memeorandum: Spain closes airspace to US planes involved in Iran war, defence minister says (Reuters)

9:20 AM ET, March 30, 2026

Top Items:

Trump Weighs Military Operation to Extract Iran's Uranium — The president hasn't made a decision, U.S. officials said, as he considers the risk to U.S. troops — WASHINGTON—President Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran …

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, New York Magazine, The Independent and NewsMax.com

Financial Times:

Donald Trump says US could ‘take the oil in Iran’ — US president tells the FT he is considering seizing strategic Kharg Island even as negotiations continue — Donald Trump has said he wants to “take the oil in Iran” and could seize the export hub of Kharg Island, as the US sends thousands of troops to the Middle East.

Discussion: The Economist, Straight Arrow News, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, New York Times, The Hill, The US Sun, NPR, CNBC, NewsMax.com, Al Jazeera, The Times of Israel, Forbes, Associated Press, Raw Story, Mediaite and Semafor

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Trump Says Iran Agreed to Allow 20 More Ships of Oil Through Strait of Hormuz — The president, speaking to reporters on Air Force One, cast the permission as a “sign of respect.” He also asserted that the United States had already achieved “regime change” in Iran.

Discussion: Reuters, CBS News, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera

Sidney Blumenthal / The Guardian:

Trump's Iran war is holding him hostage — If there is any consistency to Trump's policy, it is a series of frantic attempts to justify his original blunder and extricate himself from its dire consequences — Donald Trump has lost his Iran war. He is the Iranian hostage.

Chuck McCutcheon / Axios:

Oil prices rise as Iran war escalates with Houthi attacks — Oil prices climbed above $116 per barrel after markets opened Sunday, as Iran-backed Houthi militants fired missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend and promised to continue attacks. … - WTI, the main U.S. reference, was also up about 3% to nearly $103 per barrel.

Discussion: New York Times, Financial Times, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, Business Insider, CNBC, FDD's Long War Journal and Associated Press

Associated Press:

Trump says US could take Iran's Kharg oil export hub, even as he says a deal could come quickly — U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted to take Iran's oil and suggested American troops could seize the country's Kharg Island export hub, even as he added in comments published Monday …

Discussion: Straight Arrow News

New York Times:
U.S. Special Operations Forces Sent to Mideast as Trump Weighs Next Move

Discussion: The Dispatch, NewsMax.com and The Gateway Pundit

Politico:
Trump's dual-track duel

more at Techmeme »

Sam Meredith / CNBC:
Trump says U.S. will destroy Iran's oil wells, Kharg Island without deal to ‘immediately’ reopen Hormuz Strait

Discussion: New York Post, The Hill, NewsMax.com, Washington Times, Military and Veteran … and Bloomberg

Kyla Guilfoil / NBC News:
Trump says his ‘preference’ would be to ‘take the oil in Iran’

Discussion: CNN, France 24, Forbes, Bloomberg and The Hill

CNBC:
Stock futures rise as Trump signals progress in U.S.-Iran war talks: Live updates

Discussion: Bloomberg and NewsMax.com

Justin Jouvenal / Washington Post:

Trump officials cite white supremacists in bid to end birthright citizenship — The administration builds its arguments on an 1800s campaign, led in part by a Confederate officer, that scholars say was steeped in anti-Black and anti-Chinese racism. — Alexander Porter Morse …

Discussion: New York Times, NPR, The Atlantic, CalMatters, Raw Story, Reuters and NBC News

Ann E. Marimow / New York Times:
Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order at Supreme Court Splits Conservative Scholars

Discussion: Associated Press, NPR, Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, New York Sun, Law Dork, Washington Times, Fox News and CNN

Punchbowl News:

3/30/26☀️ AM: … The House and Senate are both out for the next two weeks. Their absence is pretty remarkable given the Department of Homeland Security is still shut down. We're publishing AM editions only this week. But we'll have alerts for premium subscribers if there's any news.

Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice: The Great Republican DHS Funding Rake-Stepping Fest

Washington Post:
Mike Johnson takes the wheel

Discussion: Raw Story

NBC News: ‘I blame them all’: Travelers frustrated with Washington as shutdown drags on

Greg Sargent / New Republic:

Pete Hegseth Just Revealed the Real Roots of His Sadism and Rage — When Pete Hegseth talks to God, he asks the Almighty to help him kill people—as violently and ruthlessly as possible. — In a potential violation of the separation of church and state, Hegseth has ordered monthly prayer meetings …

Discussion: Mother Jones and The Hill

New York Times:

New U.S. Missile Hit Iranian Sports Hall and School, Analysis Shows — The Pentagon used missiles untested in combat in a deadly attack that struck civilian sites near a military compound on Feb. 28, according to visual evidence examined by The Times and weapons experts.

Discussion: Mediaite

Reuters:

Spain closes airspace to US planes involved in Iran war, defence minister says — Spain has closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in attacks on Iran, a step beyond its previous denial of use of jointly-operated military bases, Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Monday.

Discussion: El País, Associated Press and WTOP News

Daniel Basteiro / Bloomberg:
Spain Shuts Airspace to US Flights Involved in Iran Offensive

Discussion: Breitbart and Associated Press

Kathryn Palmer / USA Today:

Cory Booker says Democrats have ‘failed this moment,’ need new leaders — Sen. Cory Booker in a new interview said the Democratic Party has “failed this moment,” urging the left to support new leadership to temper the nation's deep divides. — Speaking to NBC News' “Meet the Press” …

Discussion: NBC News, twitchy.com, HuffPost and Fox News

José Olivares / The Guardian: Cory Booker says Democrats have ‘failed this moment’ and calls for new leaders

Tom Jones / Poynter:

The FCC chair is openly cheering the weakening of the press — In a speech, he ticked through defunded outlets, ousted journalists and looming ownership changes — then said the president is ‘winning’ … President Donald Trump has made no secret of the fact that he detests the press …

Discussion: Forbes, The Gateway Pundit, The Independent and Newsbusters

New York Times:

U.S. Allows Russian Oil Tanker to Reach Cuba, Despite Blockade — The tanker full of crude oil could reach its expected destination by Monday, providing a lifeline to the island amid intense U.S. pressure. — The United States Coast Guard is allowing a Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba …

Discussion: Straight Arrow News, CBS News, Reuters, UPI, El País, CNN, gCaptain, France 24, Forbes, CNBC, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Newsweek, Fox News, HuffPost, Washington Examiner, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Bloomberg, NewsMax.com, Semafor and WTOP News

TMZ.com:

Lindsey Graham Vacationing at Disney World Amid Shutdown — I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!! … Lindsey Graham was ineffective talking his colleagues into keeping the government open, but he had a great convo with Mickey Mouse Sunday ... at Disney World!!! — The Senator had breakfast …

Discussion: Newsweek, Washington Examiner, Raw Story and Breitbart

J.D. Wolf / MeidasTouch News:

Trump Floods Timeline With 14 Posts About Letitia James in 5 Days — Trump's revenge campaign intensifies — Donald Trump has posted about prosecuting Letitia James 14 times in just the past five days, signaling an intensifying focus on the prosecutor who previously brought a major civil fraud case against him.

Discussion: Raw Story

Jeremy Kohler / ProPublica:

A Nursing Home Owner Got a Trump Pardon. The Families of His Patients Got Nothing. — Reporting Highlights — Another Trump Pardon: Nursing home operator Joseph Schwartz was convicted of a $39 million fraud, but President Donald Trump pardoned him just three months into a three-year prison term.

New York Times:

They've Been Accused of Running a ‘Covert’ Operation in Greenland. It's No Secret. — Members of President Trump's circle, working in plain sight, have caught the eye of Denmark's intelligence services for trying to make friends and cut deals on the Danish territory.

NBC News:

Usha Vance on disagreements with JD Vance, 2028 and shopping at Costco — The second lady, who was registered as a Democrat until at least 2014, told NBC News she sometimes has thoughts that are “idiosyncratic” and don't fit neatly with one political party.

Discussion: Newsweek

Cameron Adams / The Daily Beast:

New Evidence Corroborates Claims of Trump Sex Accuser, 13 — CONNECTING THE DOTS — More information given by the woman has been backed up. — A new investigation has backed up evidence given by a woman who has accused Donald Trump of sexually abusing her when she was 13, according to a report.

David Gilbert / Wired:

This Is How Trump Is Already Threatening the Midterms — WIRED surveyed the ways the Trump administration is working to manipulate this year's midterm elections. — President Donald Trump's rhetorical war on elections has seemed to only get more serious with time.