[MUSIC PLAYING]
Iran already controls one key waterway used for oil shipping in the Middle East. Now, Yemeni rebels backed by Iran are trying to cut off another one. Will they succeed?
I'm Michelle Martin, Bethely LaFodel,
and this is up first from NPR News.
17 American troops have died in the Iran War. The Pentagon says 100 more were wounded in the past two weeks. Today, Senator's finally get to question the Defense Secretary Pete Higgseth as he asked them for more money to fund an unpopular war.
And it's primary day in Arizona where Republican races will tell us how their voters feel about election denial. There are candidates running who tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
Stay with us.
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that nourishes us and speaks to our times. So listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHYY. There's now a new element of uncertainty in the US war with Iran. For 10 days, the two sides have exchanged strikes
as Iran continues to assert control over the state of her moves. Now Yemen's Iranian-backed rebels say they will blockade another waterway on the other side of Saudi Arabia on the red sea.
With me now, as NPR's Emily Feng, who is in Tel Aviv to talk about this, Emily Good morning. Good morning, Leila. So tell us more about this threat of a blockade. Where would it be?
So it would be in this waterway called the Bob El Mendeb Street. It connects the red sea to the Gulf of Eden
and ultimately the Indian Ocean on one end.
And on the other, the Suez Canal all the way up to the Mediterranean sea. And this straight-let Saudi Arabia, which is one of the biggest oil producers in the world, now get millions of barrels of oil a day
out to the open ocean for export. And it needs the street, especially because another waterway, this straight-of-war moves has been effectively closed by the U.S. Iran War. So any Houthi blockade would rattle energy markets even more
and raise energy prices even higher. Wow. Just remind people, Emily, for people who don't pay close attention to this Houthi's are. They are a Yemeni-shayt militant group.
They're aligned with the militant group Hamas. They're supportive of Hezbollah and Lebanon and the regime in Iran.
“And you may remember them from when they were attacking ships”
in the red sea and snarling up logistics lines there. Yemen is where Saudi Arabia had intervened in the civil war against the Houthis. But then this mon Saudi Arabia crossed four-year ceasefire with the Houthis by firing missiles at a major airport
in Yemen's capital. Saudi Arabia has not acknowledged these strikes, but this week a Houthis spokesperson declared a blockade. Let's listen to his video statement. He says the blockade on Saudi ships was quote a seed for a siege,
basically retaliation, an eye for an eye. Any Houthi blockade, if successful, is going to test Gulf state unity against the Houthis against Iran and it's going to further test energy supply chains. Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries
around it have been exploring pipeline projects, so they can ferry oil over land instead of by water, but Lila, those pipelines will take years to build. And what about Iran? What's the latest from there?
U.S., that they struck Iran overnight. Again, in a tenth round of consecutive attacks, Iran has been pounding countries which host American military bases and infrastructure as a result, especially Bahrain and Kuwait, but also Jordan,
where at least two American service members were killed best Friday, a third is still missing. So in total, that brings us to at least 17 service members who have been killed so far on this war, the Pentagon says 427 people have been injured.
Iran's government says 3,000 people there have been killed in this war. But amongst all this death and destruction, there's still some efforts at diplomacy. Iran's foreign minister said on state television
this week ending a war as possible, quote through total military victory or through negotiations. And it's also said that it's received offers of diplomacy,
Has not specified exactly what those are.
And then U.S. Secretary of State Marker Rubio said
that the U.S. has also received some signals Iran wants to negotiate, but he's noted a split in Iran's ruling echelon between those who want to keep fighting and those who want diplomacy. Don't have to work out that's lit internally.
We're going to continue to respond if the door opens to diplomacy. If the guys that want to do something productive for Iran, win and take control of that system or take control of the negotiations, that'll be a very positive development. But then he added, that's just not where the U.S.
and Iran are at this moment. That's then Pierre's Emily Feing in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Emily. Thanks, Leela. Defense Secretary Pete Hegsef will appear before the Senate appropriations committee later today.
He is looking for a $350 billion funding boost
with a pentagon's war in Iran. It's a rare chance to question Hegsef about the war. The pentagon has not briefed the press since May. And it comes as the White House announced that President Trump will be in Dover Delaware today to receive the bodies of two soldiers
killed in Jordan on Friday. Here with more is Quil Lawrence from NPR's National Security Team. Good morning, Quil. Good morning.
“So what else do we know about the U.S. casualties at this point?”
This Iranian attack on a joint U.S. Jordanian air base on Friday killed two soldiers. Another is missing and believed dead. There was another drone related casualty at a U.S.
base in Northern Iraq over the weekend.
I spoke with three former U.S. military officials about this new and rapidly evolving reality of drone warfare. One of them was General Joseph Hotel, who formally led sent com. He said the U.S. had built up power in the region by building
these bases. Our strengths for the last several decades has been our forward deployment in our positioning across the golf that is reassured partners and put us in a position where we could be responsive as thing.
But now we are seeing that that same advantage is turned into a little bit of a disinvantaged man in the face of missiles and especially drones in his also highlighted a significant vulnerability. So again Iraq and Afghanistan, the enemy had no real range or air power. But now in the edge of drone warfare Iran doesn't even really need
an air force because its drones can travel the thousand miles and hit U.S. bases all over the region. Does it mean anything that after three months there were suddenly three
“perhaps four casualties over the weekend has something changed?”
Just that for ten nights now Iran and the U.S. have been escalating to it for tat bombardments. Iran has stepped up attacks as possible. They just got lucky or that the U.S. had been very lucky so far. General Votel said that well any death is tragic.
These numbers seem low considering the ways of missile and cheap armed drones that Iran's been throwing at these U.S. targets. Anyone comparing these wars to Iraq and Afghanistan, the casualties here are in order of magnitude smaller and they're out ground troops involved. But one similarity is that there isn't a clear cause or goal that can help
the American people understand why these troops have died. You know, one of the service women who died on Friday, she was just 19. So young. We mentioned the Pentagon hasn't briefed on the war since May. Is the Pentagon purposely withholding information
from the public including on the wounded? A U.S. military official was not authorized to speak publicly confirmed with NPR that the Defense Department has been slow walking information on casualties. And just this week, the Pentagon spokesman admitted after questions from journalists that 100 service members have been injured in the last just the last two weeks.
He said the vast majority recovered quickly and went back to work. It's also not clear how much damage has been done to these bases. There's concern in Congress about the rapid depletion of U.S. munitions, which is something hexeths is bound to get questions about today. Three former military officials I spoke with said that the Pentagon's poor
communication is caused a lack of trust. One said, you know, they just don't have much credit. General Votel pointed out that it's not only credit with the American people and Congress, but the U.S. has been leaving key regional allies in the dark. And they're the ones who are bearing the brunt of all these Iranian attacks.
NPR's quail Lawrence, thank you for your reporting quail. Thank you. Today is the last day of voting in Arizona's primary.
“How is the stage being set for some of the swing states big races in the fall?”
Joining us now is Cameron Sanchez with Member Station KJZZ in Phoenix to talk about this. Good morning, Cameron. Good morning. So you spent a lot of time talking to voters. What stands out as the main things that they're thinking about?
Well, for Democrats, we've heard a lot about opposition to President Trump and some voters do relate that to the cost of living. I spoke with Dorothy Garcia at her home in Scottsdale, Arizona while I was tagging along with the Democratic candidate.
Medical schools, taxes, water bill, light bill,
electricity, you like that.
“Yeah, the richer you are, the more you get, the poorer you are, the less you get.”
For some Republicans, I do think the border and since we're a border state, and immigration still remains a top issue, but there is concern that if Democrats win Congress, they'll allow too much immigration in their view. Maybe the most competitive primaries there are for a house seat. It's a toss-up seat that Democrats hope to flip in their effort to take control of the house
who's running there. Right, this is a Phoenix Metro area district which is currently represented by our Republican Congressman David Schweckert, but he's running for governor leaving an opening.
So the front runners on the Democrats are former state legislator and he's Shaw and
former broadcaster Marlene Golemwoods. She's a former Republican who switched parties years ago.
“So both candidates say they can get the support of independent voters,”
and they both tried to beat Schweckert before. Two years ago Shaw beat Golemwoods and others in the primary race, but lost to Schweckert in the general election. But this year, Golemwoods has the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. And then on the Republican side, got former NFL kicker Jay Feeley.
He's a lot of name ID and Trump endorsement. But his opponent is a little further to the right. He's Joseph Chaplin, who was a member of the Freedom Caucus when he was a state legislator. Turning to the race for governor, the incumbent is Democrat Katie Hobbs. Our listeners might remember she barely beat Republican Kerry Lake in 2022.
Who are her potential opponents this time? Two congressmen, Andy Biggs and David Schweckert. Biggs is seen as the front runner in this race. He's got Trump's endorsement, Andy the backing of turning point USA. The organization founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Biggs has been a Trump loyalist for a long time and voted against certifying the state's election results in 2020. This go around Biggs is definitely leaning away from a far right image and pitching himself as someone who can work across the aisle. Schweckert comes from that toss-up district where he does have experience appealing to independence.
“What other races or trends will you be watching for?”
The Arizona Secretary of State's races want to watch because it highlights trends in Arizona politics like election security and the influence of turning point. In the Republican primary, we have a state lawmaker, Alexander Colton, who's a member of the legislature's far right freedom caucus and he's an attorney who participated in multiple lawsuits to try to throw election results in 2022.
His opponent, Jeanne Swaboda, had Trump's endorsement when she became chair of the state party
and there are MAGA entities who like her, but she's never outright claimed elections are stolen.
That's an opportunity to see Republican voters' views on election denialism in 2026. The Republican primary winner will face incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontez in the fall. That's Cameron Sanchez of KJZZ. Thank you so much for your reporting. Thank you. And that's a first for Tuesday, July 21st. I'm Leyla Faldon.
And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of First was edited by Tina Crya, Andrew Susman, Larry Kapplow, Mohammed Elver, DC, and Ellis Wolfuit. It was produced by the ECB and near Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Heines, our technical director, Stacey Abbott, and our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.
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