Weekly Washington Policy Pulse: Iran, Basel III, Stablecoins, Warsh (March 16, 2026)

Insight & analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill.Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.Iran stepped up its assault on key oil and gas infrastructure across the Middle East, defying US President Donald Trump’s calls for restraint and triggering a fresh surge in energy prices that have highlighted the cost of the ever-widening conflict. The Islamic Republic targeted sites in countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates with a wave of drone and missile attacks on Thursday, a retaliation for Israel’s assault on Iran’s giant South Pars gas field the previous day. The sharp escalation, with the bombing of more energy facilities from both sides, threatened to draw in both Gulf and European powers and exposed tensions between the US and Israel — with Trump himself rebuking his ally. Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Joe and Kailey speak with: Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Tyler Kendall. Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Commodities Strategist Mike McGlone. Democratic Congresswoman Sam Liccardo of California. Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis and Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino. Former US Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insight & analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill.Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.The US took fresh steps to curb the turmoil in energy markets as Iran vowed to escalate its attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in the Middle East with the conflict stretching toward three weeks.President Donald Trump temporarily waived a century-old shipping mandate to lower the cost of transporting energy goods around the US. Vice President JD Vance and other key Trump administration officials also plan to huddle with oil executives Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter. Still, Trump expressed renewed irritation with countries who have rejected pleas to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy waterway which remains all but impassable. Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Joe and Kailey speak with: Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Tyler Kendall. Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens of Michigan. Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis and Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino. Center for Strategic International Studies Senior Fellow Clayton Seigle. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insight & analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill.Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.Europe is learning how to say “no” to Donald Trump over his war in Iran.Nearly three weeks into the expanding conflict, European leaders have stopped equivocating and started outright telling the US president they won’t help his campaign with Israel.“We will not participate in this war,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday night. “We will not do it.”“The simple answer is no,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis echoed at a Bloomberg event in Athens on Tuesday. “Norway will not do that,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store agreed in Oslo.It’s a notable trajectory since the start of the war, when European leaders evaded questions about international law and heaped scorn on the Iranian regime. Merz even initially said he was “on the same page” as Trump. Now the denunciations are targeting Trump himself.Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Joe and Kailey speak with: Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Tyler Kendall. Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman. Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis and Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino. J Street Senior Vice President Ilan Goldenberg. Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget President Maya MacGuineas. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Donald Trump's options towards the Iran conflict -- with a focus on the US midterms and the political calculus of his decisions -- led Bloomberg Intelligence's Washington Policy Pulse on March 16. Bloomberg News reports that despite Trump's call for a coalition of ships to guard the Strait of Hormuz, several countries have yet to commit support. We also discussed the upcoming Basel III Endgame proposal, set for release this week, and how it will work in conjunction with other rules. Other areas of focus include a proposal on stablecoins and the CFTC's new actions on prediction markets. We ended with an update of Kevin Warsh's nomination as Fed Chair.The Bloomberg Intelligence Financial Policy weekly call is designed to provide investors an opportunity to learn about the most recent relevant policy research, information regarding forthcoming political catalysts and other on-goings within Washington DC. The call is open to all and is held every Monday at 10:00 a.m. EST. You can register for the call here: https://bloomberg.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__PqCkwY-S2m3hbQqvVC1_Q#/registrationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insight & analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill.Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.President Donald Trump reiterated his appeals for help from other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz, saying that Iran was nearly obliterated even as the war keeps roiling oil markets and global shipping.“Numerous countries have told me they’re on the way — some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years,” Trump told reporters Monday during a White House event.The president expressed his frustration with other nations, who have so far been publicly noncommittal on his calls to help ensure vessels can transit the strait. The vital waterway has been effectively closed since the start of the war, crunching global energy supply chains.Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Kailey speaks with: Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Tyler Kendall. Chatham House Associate Fellow Natasha Hall. Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis and Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino. Bloomberg Government Senior Washington Reporter Jonathan Tamari. Airlines for America President and CEO Chris Sununu, former Governor of New Hampshire. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeanine Pirro vowed to continue her investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after a judge rejected subpoenas issued to the central bank, threatening to delay the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as Powell’s successor. US District Judge James Boasberg said the government had advanced no evidence to justify the subpoenas — relating to renovations to the Fed’s headquarters and Powell’s comments about the project — and said they clearly reflected an “improper motive” of retaliating against Powell over policy differences. Pirro, who leads the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, called the ruling wrong and said they would appeal the decision. “This process has been arbitrarily undermined by an activist judge,” Pirro said in a press conference Friday. “The process should have been allowed to run its course, and it wasn’t. And shame on them.” For instant reaction and analysis, Bloomberg Businessweek Daily cohosts Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec speak with: June Grasso, Bloomberg legal analyst and host of Bloomberg Law Michael McKee, Bloomberg International Economics & Policy correspondent Tim O'Brien, Bloomberg Opinion senior executive editor  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insight & analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill.Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.The US said it had further stepped up strikes on Iran as both sides in the war threatened to escalate a conflict hitting its two-week mark that has upended energy flows and financial markets.“They’re going to be hit. They can talk all they want but, you know, let’s see what they do,” President Donald Trump told Fox News Radio in an interview that aired Friday. “They’re going to maybe do something having to do with the straits.”The 14th day of the war marked the largest attacks yet against the Islamic Republic, with the US and Israel hitting around 15,000 targets since the war began, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall is in for Kailey. Joe and Tyler speak with: Bloomberg Economics Chief Geoeconomics Analyst Jennifer Welch. Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck Partner Rosemary Becchi. Bloomberg News Senior Editor for Technology and Strategic Industries Michael Shepard. Bloomberg Intelligence Senior US Policy Analyst Nathan Dean. Andesite Co-Founder and CEO Brian Carbaugh. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insight & analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill.Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.President Donald Trump and Iran’s new supreme leader both struck defiant tones on the 13th day of the war, offering little relief to energy markets despite fresh US efforts to curb oil prices. The US president said in a social media post Thursday that preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons and threatening the Middle East is “of far greater interest and importance to me” than the cost of oil. Mojtaba Khamenei said the Islamic Republic would seek to ensure the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. In his first public comments since succeeding his father, he added that Tehran will look to open other fronts in the war if the US and Israel persist with their attacks. Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Joe and Kailey speak with: Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Tyler Kendall. Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin. Maywood Strategies Principal Doug Farrar and Bluestack Strategies Founder Maura Gillespie. Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insight & analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill.Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF. President Donald Trump said he didn’t believe Iran was laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz and repeated his suggestion that the war would end soon, even as the confirmation of an emergency oil release did little to calm volatile markets.Asked Wednesday whether Iran had laid mines in the strait, Trump told reporters, “We don’t think so.” The Islamic Republic has laid about a dozen mines in the waterway, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Joe and Kailey speak with: Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Tyler Kendall. Republican Senator Rand Paul. Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis and Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino. Former Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insight & analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill.Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.US officials signaled military operations were escalating against Iran and there was little chance of diplomatic talks, throwing cold water on President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the conflict could be resolved soon.Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US leader is always willing to talk, while casting doubt on Iranian willingness to do so. “It’s the same question today that we had when we were negotiating with them — do they actually want to have a diplomatic solution here,” Witkoff said in a CNBC interview on Tuesday. “So far, the evidence suggests no.”Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Joe and Kailey speak with: Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Tyler Kendall. Republican Congressman Marlin Stutzman of Indiana. Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis and Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Senior Fellow Aaron David Miller. Bloomberg White House Correspondent Jeff Mason. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.