The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran entered a new phase Wednesday after Israel bombed Iran’s South Pars gas field, the largest known natural gas reserve in the world. The attack set off huge fires at a refinery and petrochemical facilities that process the majority of Iran’s domestic supply of natural gas. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps retaliated by attacking energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf region. Within hours, Iranian missiles caused extensive damage to Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility, which handles nearly 20% of global exports of liquified natural gas. Separate attacks from Iran damaged two refineries in Kuwait, two oil fields in the United Arab Emirates and a Saudi Aramco refinery at the port of Yanbu — a critical oil terminal in the Red Sea far from Iran, on Saudi Arabia’s western coast.

The escalating attacks set off panic in global markets and sent the price of oil skyrocketing as high as $118 a barrel. Several governments in Asia are now rationing fuel, slashing public services and shortening workweeks to conserve energy. Here in the U.S., gasoline prices are now at their highest level since 2023 and are set to climb further. On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance addressed soaring fuel prices after a meeting in Michigan with the American Petroleum Institute.

Vice President JD Vance: “It’s not going to last forever. We’re going to take care of business. We’re going to come back home. And when that happens, you’re going to see energy prices come back down to reality. But in the meantime, we got a problem. We know that we have a problem. We’re doing everything that we can to address it.”

The Pentagon is seeking more than $200 billion in additional funding for the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. That’s according to The Washington Post, which reports the military is seeking to urgently increase production of weapons expended in thousands of U.S. and Israeli strikes over the past three weeks.

On Capitol Hill, Republican senators on Wednesday blocked a vote on a war powers resolution to rein in President Trump’s attacks on Iran. Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Ahead of the hearing, Gabbard submitted written testimony that asserted last year’s U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and that Iran had made “no efforts” to rebuild it. But during her opening remarks, Gabbard skipped over those sections.

Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff asked Gabbard how these findings aligned with President Trump’s claim that Iran posed an “imminent threat” to the United States.

Sen. Jon Ossoff: “Was it the intelligence community’s assessment that, nevertheless, despite this obliteration, there was a, quote, 'imminent nuclear threat' posed by the Iranian regime? Yes or no?”

Tulsi Gabbard: “It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat.”

Sen. Jon Ossoff: “OK. Here’s” —

Tulsi Gabbard: “That is up to the president” —

Sen. Jon Ossoff: “Here’s the problem.”

Tulsi Gabbard: — “based on a volume of information” —

Sen. Jon Ossoff: “No, it is — it is precisely” —

Tulsi Gabbard: — “that he receives.”

Sen. Jon Ossoff: “It is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States. This is the worldwide threats hearing.”

Outside of the Capitol building, lawmakers joined antiwar activists at a memorial display of backpacks and children’s shoes, commemorating the more than 200 children who have reportedly died in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. This is Illinois Democratic Congressmember Delia Ramirez.

Rep. Delia Ramirez: “From Palestine to Iran, our bombs are killing women. They’re killing children, little girls who are yearning to learn. And they’re displacing thousands and thousands and thousands, because from Cuba to Lebanon, our government — our governments, are violating U.S. and international law.”

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says Israeli attacks have killed 45 people across Lebanon over the past two days, with over 1 million people forcibly displaced by Israel’s assault. The U.N. Children’s Fund, UNICEF, says Israeli attacks are killing or wounding 30 children in Lebanon daily, the equivalent of an entire classroom. On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his forces had destroyed two more bridges over Lebanon’s Litani River, further cutting off southern Lebanon from the rest of the country. Meanwhile, Hezbollah fighters fired heavy barrages of rockets toward Israel.

In the occupied West Bank, three Palestinians were killed and 13 others injured on Wednesday night when parts of an intercepted Iranian missile fell on a hair salon near Hebron. The dead included two adults and a 17-year-old. Few Palestinians in the West Bank have access to fortified shelters, unlike in Israel, where bomb shelters are common.

In Israel, an Iranian cluster munition ripped through the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan Wednesday, killing an elderly couple in their home. Police said they failed to reach a fortified safe room in their apartment before it was struck. Elsewhere, a man described as a foreign worker was killed by a missile attack in Israel’s Sharon area. Israel’s Health Ministry reported 177 people were taken to hospitals with injuries over just 24 hours.

Back in the United States, lawmakers grilled Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. President Trump nominated Mullin to replace Kristi Noem, whom he fired earlier this month. Republican Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul opened the hearing by confronting Mullin for calling him a “freaking snake” and for siding with a neighbor who had physically attacked Paul back in 2017. Senator Paul announced after the hearing he will vote no on the nomination. This is Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin questioning Mullin on the 2020 election.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin: “Who won the 2020 election?”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin: “Ma’am, we know that President Joe Biden was sworn into office.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin: “That’s not” —

Sen. Markwayne Mullin: “And he was the president for the last four years.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin: “We know that’s a” —

Sen. Markwayne Mullin: “But I do believe” —

Sen. Elissa Slotkin: “Who do you believe won the election?”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin: “I believe my job as Department of Homeland Security secretary will be to make sure that we assure that the elections are — are fair and people can trust them.”

ProPublica is reporting that the Department of Homeland Security is demanding access to the Federal Parent Locator Service. It’s a database holding the name, address, Social Security number, employer and salary of every employed person in the U.S., plus sensitive information on children and domestic violence victims. The service is used by the government to find people who owe child support. Federal law explicitly bars DHS from using the database, but the Department of Health and Human Services is actively considering the request.

CBS News is reporting that the FBI and IRS are forming a joint initiative to investigate nonprofit organizations over suspected possible links to domestic terrorism. This comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo last year ordering law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to compile a list of potential “domestic terrorism” organizations that promote “extreme viewpoints on immigration, radical gender ideology, and anti-American sentiment.”

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday walked out of a closed-door briefing with Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, on the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files. According to Democrats, Bondi repeatedly declined to say whether she would comply with a subpoena requiring her to appear for a sworn deposition on April 14. The briefing came one day after Oversight Committee Chair James Comer subpoenaed Bondi to testify before the committee. After the briefing, Bondi was asked by reporters if she would comply with the subpoena, to which she simply replied, “I will follow the law.” Democratic Congressmember Summer Lee later asked Comer if he would compel Bondi to attend the April deposition and hold her in contempt if she refuses. Comer told Lee that she was “bitching.” This is Congressmember Summer Lee, who has introduced articles of impeachment against Bondi.

Rep. Summer Lee: “AG Bondi has been obstructing justice. She has perjured herself multiple times. And she has been withholding critical documents that would inform this investigation into a pedophile, into corruption and possible — possibly quite deeper, because we do not know who was all involved. Today, what their attempt was, was to push this under the rug, do something off the record that they would not have to be accountable for.”

A New York Times investigation has found that Cesar Chavez, the late co-founder of the United Farm Workers, abused and molested multiple women and girls over the course of decades. Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas say that Chavez sexually abused them for years when they were girls in the 1970s. Murguia said Chavez assaulted her when she was 13 years old. Chavez reportedly raped Rojas when she was just 15 years old in a motel room in 1975.

Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez, told the Times that he coerced her into sex on one occasion and also raped her in 1966, resulting in two separate pregnancies she concealed by wearing baggy clothes. Both of her children were quietly raised by other families. In a statement, Huerta said, “I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work. … I am telling my story because the New York Times has indicated that I was not the only one — there were others. Women are coming forward, sharing that they were sexually abused and assaulted by Cesar when they were girls and teenagers.”

The United Farm Workers announced it will not participate in any Cesar Chavez Day events this month, while the Cesar Chavez Foundation said in a statement, “To the survivors: we believe you. We honor your courage, and we are very sorry for the harm you have carried in the shadows for so long.” Both organizations have established confidential channels for those who wish to report harm. Local officials in California have called for renaming schools, parks, plazas and streets bearing Chavez’s name. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced the state would not recognize Cesar Chavez Day on March 31. Annual parades in Tucson, Arizona, and San Francisco, California, were also canceled, along with marches in San Antonio and Laredo, Texas.