Israel's Incursion Into Lebanon, NATO and Strait Of Hormuz, Cuba's Blackout and Trump
Up First from NPR
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4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
President Trump is scolding NATO allies for not doing more to protect the Strait of Hormuz — as European leaders remain hesitant to get involved in the war with Iran.
And Trump says he expects to "take Cuba" just as the island suffers another catastrophic blackout, with nearly 11 million people left in the dark amid a U.S. oil blockade.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Hannah Block, Tina Kraja, Tara Neill, Miguel Macias, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Iman Maani and Nia Dumas.
Our Director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction
(1:57) Iran Lebanon
(5:50) NATO and Hormuz
(9:53) Cuba Grid Collapse
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Israel's defense minister says they kill two senior Iranian officials in airstrikes on Tehran. |
| 0:07.8 | And another front in the war is raging in Lebanon. |
| 0:10.7 | As Israel says, it is expanding its ground operations in the country. |
| 0:14.1 | I'mi Martinez. That is Michelle Martin. |
| 0:16.0 | And this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:20.9 | President Trump scolds allies for not doing more to protect the Strait of Hormuz. |
| 0:25.5 | I always said, you know, the problem with NATO is we'll always be there for them, but they'll never be there for us. |
| 0:31.3 | European leaders are hesitant to get involved in the war with Iran. |
| 0:34.4 | And the president is musing about a takeover of Cuba. |
| 0:38.0 | Whether I free it, take it, I think I could do anything I want with it. |
| 0:42.6 | You want to know the truth? |
| 0:43.7 | He made those comments as the island nation goes into a total blackout. |
| 0:47.4 | Stay with us. |
| 0:48.2 | We'll give you news you need to start your day. |
| 1:02.2 | Israel's defense minister says the Israeli military has killed two senior Iranian officials. |
| 1:07.7 | They are the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and the commander of Iran's paramilitary besiege forces. Iran did not immediately confirm the killings. |
| 1:12.4 | NPR's Hadil al-Shalti is in Beirut and has the latest information for us. Good morning, Hedil. |
| 1:17.1 | Good morning. So how significant are these latest killings? These would be the highest profile |
| 1:22.4 | assassinations since the February 28th attack that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeinae. |
| 1:28.7 | Defense Minister Israel Katz says Israel killed Ali Larajani, |
| 1:32.8 | head of the Supreme National Security Council and public policy advisor to the supreme leader. |
| 1:37.8 | And Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity described him as Iran's de facto |
... |
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