly enriched uranium would require a large US ground force, sources say

2026-03-09T22:36:37.507Z / CNN

By Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, Haley Britzky, Avery Schmitz
1 hr 6 min ago
PUBLISHED Mar 9, 2026, 6:36 PM ET

The Middle East Donald Trump

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Plumes of smoke seen in Isfahan, Iran, on March 4, 2026/

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Recovering Iran’s remaining highly enriched uranium stockpile believed to be sitting in a storage facility deep underground, an objective the Trump administration has been discussing, would require a significant number of US ground troops beyond a small special operations footprint, seven current and former officials familiar with the military planning told CNN.

The US bombing campaign that struck three Iranian nuclear facilities last June did not destroy all of that country’s highly enriched uranium stockpile, the material needed to create a nuclear weapon. Much of it is believed to be at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site, said three of the sources. President Donald Trump has made complete elimination of Iran’s nuclear capability one of his stated aims of the war.

If the Trump administration went ahead with an operation to retrieve the uranium, it could mark the first major commitment of US ground forces as part of the campaign, an escalation that would put a large number of troops in harm’s way as part of a complex mission to move or render safe tons of highly radioactive material.

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The uranium at Isfahan is accessible to the Iranians, who had been working for months after the US military strikes last year to clear the rubble of the facility’s aboveground structures and access the underground tunnels where the uranium was hidden, two of the sources said. UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday that around 200 kilograms of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is probably still at Isfahan, with some also at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.

Highly enriched uranium is a dual-use material, and Iran has said it produces it only for peaceful energy purposes. But enriching it above a certain threshold — around 90% —means it can be used to create nuclear weapons. Iran’s uranium is currently enriched at around 60%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The White House and Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.

Trump has repeatedly said that Iran can never be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program. “One thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon,” he said last month.

‘The logistics and risk involved would be prohibitive’

US military airstrikes alone can’t penetrate the Isfahan tunnels, primarily because the facility does not have ventilation shaft openings like some of Iran’s other nuclear sites, which serve as weak points for a storage structure. That has led to discussions within the Trump administration about deploying elite units within the US military’s Joint Special Operations Command, potentially in coordination with Israeli commando forces, to physically infiltrate the tunnels and secure or destroy the enriched uranium, the sources said.

A mission like that, however, would require dozens if not hundreds of additional troops on the ground to help support the core special operations team tasked with finding the uranium, the sources said, particularly given the Iranian military’s continued control over the sites and surrounding area. That support could entail not just troops to secure the area, but also logistical support given the challenges of working with nuclear material deep underground.

Delta Force and Seal Team 6 operators receive training in countering weapons of mass destruction, and US Special Operations Command has been the lead group for the Pentagon’s counter-WMD mission for nearly a decade. Several elements of the US government also have teams that are designated “render safe units” that can handle radiological material, one of the sources said. JSOC also has contingency plans to either “render safe” the material underground and/or render the facility unusable.

One retired special forces officer not involved in the planning told CNN that in their experience, a mission like this would probably require a tier one special operations unit; specialized explosive ordnance disposal personnel attached to that team; outer security which could be either the 75th Ranger Regiment or the 82nd Airborne Division depending on how large the area is and how many people are needed; exfiltration and infiltration assets like MC-130J aircraft or MH-47 Chinook helicopters; and consistent air cover overhead throughout the mission.

“The logistics and risk involved would be prohibitive, to say the least,” said one person familiar with the discussions.

In a sign that the US could be keeping its options open, at least six MC-130Js are now flying out of RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom, according to flight data and satellite imagery reviewed by CNN, positioning them closer to Iran if called upon.

These variants of the C-130 cargo plane are specially equipped to support covert infiltration and exfiltration of US commandos into hostile environments.

A satellite image captured over the airbase on March 5 appears to show several MC-130Js parked on the tarmac.

A satellite image captured on March 5 shows several aircraft consistent with MC-130Js on the apron at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England.

Planet Labs PBC

Three of the six aircraft identified are newly arrived to RAF Mildenhall, having flown in from across Europe in recent weeks. Three others have been based out of RAF Mildenhall for months.

The same dataset suggests nearly every aircraft has participated in training missions over the United Kingdom and North Sea in recent weeks.

The Iranian regime, meanwhile, is proving resilient in the face of relentless US-Israeli airstrikes. Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has been installed as Iran’s new ayatollah — a signal that Iran’s leadership has no intention of folding to American pressure.

Without the outright collapse of the regime, some level of diplomatic engagement rather than just sheer military power will likely be required to eliminate Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile, multiple sources said.

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Trump administration designates Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention

March 9, 2026 / 7:03 PM EDT / CBS News

Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally designated Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention on Monday, paving the way for the Trump administration to impose restrictions such as sanctions and export controls as punishment for the Taliban’s arbitrary imprisonment of Americans.

The designation allows for powers created by an executive order in September to be used by the Trump administration. As well as sanctions, there could be travel restrictions implemented for U.S. passport holders who otherwise want to travel to the country.

“The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions. These despicable tactics need to end,” Rubio said in a statement announcing the decision.

“It is not safe for Americans to travel to Afghanistan because the Taliban continues to unjustly detain our fellow Americans and other foreign nationals,” the statement continued. “The Taliban needs to release Dennis Coyle, Mahmoud Habibi, and all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan now and commit to cease the practice of hostage diplomacy forever.”

Afghanistan is the second country to receive the designation after Iran was labelled on Feb. 27, the day before the U.S. and Israel launched joint attacks on the Islamic Republic.

“They view Americans as a commodity that they can grab onto and then trade in the future,” Rubio said at a Monday ceremony at the State Department. “That cycle has to stop, and that’s why this designation now exists.”

U.S. government officials, former American detainees and their families were hosted by the State Department on Monday to mark National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day, which happens annually on March 9. The national flag for wrongfully detained Americans and hostages was raised outside the State Department on Monday with the families of detainees looking on from the top floor of the building.

At the event, Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler said that the administration has helped to bring home 175 individuals, including 100 Americans, wrongfully detained abroad since the start of President Trump’s second term.

Among the Americans currently detained in Afghanistan is 64-year old Dennis Coyle, an academic originally from Colorado, who was abducted just six days after Ryan Corbett, another American, was released at the start of President Trump’s second term. Coyle is being held by the Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence in near-solitary confinement and, according to his family, has had no charges filed against him.

Coyle’s sisters, Molly Long and Amy Sessions, met with Rubio on Monday in Washington, a family advocate told CBS News.

Two of Dennis Coyle’s sisters, Molly Long and Amy Sessions, at the State Department in Washington on Monday, March 9, 2026. Photo provided to CBS News

“We deeply appreciate Secretary Rubio’s leadership in holding the Taliban accountable for wrongfully detaining my brother, Dennis Coyle,” Long said in a statement shared with CBS News. “We have great confidence in this administration — particularly Secretary Rubio, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, and Adam Boehler — for prioritizing Dennis’s freedom and working tirelessly to bring him home safely. We remain hopeful and grateful.”

以军称空袭伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队无人机总部

发布时间 / 来源：2026年3月10日 07:30 / 联合早报

3月8日发布的视频截图，显示伊朗德黑兰库萨尔大道着火。 （路透社）

以色列国防军星期一（3月9日）晚间发表声明称，以军空袭了伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队一处“无人机总部”。

新华社报道，以色列国防军说，以军对伊朗境内多个地区的数十个基础设施目标进行新一轮空袭，其中包括一处伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队的无人机“中央总部”。以军称，伊方先前从那里向以色列发射无人机，并在那里储存了更多的无人机。

以军说，正加大力度打击伊朗境内的弹道导弹生产基础设施，进一步削弱伊方发射和防御能力。

伊朗方面尚未证实上述以军空袭消息。

US indicts two alleged ‘terrorists’ accused of trying to bomb NYC protest

By Reuters
March 9, 2026 5:16 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

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A view of the U.S. Department of Justice, after U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his family sued the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department for $10 billion for disclosing their tax returns, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted two people accused of trying to bomb a protest in New York City, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X on Monday, calling them “ISIS-inspired terrorists.”

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Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones; writing by Susan Heavey, editing by Michelle Nichols

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US Supreme Court to hear Guam hazardous waste explosions case

March 9, 2026 5:30 PM UTC / Reuters

A view of the entrance of U.S. military Andersen Air Force base on the island of Guam, a U.S. Pacific Territory, August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro/File Photo [Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab]

• Summary

• Air Force detonates hazardous waste explosives at beach
• Environmentalists call for environmental impact assessment
• Appeals court had allowed environmental suit to proceed

March 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear a bid by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismiss a challenge by environmentalists to the U.S. Air ​Force’s practice of detonating hazardous waste explosives on a beach in Guam.

The justices agreed to hear the Justice Department’s appeal ‌of a lower court’s ruling allowing a lawsuit pursued by the environmental groups Prutehi Guahan and Earthjustice accusing the Air Force of ignoring a requirement under federal law to assess the environmental impact of a practice like this one.

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Since 1982, the Air Force has disposed of hazardous munitions such as tear gas and propellants on ​Tarague Beach, a restricted-access location in Guam, a U.S. territory roughly 3,800 miles (6,100 km) from Hawaii that acts as an anchor for ​military operations in the Western Pacific.

Tarague Beach serves as a nesting habitat for the endangered turtles and sits ⁠above an aquifer that provides more than 80% of the island’s population with drinking water.

The U.S. government, under both Trump and his predecessor ​Joe Biden, has sought to have the lawsuit thrown out. After a federal trial judge dismissed the lawsuit, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court ​of Appeals reinstated it last year.

The government has said that the arguments made by the plaintiffs would burden the U.S. military and federal agencies with unnecessary environmental permitting requirements that Congress never contemplated when it passed the mandates at issue.

The Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Now that the Supreme Court ​has decided to hear the case, we will continue to defend Guam residents’ ability to protect their health, their land and their resources,” Earthjustice ​lawyer David Henkin said.

The dispute concerns the National Environmental Policy Act, a law from 1970 requiring federal agencies to produce “environmental impact statements” – documents that assess the ‌environmental consequences ⁠of proposed major federal actions.

In 2021, the Air Force asked Guam regulators to renew a permit to conduct open burning and open detonation of hazardous waste at Tarague Beach, located near Andersen Air Force Base. Prutehi Guahan, an environmental protection nonprofit in Guam, challenged the legality of the move in court. It is represented in the case by lawyers at Earthjustice.

Prutehi Guahan argued that, before seeking the permit renewal, the Air Force was ​legally required to assess the environmental ​impact of its waste disposal practices ⁠and propose alternatives. The suit seeks a court order requiring the Air Force to produce an environmental impact statement.

A federal judge in Guam dismissed the case, saying Prutehi Guahan lacked standing to sue. But a 9th ​Circuit three-judge panel ruled 2-1 to revive the case, agreeing with Prutehi Guahan that the Air Force ​needed to conduct ⁠an environmental impact assessment before submitting a permit-renewal application.

In appealing to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department argued that the Air Force did not need to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act because it had followed steps mandated under a different law, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, ⁠which regulates ​the disposal of hazardous waste.

The 9th Circuit’s decision threatens to “inflict significant burdens on both federal ​courts and federal agencies in the form of premature and duplicative judicial and administrative proceedings, and to impede state and federal agencies’ performance of their permitting responsibilities,” the Justice ​Department wrote.

The Supreme Court is due to hear the case during its next term, which begins in October.

Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Will Dunham

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