Oil hovers at $100, gas prices at highest level since 2022
Gas prices are on display at an Exxon station on March 13, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Heather Diehl | Getty Images
Oil prices fell ahead of Trump’s address, but remain at their highest levels since 2022 and are unlikely to return to pre-war prices anytime soon.
U.S. crude oil and global benchmark Brent are hovering around $100 per barrel. Brent will likely remain at that level for the rest of the year due to the massive supply disruption triggered by the war, according to a Bank of America forecast.
Gasoline prices, meanwhile, have surged more than 30% to top $4 per gallon for the first time in more than three years. Diesel prices are above $5 per gallon, a major threat to the economy as the fuel is used by trucks and trains to transport all the goods families and businesses need.
— Spencer Kimball
Iran demands guaranteed ceasefire to end war, report says
Iran is seeking a guaranteed ceasefire to end the war permanently, Reuters reported.
According to a senior Iranian source cited by Reuters, intermediaries contacted Iran on Tuesday.
Trump said on social media on Wednesday that Iran had asked for a ceasefire and that the U.S. would consider it once the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.
Trump said on Tuesday that the war in Iran could end in “weeks.”
—Justin Papp
CBS to split ‘Survivor’ in two parts for Trump address
A Paramount+ advertisement is displayed on the building where Paramount Global’s office is located in Times Square, alongside signage for CBS News, in New York City, U.S. Dec. 8, 2025.
Kylie Cooper | Reuters
Paramount’s CBS will split a special two-hour “Survivor” episode into two parts on Wednesday, with Trump’s address expected to interrupt the show at 9 p.m. ET.
The long-running reality show is expected to feature a “dreaded blood moon” that “leads to a historic tribal council,” but viewers will be interrupted for roughly 20 minutes, according to a CBS programming advisory.
“Survivor” will return after the president’s speech, and will be followed by an episode of “AMERICA’S CULINARY CUP,” according to the programming note.
— Garrett Downs
Stocks climb ahead of address
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Friday, March 27, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Wall Street extended its relief rally with Trump’s address looming.
The S&P 500 jumped 3.7% over the last two sessions, its biggest two-day increase since May 2025. The Magnificent Seven, a group of megacap technology stocks, has collectively added more than $1 trillion in market cap during that period.
To be sure, the market still has ground to regain after surging oil prices dragged on equities. The S&P 500 dropped more than 5% in March, marking its steepest monthly decline in a year. The broad index is down about 4% year to date.
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S&P 500, 5-day chart
— Alex Harring, Nick Wells
Why Iran is targeting Trump with Lego memes in the social media messaging war
People walk next to an anti-US mural on a street as protests erupt over the collapse of the currency’s value in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 2, 2026.
Majid Asgaripour | WANA | Via Reuters
The war has given rise to new forms of propaganda, as both the U.S. and Iran wield social media and pop-culture-steeped memes in the fight for messaging dominance.
Iran’s prime target is Trump, with state media and top officials alike relentlessly mocking and amplifying criticisms of the U.S. leader.
Among the most striking examples: a series of seemingly AI-generated videos depicting Iranian military successes against the U.S. and Israel in a Lego-esque cartoon art style.
The meme war isn’t one-sided: Official U.S. government accounts have shared videos splicing clips from sports, movies and video games into real footage of military strikes since the early days of the war.
Despite criticism, the Trump administration has no intention of changing its strategy. Case in point: Ahead of Trump’s address, White House spokesman Kaelan Dorr posted an AI-generated image featuring a character similar to Gru from the “Despicable Me” films wearing a red MAGA hat, waving a U.S. flag and riding a missile plastered with pro-Trump stickers.
— Kevin Breuninger
Leave NATO? Trump’s own secretary of State may have blocked him
Marco Rubio (r), U.S. Secretary of State, sits next to Johann Wadephul (CDU), Foreign Minister, at the final working session of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in France.
Michael Kappeler | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Trump has long mused about the U.S. leaving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and he is expected to reiterate his frustrations with the Western military bloc during his address on Wednesday.
But Trump may be blocked from unilaterally jettisoning the U.S. from NATO thanks to a 2023 bill authored in part by his own Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, then a Republican senator from Florida.
Tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024 was a provision blocking the U.S. president from unilaterally exiting NATO, requiring a two-thirds majority in the Senate or an act of Congress for any move to leave the alliance. Rubio led the bill with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and it was signed into law in December 2023.
That means any move by Trump to leave NATO would be in immediate legal peril. The alliance was founded in 1949, following World War II.
“The Senate should maintain oversight on whether or not our nation withdraws from NATO. We must ensure we are protecting our national interests and protecting the security of our democratic allies,” Rubio said at the time the bill passed.
Rubio, in a recent interview with Al Jazeera, struck a notably harsher tone toward the alliance.
“If NATO is just about us defending Europe if they’re attacked but then denying us basing rights when we need them, that’s not a very good arrangement. That’s a hard one to stay engaged in and say this is good for the United States. So all of that is going to have to be reexamined,” he said.
— Garrett Downs
Iran’s president slams U.S. ‘aggression’ in letter aimed at American people
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian looks on as he attends a press conference with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (not pictured), in Tehran, Iran. February 19, 2025.Â
Majid Asgaripour | Via Reuters
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a letter Wednesday addressed to the American people, defended his country’s actions in the war against the U.S. and Israel as “legitimate self-defense” while slamming the “delusions of a foreign aggressor.”
“The Iranian people harbor no enmity toward other nations, including the people of America, Europe, or neighboring countries,” Pezeshkian said in the letter, published by Iranian state media ahead of a scheduled address by President Donald Trump.
The leader framed the U.S. for unjust aggression and intervention against Iran spanning decades and argued the current war is damaging America’s “global standing.”
He also accused the U.S. of being a “proxy for Israel” and encouraged Americans to question their government’s claims about Iran.
— Kevin Breuninger