NPR News: 04-12-2026 3PM EDT

“Who fires at the U.S. or any other peaceful vessels will be, quote, blown to hell.” That was President Trump on Saturday, announcing a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz just hours after U.S.-Iran talks collapsed. The move effectively seals off the narrow waterway through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes, preventing Iran from exporting its crude or collecting tolls from other nations’ ships. But as NPR’s Mara Liasson noted, the blockade also stops all oil from transiting the strait—raising an obvious question: if high gas prices were caused by the strait being a choke point, how does closing it entirely help bring prices down?

The longest agency shutdown ever

Congress returned to Washington after a two-week Easter recess facing a partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security—now the longest agency shutdown on record. NPR Congressional Correspondent Eric McDaniel explained that President Trump wants DHS fully reopened, and there’s a plan to do it in two stages. First, pass a short-term funding bill that covers every part of the agency except immigration enforcement, done with Democratic cooperation. Then, use the longer budget process to fund all of DHS for the remainder of Trump’s term. That’s notable because agencies are normally funded just one year at a time. Separately, lawmakers are reviewing a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget reque