Ruth Sherlock

What it feels like to be in Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai, Iraqi Kurdistan and on the Iranian border. Listen on NPR: npr.org/2026/03/12/nx-… @hadeelalsh @ayaelb @LeilaFadel @Rsherlock

Sparing cultural sites in war is so important that the Pentagon even went to the trouble of designing/distributing decks of cards to boost awareness among troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The president's comments prompted me to find the deck I was given some years back:

Additional footage of the two oil tankers struck by Iran in the northern Persian Gulf tonight, both reportedly loaded with Iraqi oil. The tankers have been completely engulfed in flame, and are leaking burning oil.

🚨 GAS LINES IN CHINA - Grok has verified that the video below is real: Thousands of Chinese drivers lining up at gas stations to fill their tanks before major price increases go into effect. This is what things looked like in the US lduring the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 when gas was rationed and drivers could only gas up on alternate days based on the last number on their car's license plates. This is what US drivers no longer have to worry about thanks to the #Shale Revolution and #Trump #EnergyDominance agenda. Be grateful.

In addition to billions of taxpayer dollars being burned in this war in Iran, reports are showing that Sec. Pete Hegseth blew $93 billion in federal DOD funding at the end of last year on: $3.5 billion for cable TV $225 million for furniture $15.1 million for ribeye steaks $6.9 million for lobster tails $2 million for Alaskan king crab $1 million for salmon $140,000 for donuts $124,000 for ice cream machines $99,000 for a grand piano $26,000 for a violin $21,750 for a Japanese flute $12,000 for fruit basket stands You better believe we’ll be investigating. newrepublic.com/post/207555/pe…

This detailed investigation ( props to @ntabrizy and @ChrisOsieck 💪) cites a military expert saying a 2,000 pound bomb was likely used on this site, in this city. Human Rights Watch @hrw and @amnesty and others have repeatedly warned against using these bombs with a wide blast radius in residential areas.

This footage directly contradicts Trump’s claim that Iran hit the school in Minab.

Is the US using 2000-pound JDAM bombs on urban areas in Iran? At the Turkish border crossing many fleeing Tehran tell us they are seeing huge explosions that are collapsing homes for many meters "to the right and left of their targets". These bombs, even adapted for "precision" targeting have kill radius of of 30+ meters and can cause structural collapse up to 365 meters away (according to research by @hrw ). They were used by Israel in Gaza. Amnesty International @amnestyusa is advocating in US Congress to block the use of these bombs in residential areas. war.gov/News/Transcrip…

It is raining oil in Tehran this morning after major airstrikes on oil facilities in the South and West of the Iranian capital. @CNN @cnni

A State Department official shares the below list of munitions being expedited to Israel on an emergency basis thus bypassing Congress. Total is $658m.

I spent most of my career before becoming a host as a conflict reporter. I’m seeing many of the familiar misunderstandings and confusion emerge that have some unique 2026 qualities. 1. Propaganda is rife. All governments engage in it. That’s why painstaking original reporting is so important. This is now worse with AI and the infotainment industrial complex. 2. Nothing beats having reporters on the ground to witness things first hand. Nothing. 3. Expertise matters. These issues are complicated and a hot take from your armchair pundit is probably useless. There are now more of them than ever. 4. People are being killed. Everyday. War is bloody and brutal. It’s not a video game or a movie. Anyone trying to portray it as such is lying. 5. There are few organizations now that have the resources to do the hard work of comprehensive boots in the region war reporting. Support them. @nytimes @CNN @AP @Reuters @WSJ @NPR @BBCNews @guardian @thetimes and others. 6. Governments see information as part of the battlefield. It’s why they try and control it and shape it.

A country that has been subject to a bombing campaign does not emerge as a liberal democracy. It emerges traumatized, fragmented, furious. The scenarios being discussed among analysts include the balkanization of Iran — the deliberate fracturing of a country of 90 million along ethnic and regional lines, a project that would make Iraq look stable. State collapse is another live possibility: not regime change but the dissolution of functioning governance across one of the most geopolitically critical territories on earth. A civil war fought across those ruins. These are not fringe fears; they are the logical extension of what is being proposed. nymag.com/intelligencer/…

A Turkish company is producing 12,000, 450-kg bombs for urgent delivery to Israel. The contract is led by Repkon USA, the US arm of Turkish defense firm REPKON.

A man living in Tehran who participated in the January anti-government protests spoke to CBS News by phone under the condition of anonymity, citing fears for his safety, saying that he believes Iran’s future must be decided by Iranians themselves, not by outside forces. “Democracy has to come from the people,” he said. “It’s an internal issue.” The man says he strongly opposes Iran’s leadership, blaming the regime for “ruining” the lives of many young Iranians, including himself. But as bombs fall and missiles strike across the country, he fears foreign intervention and war could leave Iran in chaos rather than bring freedom. The conflict continues to spread with new U.S. and Israeli strikes hitting Tehran and Israel also attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iranian drones hit neighboring Azerbaijan for the first time, as U.S. allies in the Gulf face relentless missile and drone attacks from Iran — and officials warn some are rapidly running low on the interceptors needed to shoot them down.

Video of a shepherd in #Lebanon evacuating with his herd of goats & sheep from Naqoura on Israel’s border to western Beqaa. They’ve already been walking for 2 days and expect 3 more to go. War doesn’t spare anyone …

EXCLUSIVE: The strike that destroyed a school in Minab, Iran was larger than has been previously reported. A nearby clinic was also hit. The evidence suggests a precision strike against an IRGC base that was adjacent to the school. npr.org/2026/03/04/nx-…

🚨BREAKING: Drones attacking Georgian territory and specifically the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline network which is 30% of Israel’s oil source My sources in the region confirmed that the ballistic missile fired toward Turkey yesterday was designed to cripple the oil terminal and today’s attack is designed to cripple the weak spot of the pipeline

Just crossed the border into Iran. Will be reporting from here in the coming days. @cnni @cnn

Tonight, an Iranian attack drone struck the Pope Francis housing complex in Ankawa, a predominantly Christian area in Erbil, Iraq.

CNN's Clarissa Ward spoke with a senior Kurdish Regional Government official in Erbil, Iraq, who said they are '"really frightened" about possible retaliatory strikes by Tehran, if their territory is used as a launch pad for a potential ground offensive into Western Iran. Read more: cnn.it/3N3Wo1A