The briefing for Monday, March 23.

Iran warned Monday it will strike electrical plants across the Middle East if President Trump follows through on his threat to bomb Iranian power stations, with the 48-hour deadline expiring just before midnight GMT Tuesday. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said in a televised statement it would target power plants supplying electricity to U.S. bases and economic infrastructure where Americans have stakes, adding 'Do not doubt that we will do this.' The warning puts water supplies at risk across Gulf Arab states, where desalination plants are combined with power facilities.

The threat comes as the International Energy Agency chief warned the crisis has surpassed the combined impact of the two 1970s oil shocks and the Russia-Ukraine war. Speaking in Australia, Fatih Birol said the Middle East crisis has cost 11 million barrels per day of oil and 140 billion cubic meters of gas, with 40 energy assets across nine countries severely damaged. Trump posted Saturday that if Iran doesn't fully open the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. will 'obliterate' Iranian power plants, starting with the biggest one first.

Oil prices remained elevated at around $112 per barrel for Brent crude, up nearly 55% since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran maintains a tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil normally passes. On Monday, Iran renewed strikes on Gulf neighbors, with ballistic missiles intercepted near UAE's Al Dhafra Air Base, in Bahrain and Kuwait, and over Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province. One person was injured by shrapnel in Abu Dhabi.

Israel's military announced Sunday that plans for expanded ground and air attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon have been approved, raising fears of a large-scale invasion. The Israeli military said Lt Gen Eyal Zamir approved plans to 'advance the targeted ground operations and strikes' in what would be a 'prolonged operation.' Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered forces to destroy bridges over the Litani River used by Hezbollah, with an Israeli strike damaging the Qasmiye bridge near Tyre, one of the main routes linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country.

The Litani River sits about 30 kilometers from the Lebanon-Israel border, and the targeted bridges are also used by civilians. Many in Lebanon worry Israel plans to isolate the south, the heartland of the Shia community and Hezbollah, from the rest of the country ahead of creating a buffer zone. Since fighting escalated earlier this month when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel, more than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon according to the health ministry, including at least 118 children and 40 health workers. More than one million people have been displaced.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the strikes were a 'prelude to a ground invasion' amounting to 'policy of collective punishment against civilians,' warning they could be part of 'suspicious schemes' to expand Israel's presence. Katz also ordered forces to demolish homes in Lebanese border villages, saying the method would follow that used in Gaza, where Israel destroyed buildings and forced evacuations to create security zones. The escalation comes as Hezbollah refuses to discuss disarming despite Lebanon's government vowing to neutralize the Iranian-backed militia.

President Trump announced Sunday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will begin assisting at airports Monday as the partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown continues into its second month, leaving TSA workers unpaid. Border Czar Tom Homan told CNN that ICE agents will not directly screen passengers but will cover entry and exit points to free up TSA officers for screening duties. The deployment follows Trump's Saturday threat to send ICE agents if Democrats didn't immediately agree to fund DHS, posting he would move 'brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before.'

The union representing TSA workers strongly criticized the plan, with American Federation of Government Employees president Everett Kelley saying in a statement that staff 'deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the deployment 'the last thing that the American people need,' telling CNN these are 'untrained individuals when it comes to doing the current job' and deploying them in 'highly sensitive situations at airports' is problematic. A DHS spokesperson defended the move, saying Trump is using 'every tool available' while Democrats 'put the safety, dependability, and ease of our air travel at risk.'

Travelers have faced hours-long security lines since the DHS shutdown began in mid-February after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement. More than 400 TSA agents have quit since the shutdown started, and absences have spiked among those working without pay. Democrats are demanding reforms to ICE after federal agents killed two Minneapolis residents protesting immigration raids in January, and are asking DHS to bar agents from wearing face masks, provide better identification, and tighten warrant rules. A bill to fund DHS and provide TSA payments failed to advance in the Senate on Friday.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a Mississippi case that could determine whether states can count mail ballots arriving after Election Day, potentially affecting voters in 14 states plus Washington D.C. and military voters nationwide. The case challenges Mississippi's law allowing ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of the election and are postmarked by Election Day. The Republican National Committee and Trump administration are asking justices to affirm a Fifth Circuit ruling that struck down the grace period, arguing federal law sets a single Election Day requiring ballots to be both cast and received by that date.

State and big-city election officials warned the court that forcing states to change practices just months before the 2026 midterm elections risks 'confusion and disenfranchisement,' especially in places with long-standing relaxed deadlines. California, Texas, New York and Illinois are among states with post-Election Day deadlines, and an additional 15 states have grace periods for military and overseas voters. Rural Alaska faces particular challenges due to vast distances and unpredictable weather that make timely mail delivery difficult. In Alaska's 2022 election, some village ballots weren't counted even with the current 10-day grace period because mail delays meant they arrived after the 15-day tabulation deadline.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski called the case 'an effort to end voting by mail nationwide,' telling reporters 'there's probably no other state where this ruling could have a more detrimental impact than ours.' The case comes as Trump signed an executive order last year aiming to require votes be 'cast and received' by Election Day, though the order has been blocked in court challenges. Four Republican-dominated states eliminated grace periods in 2025: Ohio, Kansas, North Dakota and Utah. A ruling is expected by late June, in time to govern ballot counting in the November midterm elections.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican running for California governor, seized more than 500,000 ballots from the November 2025 redistricting special election, saying he's investigating a ballot count discrepancy. At a Friday news conference, Bianco called the effort 'a fact-finding mission,' stating 'This investigation is simple: Physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes reported.' County elections officials dispute Bianco's claims about discrepancies in the election, which approved redrawing congressional districts to favor Democrats by a margin of more than 80,000 votes.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, called Bianco's move unprecedented and designed to sow distrust in elections, sending repeated letters over two months saying Bianco's staff is not qualified to conduct a recount. According to the letters, Bianco seized nearly 1,000 boxes of ballots and election materials in February with a warrant. Bianco claims a citizen group reported a discrepancy of about 45,800 votes between handwritten ballot intake logs and votes reported to the state, but county election officials say the machine count and final state count differed by only about 100 votes, attributing handwritten log errors to temporary workers who had worked long days.

The ballot seizure comes as Bianco is one of two prominent Republicans in a crowded June primary featuring more than half a dozen Democrats. Under California's top-two primary system, leading Democrats worry their split vote could send both Bianco and fellow Republican Steve Hilton to the November general election, which would be a stunning outcome in the heavily Democratic state. The effort parallels President Trump's repeated disputes of 2020 election results and his administration's recent seizure of ballots from a Georgia election office. Bianco insisted the investigation had 'absolutely nothing to do' with his gubernatorial campaign, saying 'I have a duty to investigate alleged crime in Riverside County.' A judge has appointed a special master to oversee the count.