President Donald Trump was eager to point to gas prices in his State of the Union speech last month as he touted his administration's progress on the economy. "Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor — it was, quite honestly, a disaster — is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states," Trump boasted minutes into his nearly-two-hour address, framing his party's message heading into the midterms.

The Trump administration believes it can withstand a brief spike in oil prices — for as many as four weeks, as one person close to the White House suggested — before the political hit does lasting damage. Administration officials' confidence was bolstered Tuesday when oil dropped to $80 per barrel, down from $120 this weekend, reinforcing their view that the spikes are temporary and manageable.

Multiple news outlets have reported that video, satellite images and expert analysis indicate that the United States was likely responsible for the Feb. 28 bombing of an Iranian school for young girls, contradicting President Donald Trump's unsupported claim that the deadly strike "was done by Iran." When a reporter aboard Air Force One asked Trump on March 7 if the U.S. had bombed the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school, the president said, "No, in my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran." He continued: "We think it was done by Iran – because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was standing near Trump at the time, didn't echo the president's version of events when a reporter asked if that claim was accurate.

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was injured in the 28 February attack that killed six of his family members, including his father, Tehran's ambassador to Cyprus has confirmed. In an interview conducted at his embassy compound in Nicosia, Alireza Salarian elaborated on the circumstances in which Khamenei, 56, was injured, saying he was lucky to survive the strike, which levelled the late ayatollah's residence. "He was also there and he was injured in that bombardment but I haven't seen that reflected in the foreign news," he told the Guardian. "I have heard that he was injured in his legs and hand and arm … I think he is in the hospital because he is injured."

As construction nears completion on the long-delayed $850 million Obama Presidential Center, federal tax filings show the Obama Foundation paid CEO Valerie Jarrett $740,000 in 2024 while several former Obama White House officials collected six-figure salaries as foundation executives. The Obama Foundation — which will operate the 19.3-acre center on publicly owned Chicago parkland — paid its CEO more than any other major presidential foundation. Salaries and benefits soared from $18.5 million in 2018 to $43.7 million in 2024, as staffing expanded to 337 employees and annual revenue reached nearly $210 million. Jarrett, one of the Obamas' closest advisors, took over as CEO in 2021 and is among six of the foundation's 10 highest-paid executives who previously held senior roles in the Obama administration or campaign, according to a review of the foundation's tax filings from 2018 to 2024.

Annual inflation held steady last month. But what comes next, now that the U.S. is fighting a war in Iran, is the question on everyone's mind. Consumer prices rose 2.4% in February from a year earlier, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. That compared with 2.4% in January and was even with what economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected. Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy items, rose 2.5% from a year earlier, in line with expectations.

On Saturday, Feb. 28th, the U.S. and Israel launched a military operation in Iran, unleashing 2,000-pound bombs on the country's ballistic missile facilities. That same morning, between 10 and 10:45 a.m., a missile struck an all-girls elementary school in Minab, Shiraz. At least 175 children and staff were killed. The U.S. has admitted it was "likely responsible" for the strike. "In one video, a very small child's severed arm is pulled from the rubble," wrote The Guardian in the aftermath of this unspeakable tragedy. "Colorful backpacks covered with blood and concrete dust sit among the ruins. One girl wears a green dress with gingham patches on her pockets and the collar, her form partly obscured by a black body bag. Screams can be heard in the background."

The war in Iran is setting off a global economic shock wave. In this episode, the Opinion editor Steve Stromberg speaks with the Bulwark economics editor and MS NOW anchor Catherine Rampell on how the Trump-made war is likely to affect global trade and the cost of living for Americans. Below is a transcript of an episode of "The Opinions." We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on the NYTimes app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

The numbers — maybe 175 dead, maybe more — are staggering, but what really matters are their names. There was Ehsan Saleminia, just 6 years old; Fatemeh Zahra Karimi, age 7; Zeynab Bahrami, 10; Mohammad Shah-dousti, 8; Reza Barani, 7; Athena Ahmadzadeh, 10; Khadijeh Darvishi, 9; Reza Ranjbar, 6; Mohammad-Ali Karyani Pak, 7; Parsa Mokhtari-nasab, 12 — and dozens more. You can read many of their names here. Every American should take a minute to do this — to remember that an undeclared war waged in our names is about more than rising gasoline prices.

Heading into Tuesday's state legislative special election in New Hampshire, Republicans had reason to be cautiously optimistic. The race was in a district that Donald Trump won by 9 points in 2024, and the Democratic candidate had already run and lost twice before by wide margins. And yet, the contest turned into the latest in a series of red-to-blue flips. NH Journal reported: In what Granite State Republicans hope is not a preview of November, Democrat Bobbi Boudman won Tuesday's special election for Carroll County District 7, defeating Republican Dale Fincher 51 percent to 47 percent in a district that voted Republican by more than 13 points just 16 months ago...