| | | |  | | By Eli Okun and Makayla Gray | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
Iranians gather next to a damaged residential building as they collect belongings from the rubble in Tehran on March 12, 2026. | AFP via Getty Images | WAR REPORT: While President Donald Trump floats the prospect of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran ending soon, his top military leaders said the fighting will escalate again to its most intense level yet. “Today will be our heaviest day of kinetic fires,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine said at a briefing this morning, signaling that many of Iran’s air defenses have been worn down. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the joint operation has hit more than 15,000 targets in the past two weeks, and he trumpeted that the bombing has “functionally defeated” Iran’s ballistic missile production. The Pentagon is sending more Marines and warships to the Middle East, WSJ’s Lara Seligman reports. Hegseth also said Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is probably wounded and “disfigured,” per POLITICO’s Paul McLeary. “I don’t think it’s going to be long when it’s over,” Trump said on Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show.” When might he end the war? “When I feel it, OK,” Trump said, “feel it in my bones.” Dire straits: As Iranian retaliation in the Strait of Hormuz upended global oil markets, Caine said the U.S. is attacking Iran’s mine-laying capabilities. Hegseth said there’s “no clear evidence” Iran has already done so in the strait — a claim that NYT’s Julian Barnes reports is contradicted by other U.S. officials. Hegseth projected confidence about the strait: “Don’t need to worry about it,” he said. “That’s not a strait we’re going to allow to remain contested.” The secretary also said the U.S. will provide “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies,” the first part of which would violate international law, WSJ’s Alex Ward notes. The tragic toll: The number of U.S. troops who died amid the fighting nearly doubled today, as U.S. Central Command announced all six service members aboard the refueling plane that crashed in Iraq were killed. A French soldier was killed in a drone attack in Iraq, the first European death of the war. Thailand is scrambling to rescue three men, still alive, who were aboard a Thai ship attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. And more than 2,000 people overall have been reported killed regionally, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. Hegseth said today that Central Command will have an outside general officer lead an investigation of the strike that killed 175 people at an Iranian school. The stepback: “Hegseth’s Boasts of ‘Maximum’ Engagement Authorities Face Scrutiny After School Is Hit,” by NYT’s Charlie Savage: “The defense secretary has disparaged restrictive rules for opening fire that are aimed at reducing the risk of mistakes and civilian casualties. … The Pentagon press office declined to comment.” Latest on the ground: Major explosions slammed Tehran, near where a significant anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian rally was taking place. Attacks continued across Lebanon, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman, where a drone killed two people. Another Iranian missile entering Turkish airspace was shot down by NATO. The economic impact: Average gas prices in the U.S. are up to $3.63 a gallon today, per AAA, while oil markets are holding steady at the very high level of $100 a barrel. Inside the administration: What’s behind the shifting messages from Trump and other top officials about the war? Reuters’ Nandita Bose and colleagues report on a “complex tug-of-war” among Trump advisers with different priorities, some — like Susie Wiles and James Blair — worrying about gas prices and others — Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) plus Mark Levin — urging full steam ahead against Iran. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the story as “gossip and speculation” from sources who aren’t there. And Trump today told Fox, “We have some differences, but they never end up being much. I convince them all to let’s do it my way.” Hegseth vs. the press: The Defense secretary reserved some vitriol today for journalists, slamming press coverage of the war for not being positive enough and saying he hoped a Trump ally’s takeover of CNN would change it. “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” Hegseth said. He seemed particularly frustrated with yesterday’s CNN reporting that the administration underestimated threats to the Strait of Hormuz; Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) today called it “categorically false.” Meanwhile, print photographers — who’ve reportedly been barred from these briefings for running “unflattering” Hegseth pics — were blocked again today, as was The Atlantic’s Nancy Youssef. Good Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop us a line at eokun@politico.com and mgray@politico.com.
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Learn more. | | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. ANNALS OF DIPLOMACY: A State Department memo outlines the Trump administration’s push to expand its effort to isolate Cuba by offering incentives to other countries to kick out Cuban doctors whose services help fund Havana’s communist leadership, POLITICO’s Nahal Toosi and Eric Bazail-Eimil scoop. Meanwhile, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed recent talks with the U.S. on “finding solutions to bilateral differences” during a speech this morning, NBC’s Orlando Matos and Carmen Sesin report. It’s the first time Havana has publicly acknowledged meetings between the two countries, amid a spiraling crisis in Cuba and a series of threats from the U.S. 2. THE LATEST ECONOMIC DATA: New numbers out today showed the U.S. economy looking a bit weaker than previously understood in recent months. GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 dropped to 0.7 percent in the latest revisions, weaker than the 1.4 percent reported earlier and way down from Q3, per CNN. “The government shutdown was still the biggest factor subtracting from GDP in the fourth quarter … Economists widely expect most of those losses to be recouped in the current quarter.” And U.S. consumer spending barely rose in January, increasing by merely 0.1 percent, Bloomberg’s Mark Niquette reports. Inflation nation: The Commerce Department also announced that prices increased 2.8 percent in January compared with a year earlier, AP’s Christopher Rugaber reports from the latest personal consumption expenditures price index. The backlog of data after last year’s shutdown is now nearly cleared. 3. BIG MONEY FOR MAHA: “Super PAC Launches $100 Million Strategy to Bolster MAHA Candidates in Midterms,” by The Daily Signal’s Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell: “The MAHA PAC is launching a $100 million fundraising campaign to bolster ‘Make America Healthy Again’ candidates endorsed by President Donald Trump in the 2026 midterms. … MAHA PAC’s ‘war chest’ will fund targeted campaigns, voter outreach, and grassroots mobilization.” Red-light redistrict: Some Florida Republicans are warning the party not to go too big on plans for a new gerrymander of the congressional map, WaPo’s Kadia Goba and Hannah Knowles report. While the most aggressive Republicans envision drawing Democrats out of four or five seats, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) goes on the record to say that two or three is likelier. “One thing that needs to be made clear: We are not picking up five seats,” she said. “Drawing five new seats would put others in danger.” Trend to watch: In some Senate Democratic primaries, pledges against corporate PAC money have become a new litmus test — and they can be a valuable political tool. But POLITICO’s Jessica Piper reports that rejecting such money can often be just symbolic: Almost all corporate PAC donations go to incumbents, and candidates have other ways to get big outside support. 4. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: An arms deal worth $14 billion for Taiwan, which includes advanced interceptor missiles, is set for Trump’s approval and could be signed after his trip to China at the end of the month, Reuters’ Michael Martina and colleagues scooped. Meanwhile, USTR Jamieson Greer said on CNBC the U.S. aims to hold “continued stability” with China ahead of his meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng on Sunday. “We want to make sure that we continue to get the rare earths we need for our manufacturing base, that they keep buying the kinds of things they should be buying from us,” Greer said.
| | | | POLITICO's Economy Summit Washington power players are transforming the economy with consequences that reach well beyond Wall Street and Silicon Valley as upcoming midterms add to mounting political pressures. Join POLITICO’s Economy Summit on Wednesday, March 25 for urgent conversations with government and industry leaders about the policy decisions that will determine tomorrow’s market risks and opportunities. RSVP to attend in person or virtually. | | | | | 5. TRADING PLACES: “India to hold off on US trade deal amid new probe, sources say,” by Reuters’ Shivangi Acharya and Krishna Das: “India will hold off on signing a trade deal with the United States for several months, four Indian [government officials] said, as fresh investigations by Trump’s administration into what it calls excess industrial capacity among trading partners add new friction after an early understanding last month. … A spokesperson from India's trade ministry denied any hold off in bilateral engagement.” 6. IMMIGRATION FILES: Over 900 children have been detained by ICE and held past the 20-day limit for minors at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas, NBC’s Mike Hixenbaugh reports. “Lawyers representing families at Dilley say the prolonged stays reflect a broader strategy by the Trump administration to use detention as a deterrent, pressuring parents to abandon asylum claims rather than continue fighting their cases. As days stretch into weeks — and weeks into months — they say, the psychological and developmental toll deepens for children trapped inside a facility where detainees have complained of spoiled food, lax medical care and limited education.” More on the Dilley center: “Joaquin Castro Is on a Quest to Get Detained Immigrants Released,” by NYT’s Annie Karni: Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) “is on a crusade to close it. In the meantime, he has been highlighting the plight of its most sympathetic detainees in a bid to shame immigration authorities into releasing them — and in the process, calling attention to the cruel consequences of the president’s immigration agenda.”
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| | | | 7. THE KRISTI NOEM EFFECT: The now-departed DHS secretary’s strict spending-approval process affected FEMA’s roughly $200,000 contract with a company that provides tornado-tracking tool data that expired last month, CNN’s Gabe Cohen scooped. That left search-and-rescue officers without a precise picture of areas hit by last week’s deadly tornadoes in the Midwest and Plains. DHS didn’t respond for comment. 8. KNOWING CHRIS KLOMP: “Trump is counting on his ‘favorite Mormon’ to deliver health care wins,” by WaPo’s Dan Diamond: “Klomp, a political unknown before Trump officials tapped him last year to lead the nation’s Medicare program, was promoted last month to chief counselor of [HHS], giving him control of the $2.6 trillion agency’s sweeping operations. … [T]he White House has tasked Klomp with reining in the health agencies and aligning their messages … Since taking on his new role last month, Klomp delayed a planned vaccine announcement out of concern it would lead to more political headaches and overshadow other priorities, shuffled leadership teams and made other moves intended to stabilize the department.”
| | | | Sponsored Survey WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: Please take a 1-minute survey about one of our advertising partners. | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | OUT AND ABOUT — The Radio Television Digital News Association Foundation celebrated its First Amendment Award winners at a black-tie dinner last night at the Watergate, where honorees included Juju Chang, Vladimir Duthiers, Kevin Goldberg, Jennifer Griffin, Tom Llamas, Bill Owens, Manu Raju, Jim Rodenbush, V Spehar (the first TikTok content creator to get the award), Asal Rezaei, Steve Bertrand and NPR and PBS News. Laura Barrón-López emceed the event. Also SPOTTED: Dana Bash, Matt Zapotosky, Ann Compton, Amna Nawaz, Weijia Jiang, Andrea Mitchell, Kristen Welker, Neal Shapiro, Steven Portnoy, Kim Rosenberg, Doug Rohrbeck, Jessica Loker and Bryan Boughton. Fox News’ Griffin spoke out against the Defense Department’s new press restrictions: “If it hadn’t been for reporters inside the Pentagon with USA Today, we wouldn’t have known about how the Marines were blocking the MRAP program,” she said. “Those MRAPs saved the lives of some of the people who right now are curtailing press freedoms at the Pentagon.” And NBC’s Llamas, who brought his daughter on her 13th birthday, became emotional in talking about Cubans who risked their lives to come to America to get access to the freedoms that the First Amendment affords. FOR YOUR RADAR — “Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema says affair with married man happened outside of NC, wants case dismissed,” by WSOC-TV’s Michael Praats: “Sinema admits in court documents that she and the ex-husband of the woman suing her ‘began a romantic relationship in May 2024.’ But Sinema says the affair took place outside of NC – and therefore [the lawsuit] should be dismissed. The man Sinema was involved with was a member of Sinema’s security team at the time.” MEDIA MOVES — Gabe Brotman has joined Soros Fund Management to focus on media investments. He previously was EVP and U.S. COO at Axel Springer, working across POLITICO, Business Insider, Morning Brew and eMarketer. … Michael Kruse is joining the NYT at the end of March, Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright scooped. He currently works at POLITICO. TRANSITION — Jennifer Arnold is now legislative director and counsel for Rep. Derek Tran (D-Calif.). She previously worked for Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.). Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Giuseppe Macri and deputy editor Garrett Ross.
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