FIRST ON FOX: While officials of the U.S.-designated terrorist movement Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) cower in underground bunkers amid joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes, ordinary Iranians are lambasting the clerical regime for failing to build enough bomb shelters and provide early warning siren systems.

Iranians sent text messages to Fox News Digital about their efforts to secure knowledge about the progress of the joint U.S.-Israel aerial warfare campaign against Islamic Republic military sites and share the theocratic state’s contempt for the civilian population.

«In a country that has spent 47 years boasting about its military strength to the world, there are no warning sirens, let alone shelters. They themselves hear the sound of airplanes and drones realize the [enemy airplanes] have come into the sky. They do not even have radar,» wrote Noori from the capital city, Tehran.

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To compensate for the lack of bomb shelters and safe rooms in residential housing, Noori said that Iranian authorities designated 82 metro stations and 300 parking garages in Tehran as shelters for the people.

«This is what they call shelter. Bear in mind that first, there are no bathrooms in the Metro stations, and also, during the 12-day war, when people tried to go there, they were locked.»

Noori said «The families who live in the residential compounds of the IRGC and the army are now living in the metro stations out of fear.»

Noori and the other Iranians who communicated with Fox News Digital are using their first names because of the risk of retaliation from the regime’s brutal security forces.

Faraz, who is from Tehran, said, «We are now in a situation where we have no shelters, and we fear for our lives. If we were at war with someone who would attack residential buildings, so many of the regular citizens would have died. We do not even have warning sirens.»

Lisa Daftari, an Iran expert, told Fox News Digital, «What we’re seeing on the ground in Tehran is a city operating without any formal civil defense infrastructure. Families with children or elderly relatives have largely evacuated to the countryside or the Caspian coast. Those who remain are sheltering in place — moving away from windows when they hear explosions, retreating to underground parking structures in apartment buildings.»

Daftari, the editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk, added, «There are no bomb shelters. There are no warning sirens. The Iranian people have been given no formal system to protect themselves. What you are seeing on your screens — crowds in the streets — are not spontaneous shows of support. Those are Basij militia on megaphones, ordering people out of their homes, so the regime can manufacture images of a loyal population.»

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s placement of military installations in highly packed civilian areas is endangering the country’s population, according to legal experts.

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This picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency shows the site of a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, on Feb. 28, 2026. (Ali Najafi/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)

The Pentagon is currently investigating a military air strike that reportedly hit an Iranian school for girls in the town of Minab on February 28 — the start of the U.S. Operation Epic Fury against Iran’s regime. The air strike reportedly killed 175 people, most of whom were children, at the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, according to Iran’s regime. The school was located on the same street as buildings used by the IRGC.

Avi Bell, a professor at the University of San Diego Law School and Bar Ilan University’s Faculty of Law, told Fox News Digital «It’s highly unlikely that heavily populated civilian areas are used as drone attack sites or missile launch sites for any reason other than human shielding. On military grounds, it would make far more sense for the launch sites not to be near civilian areas.»

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Noori was critical of the regime: «They boast to the whole world, but they shut down water, electricity, air and the internet for their own people. Whatever money they received from Biden and Obama and from selling oil, they spent on missiles, drones, Hamas, Hezbollah and building weapons.»

Manouchehr, who is also from Tehran, wrote: «I am messaging you under very difficult conditions, with an extremely weak internet. I had to pay a very high price for a VPN just to send you this message. The security situation is not good at all. These clerics have spent our money for years on missiles and drones, and on funding Hamas and Hezbollah. They have not even built a single shelter for us, yet for 47 years, they have been threatening the world.»

The VPN allows a few Iranians to circumvent Iran’s near total communications shutdown. According to Netblocks on Monday, «The internet blackout in Iran is entering its 17th day after 384 hours. Over the last day, a decline has been tracked in reserved telecoms network infrastructure, further reducing VPN availability and sending some whitelisted users and NIN services offline.»

Policemen stand guard beside banners showing portraits of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at Enqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution Square, in downtown Tehran, Iran, on March 14, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Manouchehr added, «We are grateful to President Trump for not bombing residential areas. I ask you to please tell them [the U.S. Government] not to declare a ceasefire. Otherwise, these hyenas will not leave any of the Iranian people alive, and they will take revenge for Israel’s and America’s attacks by targeting the Iranian people.»

Iranians have noted that after the eight-year war between Iraq and Iran (1980–1988) when Iraqi missiles were launched into the civilian sector in Iran, the Ayatollahs could have built a bomb shelter system.

Lawdan Bazargan, an Iranian-American activist and human rights expert on the situation in Iran, told Fox News Digital, «The Islamic regime of Iran shows no value for human life and treats the Iranian people not as citizens, but as a conquered population and slaves. It has spent decades building tunnels for missiles and drones, yet it has left 90 million people without sirens, shelters, or any system to warn civilians of danger. At the same time, the internet is largely shut down, and phone lines are restricted, leaving people unable to receive news or even contact their families.»

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Iranian women collecting money for the war effort outside an air raid shelter in Tehran, during the Iran-Iraq War, 11th May 1988.  (Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)

She continued, «What makes this even more shocking is that during the Iran–Iraq war in the 1980s, when I lived in Iran, there were at least warning sirens. People had a few minutes to move away from windows or find some protection. Today, even that basic level of safety no longer exists.»

Iran’s regime imprisoned Bazargan in its infamous Evin prison in Tehran for her political dissident activities during the 1980s.

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on March 8 that it issued a «safety warning to civilians in Iran… as Iran’s terrorist regime blatantly disregards the safety of innocent people.»

A group of men inspect the ruins of a police station struck amid the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

According to the CENTCOM statement, «The Iranian regime is using heavily populated civilian areas to conduct military operations, including launching one-way attack drones and ballistic missiles. This dangerous decision risks the lives of all civilians in Iran since locations used for military purposes lose protected status and could become legitimate military targets under international law. Iranian forces are using crowded areas surrounded by civilians in cities such as Dezful, Esfahan and Shiraz to launch attack drones and ballistic missiles.»

Hossein, who lives in Tehran, said, «Landline phones are also under very strict security control. There are absolutely no warning systems or alerts, and if any danger occurs, people have nowhere to take shelter because, overall, the lives of the Iranian people have no value for this government.»

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Ahmadreza Radan, commander of Iran’s police, said over 80 people had been arrested for spreading «disturbing content» online and officers are «ready to pull the trigger» if protests occur.

A spokesman for Iran’s U.N. mission refused to provide a comment for this article.

President Donald Trump was already eager for a Federal Reserve rate cut. If there were ever a moment for him to want one even more, it would be Wednesday — but his war with Iran may have blown it, driving up oil prices and reviving the inflation fears that make cuts harder to justify.

Few things shape what Americans can afford more than the Federal Reserve, even if most people rarely pay attention to it. The central bank doesn’t set the price of groceries or cars, but it does help determine how expensive it is to borrow money — and right now, high rates are keeping mortgage payments, car loans and credit-card bills painfully high.

When the Fed’s two-day meeting wraps up Wednesday, policymakers are widely expected to leave rates unchanged. 

Now, the Iran war is complicating not just this week’s decision, but the path ahead if the conflict drags on and keeps oil prices elevated.

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Tit-for-tat strikes in Iran and across the Middle East have helped push crude above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022, rattling global markets and renewing concerns about tighter energy supplies.

That pressure is starting to hit consumers. As oil climbs, gasoline and diesel prices are rising quickly — especially diesel, which often moves faster because of its close ties to freight and industrial demand.

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As of March 17, AAA put the national average for regular gasoline at $3.79 a gallon, up 88 cents from a month earlier, while diesel climbed to $5.04, up $1.39 over the same period.

Jet fuel is getting more expensive, too. 

For airlines, fuel is one of the biggest operating costs, so sustained increases could squeeze margins, push up ticket prices and add fresh strain to a travel season already complicated by the DHS shutdown.

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The pressure is showing up in housing, too. 

Mortgage rates have crept higher since the start of the Iran war. The benchmark 30-year fixed rate dipped below 6% in late February, its lowest level since September 2022, before rising higher to 6.26% as of March 16, according to data compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association. 

At the same time, the Fed is grappling with a labor market that is starting to crack. Employers shed 92,000 jobs in February, defying expectations for job growth and muddying the outlook for policymakers.

That combination of stubborn inflation and a weakening labor market has only intensified pressure from Trump, whose promise to lower costs for Americans was a centerpiece of his campaign.

For months, he has pressed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, arguing that cheaper borrowing would spur growth and offer relief to American households. Fed officials, however, have signaled they want clearer evidence that inflation is cooling before cutting.

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President Donald Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to succeed Powell at the Federal Reserve.  (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

On Thursday, Trump pressed Powell to cut interest rates «immediately,» as fallout from the conflict involving Iran fuels an energy-price spike.

«Where is the Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome «Too Late» Powell, today? He should be dropping Interest Rates, IMMEDIATELY, not waiting for the next meeting,» Trump wrote in a Truth Social post using a mocking nickname for Powell. 

For Trump, the timing is brutal. 

He campaigned on lowering costs for Americans, but the conflict involving Iran is threatening to do the opposite — driving up energy prices, complicating the Fed’s path and putting fresh pressure on one of his core economic promises.

La mañana del martes 17 de marzo, el Aeropuerto Internacional de Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (FLL) se convirtió en escenario de largas filas, retrasos y cancelaciones de vuelos que afectaron a miles de pasajeros, en pleno receso escolar de primavera en Estados Unidos. La situación, extendida desde la noche del lunes hasta el día siguiente, se debió a una combinación de condiciones meteorológicas adversas y a la falta de personal de la Administración de Seguridad en el Transporte (TSA), según informaron fuentes oficiales federales y medios de comunicación estadounidenses como NBC Miami y CBS News Miami.

De acuerdo con la Administración Federal de Aviación (FAA), las tormentas eléctricas en el sur de Florida provocaron la reprogramación de itinerarios y la suspensión de operaciones en el aeropuerto, lo que derivó en la acumulación de pasajeros dentro y fuera de las terminales. La escasez de agentes de la TSA en los controles de seguridad agravó la situación, según confirmaron portavoces de la autoridad aeroportuaria y de la TSA, así como reportes recogidos por la prensa local.

En años recientes, Fort Lauderdale ha enfrentado saturaciones durante los periodos vacacionales, pero en esta ocasión la coincidencia de fenómenos meteorológicos y limitaciones de personal produjo una afectación que dejó en evidencia la vulnerabilidad de las infraestructuras aeroportuarias ante eventos combinados de clima extremo y desafíos logísticos. Así lo reflejan los datos publicados por la FAA y testimonios de pasajeros.

De acuerdo con la FAA, el sur de Florida fue impactado por tormentas eléctricas que obligaron a restringir el tráfico aéreo en la zona. El reporte oficial del día confirmó que las condiciones meteorológicas adversas hicieron necesario modificar rutas y horarios, lo que generó la suspensión o retraso de decenas de vuelos programados para el lunes en la noche y el martes por la mañana (FAA Daily Air Traffic Report).

La presencia de largas filas en los controles de seguridad obedeció, además, a la falta de personal de la TSA. Un portavoz de la agencia federal, citado por NBC Miami, admitió: “El volumen de pasajeros en temporada alta, sumado a las condiciones climáticas y a la reducción temporal de personal, generó retrasos superiores a los habituales en los controles de seguridad”.

Según datos de la plataforma FlightAware y reportes del portal Travel and Tour World, durante la jornada del martes se contabilizaron 82 vuelos cancelados y 154 vuelos retrasados en Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood. Esto provocó que miles de pasajeros permanecieran varados durante horas, tanto en el interior de las terminales como en las zonas externas.

El número de cancelaciones duplicó el promedio registrado en años anteriores para la misma época. En 2025, los días de mayor tráfico durante el receso escolar no superaron las 40 cancelaciones diarias, conforme a cifras históricas de la FAA.

La FAA emitió una advertencia para los aeropuertos de Miami y Fort Lauderdale e instó a los viajeros a verificar el estado de sus vuelos antes de dirigirse a la terminal. Por su parte, la administración del aeropuerto de Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (FLL) señaló que estaba trabajando en conjunto con las aerolíneas y las autoridades federales para restablecer la normalidad lo antes posible, según declaraciones recogidas por Travel and Tour World.

La TSA redistribuyó personal a los controles más congestionados y habilitó canales adicionales de atención en las áreas de mayor demanda. La agencia informó a través de un comunicado citado por CBS News Miami: “El proceso de revisión puede superar las 2 horas, recomendamos presentarse con suficiente anticipación”.

Los reportes de NBC Miami y CBS News Miami documentaron escenas de saturación en las terminales 3 y 4, donde los pasajeros debieron esperar durante horas para ingresar a los controles o reprogramar sus itinerarios. Muchas personas pasaron la noche en el suelo tras la cancelación de vuelos vespertinos.

Luce Lepine, pasajera afectada, relató a NBC Miami: “Había cientos de personas durmiendo en el piso”. Otra viajera, Tiffany Davis, expresó: “Hicimos una fila afuera del aeropuerto para conseguir vuelo y tampoco funcionó. Ahora buscamos un auto de alquiler”.

David Tsava, quien intentaba regresar a su hogar, explicó a NBC Miami: “Sigo esperando, llevo casi siete horas aquí. Solo quiero volver a casa”. Estos testimonios exponen el impacto sobre los usuarios, que buscaron alternativas como el alquiler de vehículos o el cambio de itinerario para poder continuar sus trayectos.

La TSA reportó una disminución temporal en la dotación de agentes destinados a Fort Lauderdale. Según la agencia, parte del personal se ausentó por licencias y renuncias recientes, mientras que la temporada alta, impulsada por el receso escolar, elevó el flujo de viajeros y expuso el límite operativo de los controles de seguridad.

En declaraciones recogidas por CBS News Miami, la agencia federal detalló las medidas de contingencia para agilizar los procesos, como la reasignación de agentes y la apertura de carriles adicionales en los puntos de control.

La coincidencia de condiciones meteorológicas adversas y escasez de personal en los controles de la TSA ha ocasionado interrupciones en otros aeropuertos del país en temporadas de alta demanda. En Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, la afectación fue más notoria al coincidir con el pico del receso escolar y el aumento del turismo en el sur de Florida.

En 2023 y 2024, aeropuertos como Miami International y Orlando International enfrentaron eventos similares, con retrasos y cancelaciones masivas por tormentas y problemas logísticos, de acuerdo con los registros de la FAA y los reportes de la plataforma FlightAware.

La FAA y la TSA reiteraron la sugerencia de consultar el estado de los vuelos antes de salir hacia el aeropuerto y de mantenerse informados a través de los canales oficiales de las aerolíneas y la terminal. Las autoridades recomendaron llegar con al menos 3 horas de anticipación, especialmente durante los días de mayor afluencia.

Las aerolíneas aconsejaron revisar frecuentemente las notificaciones sobre cambios de horario y estar atentos a las actualizaciones que puedan surgir por motivos climáticos o de personal, según portavoces citados por el portal Travel and Tour World.

La administración del aeropuerto de Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, en coordinación con la TSA, adoptó diversas medidas para descongestionar los puntos de control y agilizar el flujo de pasajeros. Entre las acciones inmediatas se incluyeron la redistribución de personal disponible, la apertura de líneas adicionales y la coordinación con las aerolíneas para priorizar los vuelos más afectados.

La FAA mantuvo el monitoreo constante de las condiciones meteorológicas y notificó a las terminales sobre posibles restricciones de tráfico aéreo. Las autoridades locales no descartaron que se repitan episodios similares en caso de persistencia de lluvias y falta de personal.

De acuerdo con la FAA y la TSA, la normalización total de los servicios podría demorar varias horas o días, en función de la evolución de las condiciones meteorológicas y la disponibilidad de agentes en los controles de seguridad. Los pasajeros deben prever demoras adicionales y considerar alternativas en caso de cancelaciones.