Monday morning news: March 23, 2026

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Strait of Hormuz » President Trump has given Iran until tonight to reopen the Strait of Hormuz—or else, he says, the U.S. will "obliterate" Iranian power plants.

Trump issued the ultimatum Saturday, saying strikes would begin with Iran's biggest power plant first.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells NBC’s Meet the Press that despite the threat, the president hasn’t given up on deescalating the war.

BESSENT: They are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have to escalate to deescalate.

The Iranian regime responded with threats of its own—warning that if the U.S. hits its energy facilities, Iran would completely seal the strait…and could attack energy infrastructure across the region.

Meantime, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says a coalition of 22 countries is preparing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.

RUTTE: I'm absolutely convinced, uh, that we will get this done together. Uh, actually it is already being planned. 

Trump has been particularly critical of NATO allies for not stepping in to help safeguard commercial oil tankers against Iranian attacks.

One-fifth of the world's oil normally moves through the strait, but Iranian forces have largely shut it down in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli airstrikes.

Iranian missiles » Iranian missiles over the weekend struck two communities in southern Israel. The strikes left buildings shattered and dozens injured in dual attacks not far from Israel’s main nuclear research center.

And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says world leaders need to understand that the Iranian regime, while weakened, remains a threat to the world.

NETANYAHU:  They fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Diego Garcia. That's 4,000 kilometers. I've been warning all the time. They have now the capacity to reach deep into Europe. They already have fired on European country, uh, Cyprus. They are putting everyone in their sights.

But the UK says the missile fired at the joint U.S. and British military base on the Diego Garcia island actually fell short. That base is located in the Indian Ocean, nearly 2,500 miles from Iran.

ICE agents helping in airports » At airports across the United States, travelers are still waiting in grueling hours-long security lines. One traveler in Atlanta said he’d heard the news and wasn’t surprised.

TRAVELER:  I've been in line now for about an hour and 45 minutes. Probably got an hour more to go, and I've been tracking it for the last several days. I'm on my way to Las Vegas. So, uh, I think I'm pretty well getting close to the end zone over here so, I think we're good. 

The long waits are due to TSA security staffing shortages amid the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. 

For DHS it is the second shutdown in a matter of months. Many employees said they’d had enough and quit, while many others are calling out sick much more often.

And the Trump administration is now deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports to assist short-handed TSA workers. 

Border czar Tom Homan:

HOMAN:  We can relieve TSA and augment TSA where we are trained in security and be able to do that. And that hopefully will move the lines quicker.

TSA agents, and many other DHS workers, are being asked to work without pay for now. They will receive back pay when Congress eventually funds the department … but at the moment there’s no telling when that will happen.

Hawaii flood » One of those DHS agencies is FEMA … which is now deploying resources in Hawaii amid historic flooding there.

The state is suffering its worst flooding in more than 20 years. Heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a storm a week ago. 

Matthew Foster with the National Weather Service:

FOSTER:  The good news is, is the water eventually just goes out to the, the ocean and um, it is a quick, um, time between, 'cause we're just small islands, right? So it quickly goes downstream out to the ocean and, and recedes pretty quickly here. So the type of flooding we get in Hawaii is more of your flash flooding.

But the damage is done. Gov. Josh Green said the cost of that storm damage could top $1 billion dollars.

Robert Mueller obit » Robert Mueller has died. He was a Vietnam veteran who served as director of the FBI following 9-11. But many will remember him best as the special counsel in the so-called Russia probe … investigating alleged ties between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign team and Russia. His final report did not establish any criminal conspiracy.

President Trump had repeatedly criticized Mueller, calling his investigation a politically-motivated witch hunt.

And the president reacted to Mueller’s death on social media. He said—quoting here—“I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

Mueller’s family said he had been diagnosed with Parkison’s disease four years ago. He was 81 years old.

I'm Kent Covington.

And straight ahead: Should there be a safety valve for unjust sentences? That’s ahead on Legal Docket. Plus, the making of The Godfather.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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