Iran blocks vital oil route as Israel expands its ground operations in Lebanon

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+ World Iran blocks vital oil route as Israel expands its ground operations in Lebanon March 16, 20264:33 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By Daniel Estrin , A Martínez Iran blocks vital oil route as Israel expands its ground operations in Lebanon Listen &middot; 3:27 3:27 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5746805/nx-s1-9689331" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript As the war in Iran enters its third week, there's no end in sight. Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil route, as Trump urges allies to act and Israel expands its ground operations. Sponsor Message A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: There is no sign the Iran war is ending anytime soon, and Iran is exacting a painful price.

+ MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Iran is attacking Gulf countries and blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route. President Trump is pressuring countries to help reopen it. And a second front in the war is heating up, with new Israeli ground operations in Lebanon and also potential diplomacy. MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Daniel Estrin is with us from Tel Aviv. Daniel, where do things stand? DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Well, Iran is continuing to attack Gulf countries. It says it's punishing those Gulf countries for allowing the U.S. to use their territory to mount attacks on Iran. And so we are seeing the global implications. Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest airport, temporarily suspended flights yet again after a drone attack started a fire. And then there's the effect to the world's oil trade. Iran is largely blocking that key shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz. And President Trump says he's speaking to about a half a dozen countries, asking them to send military help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He has threatened a, quote, "very bad future" if NATO allies don't help. MARTÍNEZ: Daniel, mentioned you were in Tel Aviv in Israel. So what are the effects of Israel's attack on Iran, now more than, what, two weeks into the war? ESTRIN: An Israeli military spokesman briefed reporters this morning about how the war is going in their eyes. He said the Israeli military has taken out more than 70% of Iran's ballistic missile launchers. But we do see Iran still firing missiles daily toward Gulf countries and toward Israel, including shortly before I got on to speak with you. Israel, according to the Israeli military, is now working to degrade Iran's nuclear program as well, and the military spokesman said that there have been some strikes that he cannot speak about yet. The major question here is whether this war will end with Iran still in possession of highly enriched uranium that it has, which Iran says is buried under rubble from the war last year. So the question is, could they simply, after the war, retrieve it and use it to build a nuclear weapon? But Iran's military capabilities are deeply weakened in this war. The regime, though, is still intact, still able to inflict global pain, as we see. And Israel's public timetable for this war keeps changing. Today, the military spokesman said that Israel has war plans in Iran for the next three weeks. MARTÍNEZ: Next three weeks. OK. Another front in this war is Lebanon. What are Israel's plans in Lebanon? ESTRIN: We're seeing two things happening at the same time. We're seeing a military ramp-up in Lebanon, and we're also seeing attempts at diplomacy. Hezbollah is the Iranian-funded militia in Lebanon. The Israeli military says Hezbollah has been trying to expand its rocket attacks on Israel, and Israel has been striking hard at Hezbollah throughout this war. And the Israeli military says it has now begun what it calls limited and targeted ground operations beyond the border area into new areas of southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military has previously not been operating in this war. At the same time, a person briefed on the matter - not authorized to speak publicly, speaking on condition of anonymity - told me that Israel intends to gradually increase its ground incursion deeper into Lebanon. And at the same time, there are a lot of efforts behind the scenes for direct ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Lebanon. We'll have to see if those talks take place soon. MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thanks. ESTRIN: You're welcome. Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. 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