Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton.

U.S. officials say Iran opened fire on American warships and commercial vessels today.

It comes after the U.S. military said it was supporting efforts to open up the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump continued to defend the war as necessary.

Can't let them have a nuclear weapon or you're going to have problems like nobody would believe,

and it's going very well.

U.S. officials say the military helped two American flagged merchant vessels transit the

strait.

The national average for a gallon of regular gas is now above $4.45.

In California, it's $6.11. It's up nearly 35 cents in just one week.

Meanwhile, the oil cartel OPEC announced a boost in production, but as NPR's Kamila Dominovsky reports,

that won't provide any near-term relief. OPEC and its allies have lost some of their leverage over

markets now that United Arab Emirates has left the group.

But the bigger problem is that key members rely on the Strait of Hormuz to export crude.

So whatever OPEC announces, the biggest question remains, how many ships are getting through that key waterway?

And the answer to that is not many between Iranian tolls and the U.S.

blockade. In the U.S., gasoline prices had been easing since the ceasefire announcement, but between

the global oil supply crisis and U.S. refinery outages, prices are rising aggressively again.

Kamila Dominooski, NPR News. In roughly half of all U.S. states,

candidates who have denied election results in the past are now running for positions that

will have a direct role in the certification of future elections. NPR's Miles Parks has more.

A few years ago, most people didn't know and frankly probably didn't care who their state secretary of state was.

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