[MUSIC]
Israel and Iran struck both sides of the world's largest natural gas field. Energy prices spiked, even President Trump kept his distance from the attacks, how much farther will the escalation, though? >> I'm Steven Skip with Leyla Fuddle, and this is up first from NPR News. [MUSIC]
The President's picked to lead the Department of Homeland Security faced a tense confirmation hearing. If Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullin promised to quote better approach on immigration enforcement. >> I can have different opinions with everybody in this room, but it's the second tier of homeland. I'll be protecting everybody.
What if anything does he want to change? >> And allegations that the late labor leader says our Shavas sexually abused girls are leading to a re-examination of his legacy. However, people responding to these revelations stay with us.
“We'll give you the news you need to start your day.”
[MUSIC] >> This message comes from Subaru. The all-new 2026 Subaru Outback features bold new styling and standard symmetrical all-wheel drive, plus safety features like standard eyesight, driver assist technology. Discover the all-new Outback at Subaru.com/outback.
>> An exchange of fire across the Persian Gulf has exposed the danger to the world's energy supplies. >> The market showed it too as oil prices spike to again. First is Rayleigh Airstrikes, hit an Iranian complex that is part of the world's largest natural gas reserve. Then Iran retelligated blasting the world's largest liquified natural gas plant and
cutter. >> How much farther could this go? To talk about that, we're joined by NPR's International Correspondent Eye of a Charlie in Dubai, Good Morning, Aya, Good Morning, Aya, so Aya, how did all this unfold?
But Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corresponds says that it's really attacked the South-Parse gas
“field and they called this a big mistake.”
And then they published a list of oil and gas sites in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, where I am, and Qatar that it would target in response. And sure enough, last night, it's missiles hit some of those targets. And that includes the Ross Lothan Industrial Site in Qatar. This is the world's largest liquified natural gas complex and it is Qatar's crown jewel.
I mean, this is the wealth of this tiny nation and it burned last night. Many countries have investments in this complex yet totaling tens of billions of dollars. Qatar energy says the damage was extensive. Now Qatar says Iranian missiles also struck other gas facilities in the country last night. And Lena, this is far bigger than the scale of TIT for TATA tax on energy that we've seen
over the past two and a half weeks of this war, which had already halted Qatar's gas production and disrupted oil exports from the Gulf.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard says the attack on its gas field marked a new stage of the war.
And even Arab Gulf states said Israel's attack risked global energy security and they called it a dangerous escalation. It's interesting because President Trump is distancing the White House from this Israeli attack, which Israel has not yet commented on publicly. In a post on social media, he said the U.S. knew nothing about it, what else did he have to
say? Right. He said Israel out of anger had violently lashed out at this major gas facility. But he said there would be no more attacks made by Israel on what he called this extremely
“important, invaluable gas field in Iran.”
But Trump also said that if Iran continues attacking Qatar, the U.S. will not hesitate to quote blow up the entirety of the South-Parse gas field. But this is an underwater gas field Iran shares with Qatar and a U.S. attack like that would threaten global supplies.
But for its part anyway, the Iran-New Revolutionary Guard said if an attack like that
happens again on it, it will strike energy infrastructure in the region until it is completely destroyed. And anyways, the attacks last night, they set back Qatar's ability to resume gas production after the war, countries like China and India rely on this gas and it is already disrupting the production of fertilizer and polymers needed to make plastics.
And so through these counter attacks, what Iran is doing is it is inflicting pain on countries around the world and this could lead to pressure to end this war. Now huge consequences to these attacks that we saw Gulf Arab states have not responded militarily to Iran's attacks since the start of the war. Is that about to change?
I mean, so far what we saw Qatar do was expel the Iranian embassy military attitudes, but they haven't cut ties with Iran. It did have warm ties with Iran before the war. Qatar was also a mediator between the U.S. and Iran before the war. I want you to have a listen to Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman, Majid El Ansari.
He was speaking to reporters last week about the need to contain this war. Right now, as we speak, you can put a map of the region in front of you and you will not be able to find a finger pointing space where escalation is not happening. This is exactly what we have said from day one. This is the biggest I told you so and the history of I told you so is in the world.
And by day one, he's talking about Israel's response to the Hamas attack of 2023 and the devastating Israeli war on Gaza has spilled over across the region. And so while he's calling for containment of the war, there might be other Arab states that are pushing for further degradation of Iran's military and missiles.
Last night, Qatar's prime minister was in Riyadh Saudi Arabia with other fore...
from across the region, including Turkey, and they were discussing the war and Iran's growing isolation. And as they were meeting in Riyadh, there were big explosions on the outskirts of the city.
Iran's revolutionary guards as it struck an oil and gas site being used to fuel US fighter jets.
That's NPR's Ayah Batrali in Dubai. Thank you for your reporting, Ayah. Thank you, Lina. President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullin faced a panel of his colleagues on Wednesday.
The agency that he would lead is technically shut down as Democrats push for changes to immigration enforcement. Still much of the attention this hearing was on Mullins' personal differences with the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Chairman Rand Paul. NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisallis joins us now to explain good morning, Claudia.
Good morning, Lila. So Mullins seemed like he might have an easy path to confirmation.
“Did that assumption change after his testimony in front of Congress?”
Yes, definitely.
This was a pretty rocky start.
And really, it began with Mullin and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, both Republicans. They have a long running personal beef. In earlier this year, Mullin called Paul Snake said he understood why Paul was attacked by a neighbor back in 2017, that attack left Paul with serious injuries including broken ribs and a punctured lung.
So Paul started the hearing by calling Mullin out for not apologizing not speaking to him after, and Mullin for his part said he tried to reach Paul to clear the air, but Paul wouldn't have it. I can have different opinions with everybody in this room. But his secretary of Homeland, I'll be protecting everybody, including Kentucky, as much
as I will, my own back garden Oklahoma. Mullin tried to move past it and said he is determined to bring a new level of peace of mind to the agency. The Paul made the connection between their differences and Mullin's fitness for this job, right?
Right. It was a big theme of his questioning and let's take a listen to Paul. Plain to the American public, why they should trust a man with anger issues to set
“the proper example for ice and border patrol agents?”
And he's talking about Mullin's reputation there, but really, the agency, DHS has taken a hit as well because of the actions of its agents. Yeah, and this issue of trust, that's something Democrats brought up as well, right? Right. Democrats took Mullin to task for his comments, blaming two U.S. citizens, Renee Good,
and Alex Pretty, for their own deaths at the hands of immigration law enforcement agents. Mullin said he should have retracted those statements, but Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal reminded him DHS faces some massive issues. In reclass agency, that has broken into homes without judicial approval, shot United States citizens detained them without any cause.
So even if senators of both sides of the aisles may have been personal fans of Mullin, it's a different ball game now because of the moment that DHS finds itself in. Tell us more about Mullin. Why did President Trump nominate him to take Kristinaum's place?
“Well, he's been a big Trump defender, particularly on immigration.”
He's also a first-term senator, describes himself as a family man who grew up in Westville,
Oklahoma, he's a former MMA fighter. He's also an enrolled member of Cherokee Nation, and he was elected to the House in 2012, and then to the Senate a decade later, but he's faced plenty of controversies. Like what? Well, he's known for using violent rhetoric, and in a more serious moment, challenged
a leader of a union to a fight during a Senate hearing in 2023. And during yesterday's hearing, Democrats accused Mullin of withholding information in his nomination paper, work about his work with the military, but Mullin argued it was not required so it's that overlapped his time as the House member. He's also facing questions over his family stock portfolio.
But we know President Trump and Republican leaders have been able to get controversial nominees approved in the past. What do you expect comes next, for Mullin? Well, the committee will vote today on his nomination, and even if Paul votes no, Mullin could draw support at least from one Democratic senator, that's John Fetterman of Pennsylvania,
plus leaders could advance his nomination of the full Senate even without a recommendation from the committee, so he could be on track for confirmation by next week, and he's already talking about reforms he would enact if confirmed, such as requiring federal immigration agents to use judicial warrants in certain cases as opposed to administrative warrants that are signed off by agency officials.
That's NPR's Claudia Griselys. Thank you Claudia. Thank you. People are reassessing the legacy of labor activists as our chavez.
The New York Times published an investigation into the co-founder of the Unit...
Workers Union.
The Times spoke with two women who said chavez began abusing them in the 1970s when they
were 12 and 13, and he was in his 40s, one said he raped her. Dolores Huerta, who founded the union with chavez also says she was abused. She says chavez pressured her into having sex, and then later raped her according to the times. She got pregnant.
Both times concealed the pregnancies and had other families raised those children. Exaliations are coming to light less than two weeks before the federal holiday honoring chavez who died in 1993, Houston Public Media's Michael Ackison has been looking into how governments and labor groups are deciding what to do next. Good morning, Michael.
Thank you. Good morning.
So chavez began his work as a labor organizer in California.
“What are politicians they are saying about these accusations?”
Well, one of the most prominent politicians to weigh in so far as California governor Gavin Newsom. He says that now is a "sensitive, sensitive moment," and he said that it's very important to support these victims who are coming forward with their stories, but he stops short of condemning chavez outright.
He and other progressive Democrats are in something of a tough spot balancing the work that Chavez did for Latinos and laborers, while reconciling that with these new allegations. But Newsom and others have said that the movement that Chavez built is bigger than just one man. It's about the movement, it's about farm workers, it's about labor, it's about social
justice, economic justice, racial justice, all things that the movement has inspired and we should all be celebrated. Newsom is, of course, a Democrat, have we heard from any prominent Republicans on this? Yes, we have hearing Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott issued an order yesterday prohibiting state agencies from observing Cessad Chavez' day.
Texas has observed that holiday since 1999, and Abbott says he wants the legislature to work on bringing an end to that in the next legislative session. He also made a note of the politics of the situation, saying that the allegations "rightfully dismantled the myth of this progressive hero," and undermined the narrative that elevated Chavez as a figure worthy of official state celebration.
And Caesar Chavez' day is celebrated across the country, so what's happening to all the other events that were planned? Right. Well, right here in Houston, organizers canceled their own Cessad Chavez' day event, and other cities have taken similar steps, both in Texas and across the country.
“But it's important to note that not every single event has been canceled, for example,”
our colleagues at Arizona Public Media talk to organizers in Tucson, and their own Cessad Chavez, and Dolores Weddha, March and Rally, will go on, but now, under a new name. It's going to be called the "community-value-labored, unity-fair." Organizers say that that event is primarily about educating workers and immigrants about their rights, so it's going to continue to go on.
But lots of organizations are looking at similar initiatives, and the future potentially just changing the name, or whether or not to outright end the marchers entirely. Meanwhile, those cities are also reconciling what to do with streets and buildings that are named after Cessad Chavez. We heard from Cessad Chavez's family since these allegations became public.
Yesterday, Chavez's family praised the victims for having the courage to come forward, but they also said in a statement they "carry our own memories of the person we knew." Someone whose life included work in contributions that mattered deeply to many people, and his family said that they are committed to continuing to champion the causes Chavez
“stood for in the wake of these allegations.”
That's Houston Public Media's Michael Atkeson. Thank you so much for your reporting. Thank you.
And that's a first for Thursday, March 19th.
I'm Leila Faldin. And I'm Stephen Skip. Today's up first was edited by Hannah Block, Kelsey Snell, Eric Whitney, H.J. May, and Alice Wolfly. It was produced by Ziyad Bunch near Dumos, and Christopher Thomas, our director.
We get engineering support from Nisha Hynes, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. You know what, Leila? I like being the one to say the credits, because I like giving credit to these people. I'm Nisha.
We can't do anything without them. Exactly. Join us tomorrow. This message comes from Subaru. The all-new 2026 Subaru Outback features bold, new styling and standard symmetrical all-wheeled
drive, plus safety features like standard eyesight, driver assist technology. Discover the all-new Outback at Subaru.com/Outback.
