Top U.S. & World Headlines — March 27, 2026

AMY GOODMAN, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICIAL AND PRODUCER, TRNN, THE WORLD NEWS ORGANIZATION

Welcome to Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. and Israel are continuing to bomb Iran after President Trump said he would once again delay his ultimatum for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face renewed attacks on energy infrastructure. On Thursday, Trump said he'd extended his deadline 10 days, until April 6th. He'd previously set today as the deadline, and before that, March 23rd.

Trump also said Iran has offered him, quote, "'eight big boats of oil' as a goodwill gesture of goodwill." He later revised that number to 10. He made the claims despite Iran's repeated denials of any direct negotiations with the U.S.

And they'll tell you, we're not negotiating. We will not negotiate. Of course they'll negotiate. And they've been obliterated. Who wouldn't negotiate? They are begging to make a deal.

We'll see if we can make the right deal.

Axios reports the Pentagon's developing military options for what it's calling a final blow against Iran that could include an evasion by ground forces. One plan would see the U.S. invade or blockade Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal. Another plan would send U.S. forces deep inside the interior of Iran to secure the highly enriched uranium buried within nuclear facilities. Meanwhile, Wall Street on Thursday suffered its worst day since the start of the coronavirus

pandemic. Earlier today, the price of Brent crude oil topped $110 a barrel after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, warning, quote, "'Any passage through this strait will face a harsh response.'" In Israel, air raids, sirens sounded across Tel Aviv and other cities overnight, as Iran and Hezbollah fired waves

of missiles, rockets and drones. One man was killed, another seriously injured, after a Hezbollah rocket fell in Israel's northernmost city of Nahria. Israeli media report at least 25 people were wounded Thursday. Meanwhile, Iran's continuing attacks on U.S. military bases and oil and gas infrastructure across the Persian Gulf region.

In Kuwait, officials said Iranian missiles and drones had damaged infrastructure at two ports. Israel's military says it's expanding its invasion of southern Lebanon, sending more ground forces to set up a so-called buffer zone along Israel's northern border. The deployment of more Israeli troops came after Israel's finance minister and defense minister both suggested Israel should annex southern Lebanon.

This comes as UNICEF warns Israeli attacks have killed at least 121 children in Lebanon, with more than 370,000 children displaced from their homes. On Capitol Hill, House Democratic leaders have chosen not to force a vote on an Iran War powers resolution this week, putting off any potential vote until Congress returns from a two-week recess in mid-April. The delay has angered progressives.

Demand Progress said in a statement, quote, "'This is a moment for antiwar leadership, not hesitation. The House should be on the record now, especially when reporting suggests the votes are there to pass a war powers resolution,' unquote." Journalist Ryan Grimm of DropSite News went further, writing that House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks is delaying a vote precisely because it might pass.

Grimm wrote, quote, "'Dems secretly want this war to continue because it hurts Trump.'" Meanwhile, a bill introduced Thursday by Congressmember Meeks and Washington Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal seeks to block President Trump from using any federal funds to take military action against Cuba without congressional authorization. Mexico's Navy says a search-and-rescue operation is underway after two ships carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba went missing in the Caribbean.

The ship set sail March 20, bound for Havana, as part of the Nuestra America flotilla, our America flotilla, but failed to arrive as expected and have not been in communication. There are at least nine crew members aboard two ships, including a 4-year-old child. They're from Cuba, France, Poland and the United States. In Cuba, doctors report many patients are dying as a direct result of the U.S. oil blockade, which has led to rolling blackouts and severe shortages of food, medicine and equipment.

This is Fernando Trujillo, Cuba's national director of hospital services.

Our country, which has managed to perform more than 1.2 million operations annually, has had to reduce in recent times to 700,000, which is still a significant number, due fundamentally to the blockade. Now, with all these limitations, we have had to prioritize and limit surgical activity, giving priority especially to serious cases and to what cannot be postponed.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Silvia Flores, appeared at a federal court here in Manhattan Thursday, nearly three months after they were abducted by the U.S. military in Caracas. They've pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism and drug-trafficking charges. Maduro's lawyer asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing the Trump administration is violating his and his wife's constitutional right

to counsel by blocking Venezuela from paying their legal fees. The Treasury Department has barred the funds, citing sanctions against Venezuela. Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is presiding over the case, asked, quote, "'What's the interest of the government now in blocking those funds? We're doing business in Venezuela. The defendant is here.

Flores is here. They present no further national security threat,' he said." Judge Hellerstein did not issue a ruling on Maduro's legal fees and has not set a trial

date.

The Senate voted overnight to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security after a partial shutdown left tens of thousands of federal workers without pay. The deal funds the TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard, FEMA and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, but leaves out ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Border Patrol. Senate negotiators failed to agree on ICE reforms demanded by Democrats after immigration

agents killed Alex Preti and Renee Good in Minneapolis. More than 480 TSA officers quit during the shutdown, and absences reached as high as 40 percent at some airports. The bill now goes to the House for a vote. ICE will continue operating on $75 billion in separate funds already approved by Congress. A federal judge in San Francisco Thursday blocked the Trump administration from designating

the artificial intelligence company Anthropic as a supply chain risk. U.S. District Judge Rita Lynn also blocked Trump's order that the government cut all contracts with Anthropic. The Pentagon blacklisted Anthropic last month after the company refused to allow its CLAWD tool to be used for autonomous weapons or the mass surveillance of Americans. District Court Judge Rita Lynn wrote, quote, "'Nothing in the governing statute supports

the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government,' unquote. Anthropic had signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon back in July. The Financial Times is reporting oil futures contracts worth around $580 million were traded just minutes before President Trump's social media post about alleged peace talks with Iran earlier this week. Separately, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy wrote that $1.5 billion in S&P 500 futures

were sold minutes before President Trump announced his five-day pause on attacking Iran. Senator Murphy wrote on X, quote, "'$1.5 billion'—let me say it again, a $1.5 billion bet, bigger than any futures purchases made at the time, five minutes before Trump's post. Who was it? Trump? A family member?

A White House staffer? This is corruption? Mind-blowing corruption, Senator Murphy wrote. CNN's reporting an unknown trader made $1 million from dozens of bets about Iran on the prediction market platform PolyMarket. Meanwhile, House Republicans Wednesday blocked a Democratic motion to subpoena Donald Trump

Jr. over his venture capital firm investing in a rare earthearth minerals company months before it received a $620 million loan from the Pentagon. In Russia, Ukrainian drones have struck ports and refineries along the Baltic Sea in the western Leningrad region, sending a huge column of smoke into the sky that was visible all the way in Finland, Reuters reports the attacks halted at least 40 percent of Russia's oil export capacity, the largest oil supply disruptive in Russia's modern history.

This comes as The Washington Post reports the Pentagon is considering a plan to redirect weapons originally meant for Ukraine to the Middle East, including air defense interceptor missiles. In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week the White House is making U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine in any future peace deal contingent on Ukraine giving up its defense of the eastern Donass region.

In my view, the Russian side is shaping the atmosphere in its dialogue with the Americans around this very idea, that Ukraine should withdraw from Donbass. The United States will then provide the security guarantees Ukraine is seeking, and Russians will certainly end this war.

The International Olympic Committee announced Thursday it will bar transgender women from competing in women's events. The ban will take place at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The policy requires all female athletes to undergo a mandatory gender screening, which is a cheek swab or blood test to detect the presence of the SRY gene associated with sexual development typically seen in males.

That's despite the fact that the scientist who discovered the SRY gene has publicly opposed using it to determine biological sex. The IOC's decision follows President Trump's executive order last year barring transgender women from competing on women's college sports teams. And here in New York, unionized professors at NYU have ended a strike after reaching a tentative contract with their university.

Nearly a thousand full-time faculty members launched the two-day work stoppage, demanding higher wages, job stability and relief from heavy workloads. If they ratify the five-year deal, they'll receive an average raise of 20 percent this year. The contract also includes new guardrails for academic freedom and the use of artificial intelligence.

And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.