The briefing for Saturday, March 21.

President Trump said Friday his administration is considering 'winding down' military operations in the Middle East, even as the United States deploys three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the region. The contradictory messaging came as oil prices surged again and Iran threatened to attack tourist sites worldwide. Israeli strikes hit Tehran during Persian New Year celebrations, while Saudi Arabia reported downing 20 drones near major oil installations in just two hours.

The war has shown no signs of abating after three weeks. More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran, over 1,000 in Lebanon, 15 in Israel, and 13 U.S. military members in the region, according to official tallies. Millions have been displaced across Lebanon and Iran. The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the conflict, from hoping to foment an uprising against Iran's leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs, though there have been no public signs of any uprising.

Trump's post on social media seemed at odds with his administration's move to bolster firepower in the region and its request for another $200 billion from Congress to fund the war. The Marines will join more than 50,000 U.S. troops already deployed. Iran's top military spokesperson warned Friday that 'parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations' worldwide would not be safe for the country's enemies, renewing concerns Tehran may use militant attacks beyond the Middle East. The Trump administration also announced it was lifting sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded on ships, a move aimed at controlling soaring fuel prices.

Iranian retaliatory strikes on military bases used by the United States in the Middle East caused approximately $800 million in damage during the first two weeks of the war, according to a new analysis by the Center for Strategic & International Studies and BBC Verify. Much of the damage occurred in initial strikes by Iran in the week after the U.S. and Israel launched the war on February 28. The figure is higher than has been previously reported and offers a picture of the steep costs as the conflict continues.

A significant portion of the damage—about $485 million—was caused by a strike on a U.S. radar system for a Thaad missile defense installation at an air base in Jordan. The AN/TPY-2 radar system is used for long-range interception of ballistic missiles. Iranian strikes caused an additional $310 million in estimated damages to buildings, facilities and other infrastructure on U.S. bases across the region, according to the CSIS review of defense department budget documents.

Satellite imagery analyzed by BBC Verify shows Iran has struck at least three air bases more than once—Ali Al-Salim in Kuwait, Al-Udeid in Qatar, and Prince Sultan in Saudi Arabia—with fresh damage appearing during different phases of the conflict. The repeat strikes underscore Iran's focus on targeting specific U.S. assets, including air-defense and satellite-communication systems in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries. Russia has reportedly shared intelligence with Tehran on American military positions in the region. The full extent of damage to U.S. assets remains unclear, with CSIS noting the total won't be known until more information becomes available.

The Iran war threatens to disrupt global technology supply chains by halting Qatar's helium production, which accounts for a third of the world's supply. Qatar's state-owned QatarGas halted production at its Ras Laffan facility—the world's largest liquefied natural gas plant—on March 2 after Iranian drone attacks, and declared force majeure two days later. After more Iranian strikes hit the facility Wednesday and Thursday, QatarGas reported 'extensive' damage that will take years to repair and announced a 14% cut to annual helium exports.

Helium is essential for manufacturing semiconductors, including cutting-edge AI chips produced in Asian fabrication plants. Chipmakers use helium to rapidly cool silicon wafers during the etching process because of its excellent thermal conductivity. According to Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, there is currently no viable replacement for helium in semiconductor manufacturing processes. The medical industry also depends on helium to cool superconducting magnets in MRI machines, and the space industry uses it to purge rocket fuel tanks.

Spot prices for helium have doubled since the crisis erupted, though spot trading only accounts for about 2% of the total market in normal times. Phil Kornbluth of Kornbluth Helium Consulting said contract prices 'could go up a lot' and warned that the shortage will hit in coming weeks as containers that would have been filled when the conflict started finally fail to arrive in Asia. The disruption adds another layer of economic pressure as industries worldwide grapple with supply chain constraints caused by the war.

A jury in San Francisco has found Elon Musk liable for misleading investors by deliberately driving down Twitter's stock price during his tumultuous 2022 acquisition of the social media company for $44 billion. The civil trial jury returned its verdict after three days of deliberation, finding that Musk misled investors with two tweets—including one claiming the deal was 'temporarily on hold'—though it absolved him of some fraud allegations, ruling he did not intentionally 'scheme' to defraud investors.

The class-action lawsuit centered on whether Musk's tweets and podcast comments in May 2022 amounted to intentionally defrauding Twitter shareholders who sold their shares based on his statements. Much of the trial focused on Musk's claims about fake and spam accounts on Twitter, which he used as justification to try backing out of the purchase. After Twitter went to court in Delaware to force him to honor the deal, Musk reversed course just before trial and agreed to pay the originally promised price. He later renamed the platform X.

Because it is a class action case involving thousands of shareholders, the total damages Musk will pay remain unclear but are likely in the billions. The jury awarded shareholders between approximately $3 and $8 per share. Lead plaintiff Brian Belgrave, a small-business owner from Oregon, testified he sold thousands of Twitter shares in July 2022 at a loss after believing Musk's public statements that he would not complete the purchase. Musk's fortune is currently estimated at about $814 billion, much of it tied up in Tesla shares.

A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from enforcing a Pentagon policy that limits news reporters' access to the military headquarters, ruling that key portions of the new rules violate constitutional rights to free speech and due process. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman sided with The New York Times, which sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December over the credentialing policy that restricted press credentials of reporters who refused to agree to the new rules.

The current Pentagon press corps is comprised mostly of conservative outlets that agreed to the policy. Reporters from outlets that refused to consent, including The Associated Press, have continued reporting on the military, and the Defense Department has let some legacy media reporters who didn't agree to the restrictions back into the Pentagon for some of Hegseth's Iran war briefings, though he rarely calls on them. Judge Friedman wrote that the policy 'fails to provide fair notice of what routine, lawful journalistic practices will result in the denial, suspension, or revocation' of Pentagon press credentials.

The judge ordered the Pentagon to reinstate press credentials of seven Times journalists and said his decision to vacate the challenged policy terms applies to 'all regulated parties.' The Pentagon Press Association called for immediate reinstatement of credentials for all its members, saying in a statement: 'This is a great day for freedom of the press in the United States. It is also hopefully a learning opportunity for Pentagon leadership, which took extreme steps to limit press access to information in wartime.' Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the department disagrees with the decision and is pursuing an immediate appeal.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case that could force 14 states to reject mail ballots arriving after Election Day, potentially affecting this fall's midterm elections just months away. The case centers on whether grace periods that allow ballots postmarked by Election Day but arriving days or weeks later should be allowed. The Republican National Committee and Libertarian Party of Mississippi argue these practices violate federal Election Day statutes that envision a single day for casting ballots.

Currently, 14 states provide grace periods for regular mail ballots ranging from one day to several weeks after Election Day, with Washington state allowing up to 21 days. An additional 15 states allow grace periods for at least some voters, including those casting military and overseas ballots. In 2024, Washington received 127,000 ballots after Election Day that would be rejected if the grace period were eliminated. State and local election officials warned the Supreme Court that striking down these policies could create 'risks of confusion and disenfranchisement' for voters who have relied on them for years.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Mississippi's grace period law, prompting supporters to warn that upholding that decision would threaten ballot verification activities, provisional ballot processing, and military ballot processing that often happens after Election Day. Voting rights groups, local election officials, and organizations representing military voters defended the practice in briefs to the court, arguing that the Constitution gives states authority to set the 'times, places and manner' of elections. Some states have already begun modifying their laws in anticipation of an adverse ruling.