The Evening: Trump sends conflicting signals

March 9, 2026

	By Matthew Cullen

Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Monday.

Oil prices swing wildly
Two charged in Gracie Mansion attack
Plus, tips for better sleep

A woman in a black veil and robe, viewed from behind, stands on a hill watching dark smoke over an urban landscape.

Smoke from an oil storage facility that was struck this weekend billows over Tehran. Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

Iran war sends tremors through the global economy

Oil prices swung wildly today in a sign of uncertainty about the war in the Middle East — now in its second week — and its potential to disrupt global energy supplies.

The international oil benchmark surged this morning to more than $110 a barrel for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic. Countries capped prices and rationed fuel as economists warned that prolonged hostilities between the U.S. and Iran could cause global inflation to rise and economic growth to slow.

But by this afternoon, oil prices fell sharply to below $90 a barrel after President Trump suggested that the war could be nearing an end. “I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” Trump said. In a speech hours later, the president delivered a conflicting message: “We have won in many ways, but not enough,” Trump said. “We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.”

Earlier in the day, the G7 nations signaled that they were not yet worried about running short of fuel. For now, Americans are mostly feeling the conflict’s effects at the gas pump, with prices up nearly 17 percent since the war began.

Iran, however, has showed no sign of bowing to Trump’s demand for surrender. Senior clerics there named the son of the slain supreme leader as his successor, a signal of defiance after Trump described the son as “unacceptable.” (Here’s what to know about him.) Iran also launched missile and drone strikes today across the Middle East.

In other news from the war:

Iran’s military and hard-line political forces celebrated the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. But in Tehran, opponents of the government chanted “Death to Mojtaba” from their windows, reflecting widespread if muted dissent.
A newly released video adds to the evidence that an American missile likely hit an Iranian elementary school, contradicting Trump’s claim that Iran was responsible.
A separate video captured an apparent strike near a boys’ school in Iran.
U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran have killed about 1,300 people, according to local officials. Iranian attacks across the Middle East have killed more than 30. See images from across the region.

A man in a black hoodie and cargo pants holds a smoking device in his hand on a city sidewalk.

A man seen holding device at a protest near Gracie Mansion in Manhattan on Saturday. Vincent Alban/The New York Times

Two men were charged with supporting ISIS in N.Y.C. attack

Two men were charged today with attempting to support the terrorist group ISIS in connection with a failed bombing outside the official residence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City over the weekend. Here’s what we know.

The men, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, were arrested after they attempted to detonate two explosive devices during a far-right anti-Islam rally, the authorities said. The devices did not detonate, and no one was injured. Federal prosecutors said that both men had cited the Islamic State after they were arrested, and one said he wanted to cause more damage than the Boston Marathon bombing had.

Images showing an aerial photo of a warehouse that is 1,650 feet long, and floor plans showing it filled with pods that contain 68 detainees.

The New York Times

ICE plans to put 8,500 immigrants in this building

The Trump administration wants to turn the Georgia warehouse pictured above into an ICE detention “mega center,” which would be larger than any jail or prison in America. Take a look at the initial designs, which caused some experts to raise concerns about health, safety and security.

The Trump administration has scaled back its deportation strategy, but with little information and lots of rumors, cities are still bracing for crackdowns.
Has your business been affected by immigration policies? We want to hear from you.

Rows of solar panels on a farm reflect the setting sun on the horizon.

Solar panels outside Granite Falls, Minn. Tim Gruber for The New York Times

A giant mirror could soon be sent into space

A California-based company is asking the government for permission to light up the night sky with 50,000 big mirrors. The mirrors would orbit Earth, bouncing sunlight to the night side of the planet to do things like power solar farms and illuminate city streets.

The plan has many detractors who warn of harms for people and wildlife. But if F.C.C. approves the request, the company could send its first mirror into orbit as soon as this summer.

More top news

Arizona: The F.B.I. expanded its investigation into the 2020 presidential election, issuing a grand jury subpoena for information about voting results in Maricopa County, Ariz.
Education: Ohio State’s president resigned, saying that he had an “inappropriate relationship with someone seeking public resources.”
Antitrust: Live Nation, the concert giant that includes Ticketmaster, settled litigation with the Justice Department and agreed to change how it makes deals with venues and artists.
New York: The Alexander brothers — two prominent real estate brokers and a security executive — were convicted of engaging in a yearslong sex trafficking conspiracy.
Epstein: Casey Wasserman’s name was dropped from the sports and marketing agency he founded after he appeared in a recent release of files about Jeffrey Epstein.
Politics: A Times analysis found that billionaires made 19 percent of all reported federal campaign contributions in 2024.
Ukraine: Every month or two, President Volodymyr Zelensky visits troops near the front line. Here’s what it’s like.
Georgia: After a teacher was accidentally killed during a toilet-paper prank, his family said that they supported dropping the charges.
Detroit: Antonio Wiley’s mother vanished when he was 14. Thirty-three years later, he found her.

TIME TO UNWIND

The book cover of “Judy Blume: A Life” by Mark Oppenheimer.

Judy Blume won’t talk about the new Judy Blume biography

The journalist Mark Oppenheimer spent years studying the life of Judy Blume, whose young-adult classics he absorbed as a child. He wanted to write an evenhanded telling of her story, and she agreed to speak with him and share notes she had made for a since-abandoned memoir.

But their relationship took a turn after he sent her a draft of “Judy Blume: A Life,” which arrives on store shelves tomorrow. She responded with a lengthy memo of her objections, and they have hardly spoken since. My colleague Elisabeth Egan explains what to expect from the book.

A collage with images of a sunrise over a field of flowers, a woman lying in bed with her hands over her face, some breakfast foods and an alarm clock.

Jordan Bohannon; Photographs by Getty

Daytime habits matter a lot for quality sleep

Many people are short on sleep this time of year, in part because daylight saving time plundered an hour from us early yesterday and mixed up our internal clocks.

To fix your sleep schedule, experts told us that the choices we make during the day are important. Read their six daytime tips for better sleep, including getting some sun soon after you wake up.

An airplane seat against the wall of a plane. Behind it is a window, and light from the window in front is visible as well. But this seat has no window to itself.

Shutterstock

Dinner table topics

An inside joke at 30,000 feet: Seat 11A has become a famous letdown.
$1,000 grooming session: The pet wellness industry is booming.
Lucky, heroic, profane: Read a history of the seven policemen who wore N.Y.P.D. shield No. 13558.
Who’s a better writer? Take our quiz to see if you prefer A.I. or humans.

WHAT TO DO TONIGHT

A dark blue plate with spaghetti and tomato sauce with a poached egg on top.

Nico Schinco for The New York Times

Cook: A tomato-poached egg makes this pasta dish feel luxurious.

Read: “Gunk,” which follows a woman through the trials of young adulthood, has been a hit in Britain.

Listen to the songs that got our critics talking.

Stop using so much dish soap.