From CNN, I'm AfomaDK, with the five things you need to know for Wednesday, March 18th.

The Federal Reserve voted to keep interest rates steady between 3.5 to 3.75 for the second time this year.

That's as investors and policymakers brace for the economic fallout of America's war with Iran.

All three major U.S. stocks indices closed in the red, with the Dow tumbling more than 750

points at slowest level this year.

Markets overwhelmingly expected the central bank to announce an interest rate pause.

The implications of events in the Middle East for the U.S. economy are uncertain.

In the near term, higher energy prices will push up overall inflation,

but it is too soon to know the scope and duration of the potential effects on the economy.

That's Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

He also weighed in on the Justice Department's criminal probe of him,

about whether he misled Congress about the central

bank's headquarters $2.5 billion renovation.

I have no intention of leaving the board until the investigation is well and truly over,

with transparency and finality.

More news coming up, including the Trump administration's latest effort to counter rising

energy prices.

A U.S. official denied the country attacked gas fields in Iran, instead saying Israel carried out the attack. Earlier today, Iranian state media said the U.S. and Israel attacked parts of its oil and natural gas production facilities,

including the South

Pars natural gas field, the world's largest.

One Israeli official says the strike was carried out in coordination with the U.S.

Meantime, energy infrastructure came under attack in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

...