Good morning. President Trump is pressuring NATO allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz. If they don’t, he said yesterday, “I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.” “One Battle After Another” took home the award for best picture at the Oscars last night. Jessie Buckley completed her sweep of awards season, winning best actress for “Hamnet,” and Michael B. Jordan won best actor for “Sinners.” See the best looks from the red carpet. There’s more news below.
Your Iran questionsWe asked you for your questions about the war — and our coverage. Let’s start by answering some of them. The United StatesAccording to a preliminary investigation, outdated data is at fault in the U.S. bombing of the elementary school in southern Iran. Why was it outdated? Don’t analysts double-check that information? | Tiffany Dale | San Antonio, Texas Julian Barnes, who covers intelligence and national security, writes: Absolutely. There is supposed to be a double-check and a triple-check. The strikes on the adjacent Iranian naval base were in the opening moves of the war, so they were precisely the kinds of targets that should have been reviewed. The military officers preparing the strike should have noticed they were potentially working off decade-old data from the Defense Intelligence Agency, and then checked with satellite imagery from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. In the heat of the battle, that is not always done. The stakes of those errors in wartime can be tragically high — in this case, about 175 lives, Iran says. How badly have U.S. bases in the Middle East been hit? | Kerstin Keough | Castle Rock, Colorado Helene Cooper, who covers the Pentagon, writes: U.S. Central Command, which is in charge of operations in that region, has been stingy with information about strikes on bases that house American troops — there are 13 in the area. Many of those troops had already been dispersed to other locations throughout the region. We know that communications infrastructure was damaged at Al Udeid base in Qatar. We also know that Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia sustained damage. Multiple bases in Kuwait have been struck, with the most damage at Shuaiba Port, where six service members were killed. From what we know, parts of those bases are still standing. But whether they can still function as they used to — and, in particular, house troops — is an open question.
Do you have a running tally of how much the war costs and how it’s being paid for? | Jane Jerry | Highlands, North Carolina Catie Edmondson, who covers Capitol Hill, writes: We have only a limited sense of the price tag. The Pentagon told lawmakers that the war had cost more than $11.3 billion in the first six days alone, and lawmakers expect that number to rise. That estimate doesn’t include several of the costs associated with the operation, such as massing military hardware and personnel in the region ahead of the first strikes. Much of this information has been presented to lawmakers in a classified setting, so more specific details have been difficult to pin down. Iran
Are most of Iran’s soldiers involuntary conscripts? Is there a chance they’ll desert the regime? | Jennica Peterson | Louisville, Colorado Yeganeh Torbati, who covers Iran, writes: A large portion of Iran’s military is indeed made up of conscripts. Military service is mandatory for adult men. That includes the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the most important component of Iran’s military and the force specifically founded to defend the country’s system of clerical rule. As for the possibility of desertion: We haven’t yet seen evidence of that happening in any significant way. Draftees tend to fill low-level, manual jobs and are not typically given sensitive responsibilities, like making battlefield decisions or carrying out important operations. Why do the U.S. soldiers who signed up for wartime action seem to get significantly more coverage than the hundreds of Iranian civilians killed by the bombing? | Mikhalina Solakhava | Berkeley, California Marc Lacey, a managing editor who has reported from numerous war zones, writes: Capturing the lives lost in war is an essential part of conflict reporting. Showing the effects on both sides of the front lines is challenging, though, when reporters do not have free access, which is the case in Iran. Believe me, if we were able to traverse Iran right now, we would have interviewed the families of those who lost their lives in the American missile strike on an elementary school in the opening days of the war. Our lack of access means we have to work the phones (here’s a great example) and use other means to capture the significant death toll inside the country. As for focusing on the death toll of American service members, we’ve received criticism from the Trump administration for that but believe the sacrifices of those sent into war are essential to document. Are Times journalists on the ground in all of the countries involved? In particular, how do you report on what’s happening in Iran? | Lynn Wirtz | Brooklyn, New York Adrienne Carter, an editor who is leading the war coverage from London, wrote: Iran is one of the hardest places to report on. It’s incredibly restrictive for journalists, especially during sensitive times like now. The communications are largely shut down. So unlike Ukraine and Russia, Gaza, Lebanon and Israel, we can’t be there. We can’t easily reach people. We have a dedicated team of reporters, many of whom have lived in the country, who have extensive contacts and sources. And we rely heavily on verified visual material, user-generated content, social media posts and satellite imagery. More on the war
“One Battle After Another” won six Oscars at the 98th Academy Awards last night, including best picture and best director for Paul Thomas Anderson. He had 28 years of Oscar nominations without winning. “Sinners” received four Oscars, including for Ryan Coogler’s original screenplay and Jordan’s best-actor award. The “Sinners” cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to receive the honor in academy history. And Jessie Buckley, who won best actress for “Hamnet,” dedicated her award to “the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.” See all the winners here, along with best and worst moments from the show.
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Richard Bookstaber predicted the 2008 financial crisis. What’s coming next, he writes, may be worse. Kash Patel’s handling of the F.B.I. has been chaotic, writes Jacqueline Maguire, a former executive at the bureau. Our Opinion writers discussed the Oscar winners. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more.
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4— That is the number of players in the National Hockey League who do not wear visors on their helmets to protect their eyes. The N.H.L.’s visorless population is 0.46 percent of current skaters. It was 32 percent during the 2011-12 season. Who will be the last?
The N.C.A.A. released its tournament brackets for men’s and women’s basketball yesterday. The rundown: In the men’s tournament
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