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Sailors aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier have been at sea for nearly nine months. Lawmakers want the Pentagon to investigate reports of food shortages, poor sanitation, and lack of mental health care. I'm Leila Faldil, that's Michelle Martin, and this is up first from NPR News. [MUSIC]
All at war with Iran did not bring the regime to its knees and negotiations are at an impasse. The administration now says it's gearing up for economic warfare.
We are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation
on a country.
“What would mean for ordinary Iranians already suffocating under high inflation?”
Plus Ukraine is using drones to challenge Russia's grip on Crimea. Can Ukraine win back territory at loss more than a decade ago? Stay with us for the days news. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]
This week on Consider This, stories about the Trump administration. Here how a former Olympian was targeted by the Justice Department over damage to the reflecting pool. Plus, inside Trump's secret decoy flight out of Turkey that left press and cabinet officials on Air Force One without him. Listen for those stories and more of the week's biggest news.
This week on Consider This from NPR.
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“We discuss who these candidates are really talking about.”
Watch the full it's been a minute episode on YouTube or listen in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. [MUSIC] How did we get here? That's a question we have been trying to answer a lot here at NPR. We are exploring global histories on through line, where hearing from national security experts on sources and methods.
We're watching the markets with planet money. You can support this work across all our podcasts with NPR+. Find out more at plus.npr.org. Democratic lawmakers are calling for the Pentagon to investigate conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Sailors of where the aircraft carrier have been at sea for more than 250 days and are reportedly dealing with poor living conditions.
Leading to deteriorating mental health and we want to warn you, the story mentioned suicide. Steve Walsh covers the military for WHO and joins us from Norfolk, Virginia. Steve, what are you hearing? Hey Leila, so we know that the carriers' time is sea has set a record. That 250 consecutive days is longer than the time that deployments during the COVID era when ships were
intentionally kept away from port. After leaving San Diego in November, USS Lincoln had one brief port visit. Since then, it has been positioned in the Middle East supporting the war effort in Iran. That is a grueling pace for a carrier with more than 5,000 sailors on board. lawmakers are now demanding answers about the conditions on the Lincoln.
MSNow and others have been reporting that sailors have attempted to jump from the carrier, which NPR has not been able to independently confirm. Senator Richard Blumenthal and other Democrats are demanding that the Pentagon investigate shortages of food, toilets not working and lack of mental health care on board the ship.
“Has mental health been an issue for sailors on these carriers in the past?”
Oh, it has. The Navy dramatically changed how it handled mental health after a rash of suicides in 2022 on board the USS Washington while it was in Newport News. lawmakers want to know if the Navy is still following those policies. The Navy says that it has seen no increase in suicidal ideation or attempts aboard the
ship and that mental health professionals are on hand. SENTCOM says one sailor was quickly rescued August 3rd after falling overboard. Now, you broke the story of the carrier USS Ford. It's lengthy deployment and its chronic sanitation issues. How unusual is what we're seeing with the crew of the Lincoln?
Well, being out at sea takes a toll on sailors, normally they would come into port after a month or so to resupply and let sailors spend time off the ship. The war in Iran has made that impossible. Shortly after the war began in late February, Iran attacked the Navy's main hub in the region in Bahrain.
This is meant the Navy has not been able to use its traditional supply hub in the region. Instead, they've had to scramble to find ways to keep ships stocked. I recently talked with the Admiral in charge of Navy's sea lift command, where Admiral Benjamin Nicholson was at a ceremony honoring the crews that supplied the Navy ships at the start of the war.
There's always been logistics hub that have been relatively close by that we could
call on to get the parts and get the food and get the fuel that we needed. In this conflict, those logistics hubs were not available to us. So we had to adapt our strategy of how we would resupply the fleet. So what does this mean for the crew?
Mail deliveries and care packages arrive slowly.
After a few weeks, it's the first thing to run out are the freshies, which are things
“like fresh fruit and vegetables, morale suffers.”
Most sailors live their lives below deck. They may not see the sun for weeks. The Associate Press is reporting that the Navy will move the carrier USS Washington into the region to replace USS Lincoln. Navy officials tell me that the Washington is still in the Pacific right now.
But I do know that Navy planners have talked about the possibility of swapping the two carriers, even before the latest round of damning public reports. The Steve Walsh of WHRO, thank you, Steve. Thanks, Lila. If you or anyone you know is in crisis, text the national suicide and crisis lifeline at
988. The administration now says it's getting ready to wage economic warfare.
Here's what Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said in an interview with Newsmax Thursday.
We are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country. Iran's economy was in dash traits even before the war started with ordinary Iranians bearing the brunt of that pain. Now they are bracing for that pain to deepen.
And Piersadillo Shaljou has been speaking to Iranians in the city of Vaughan Turkey. It's a place many Iranians visit because of how close it is to the border with Iran. He did a good morning. Good morning. Ben, talking to Iranians, spending time in Vaughan.
What are you hearing?
So the main threat of what I heard is that things are super expensive.
While you can find goods in stores to shop and you can still fill up your tank with gas, many people aren't doing either. A 30-year-old woman who works in a beauty salon and who had been back in Iran just a week ago told me that the price of eggs was going up day by day. I was told a tray of 30 eggs is now about $5, double what it was a month ago.
Looking oil is about $3 for a 30-ounce bottle, that jumped about 30% in a month. Yesterday a train from Tehran broad dozens of new visitors and I met a woman at the station who is a personal trainer. She says she just can't afford many things now. Like travel, like fine clothes, like for example, I eat a lot of protein a day, now
I have to limit them.
“She says life is still oppressive, Iranian authorities forced her to take down her personal”
training Instagram page after questioning her because they deemed it provocative. And both women told me that the atmosphere was tense in their cities. People were stressed, they were on edge because of the uncertainty, here's the beauty salon worker. People are constantly checking the news she says.
What has been targeted? What is happening to the price of the dollar? What's it like being in Vaan for some of these Iranians? So Vaan is dusty and crowded people bump into each other on this sidewalks. You hear a lot of Persian on the streets, a lot of the store signs are in Persian also.
Many Iranians come here for a respite from the war, they can shop, party, they can go to Lake Vaan. I met a 53-year-old commercial manager who came here to meet a friend, he described Vaan this way. You know, you just have a pill and it's normal pain for just two, three, four days.
No more pain he says, but the beauty salon worker I spoke to says the situation in Iran was becoming so desperate for people that she knew some women here who had been forced into prostitution. How do Iranians feel about their government surviving? There were some who struck a defiant tone, here's a woman I met resting while taking a shopping
trip.
“She says people are willing to put up with a war, even a famine if that's what it takes”
to bring the regime down. But she did say that as the US puts more pressure on the Iranian government, it meant more pressure on the Iranian people. The personal trainer I talked to said there was a glimmer of hope, but now young people who see no future in Iran.
Things have gotten worse and worse, she says, and now we have to emigrate. In fact, she said she was in vain to take a personal training test to hope to immigrate to Australia. So, you know, Iranians are paying the price literally for the broken promises of this war at the grocery store, surviving bombings, and now a more paranoid and repressive regime.
And Pierre Siddil El-Shalci in Vaan Turkey on the border with Iran. Thank you. You're welcome. Russia had maintained an iron grip on Crimea since it sees the territory in its initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
Ukraine is now waging a sustained drone campaign that's upending daily life o...
peninsula.
Russia and Ukraine are also attacking ships in the waters off Crimea.
For more, we're joined by NPR's Greg Myri in Kyu, good morning Greg. Hi, Leyla.
“So how serious are these Ukrainian attacks against Crimea?”
Well, quite serious. Early Thursday, Ukrainian drones knocked out electricity in Sevastopol, the biggest and most important city in Crimea. Now, power was restored after several hours, but these are now everyday events. Electricity and cell phone service is going out for days at a time.
Water also gets cut off, fuel is scarce, and has been rationed. People say shops are often closed. Now, after Russia captured Crimea 12 years ago and estimated 1 million Russians, troops and civilians, poured into the peninsula. Many Ukrainians also fled the territory, and it has been securely in Russian hands.
But the Ukrainians are now causing major disruptions, and the Russians have just not been able to stop them. Now, Crimea is a place that resonates with both Russia and Ukraine. Can you explain its significance? Sure, Crimea's location and its climate have made it a prize.
It's been fought over for centuries by many different countries.
“The peninsula sits between two important bodies of water, the Black Sea and the Sea of”
Asaf, and for Russia's military, Crimea is this warm weather port to the south, so very
critical there, and tourists are drawn to the mild weather and these picturesque views
of the sea and the mountains. In normally, it would be packed this time of year with families taking summer beach vacations, but the tourists have stayed away because of all this turmoil. Now, these Ukrainian attacks are not just taking place in Crimea, but also in the waters off the territory.
What impact is that, Hammey? Yes, quite an impact, Crimea is a peninsula connected to the mainland, but only by a narrow strip of land. So it's almost like an island in Russia needs to send many supplies for its troops and its civilians, food, fuel, military gear, and Ukraine has also been pounding Russian ships and
ferries. Ukraine hits them with – it's increasingly powerful drones from the air and drones at sea, and these include surface drones and underwater drones. Ukraine says it's hit more than 200 Russian ships in the past month, and this is also contributed to these widespread shortages.
Hammey civilians appear to be leaving and returning to Russia, but we should know the Russian military is still entrenched in Crimea, though it's being hit very hard. And how is the Russian military responding? Yes, the Navy, the Russian Navy, is striking international cargo ships that pick up Ukrainian corn and wheat and sunflower oil in the Ukrainian port of Odessa.
We should stress Russia is attacking civilian cargo ships. These are ships from other countries, not from Ukraine, and these ships have no way of defending themselves. 10 sailors were killed in one attack, and this is really scared away almost all international ships.
And this is coming at harvest season, so Ukraine doesn't have any way to export by sea. Now Ukraine is also struck some Russian grain facilities in ships. These two countries are both major grain growers, and if they can't export, this could really put pressure on global food prices. That's EndPier's Greg Mayri, thank you, Greg.
Sure thing, Leyla.
That's up first for Friday, August 14th.
I'm Leyla Faldin. And I'm a shell martin. Today's episode of First Was edited by Lindsay Todi, Arzut Rizvani, Andrew Susman, and James Hyder. It was produced by Zia Bunch and Milton Givada.
Our director is Christopher Thomas, we get engineering support from Nisha Heines. Our technical director is A-O-N-Fain, and our executive producer is Jay Schaeller, join us again on Monday. Our crats are fighting for the future of their party. This week on the Empire Politics Podcast, we break down where the lines are being drawn between
centrists and progressives. Both sides have scored victories this primary season, and both are certain that they will be more electable in November.
“We'll catch you up on the key players and their pitches to voters.”
This week on the Empire Politics Podcast. I'm Jesse Farn. I have to really go show it for like you want something. On Bullseye, rapper Isaiah Rashad on how he winds down after a night on stage, as it is in his 30s.
So it's like he's hard and not to celebrate with. I think I'm going to get a salad.
Self-care is important.
That's Bullseye. Find us in the NPR app at maximumfund.org or wherever you get podcasts.
