Life Inside Iran, Trump and Cuba, Fed Interest Rates
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Cuba needs new people in charge, raising questions about what the Trump administration is actually planning for the island.
And the Federal Reserve meets today facing a scrambled economic outlook with energy prices are soaring because of the war and the job market is weakening.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Hannah Block, Rebekah Metzler, Rafael Nam, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Our Supervising Producer is Michael Lipkin.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:55) Life Inside Iran
(06:15) Trump and Cuba
(10:10) Fed Interest Rates
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Iran lashed out after the killing of his security chief. |
| 0:05.4 | Drones and missiles flashed across the region and over the head of our correspondent in Iraq. |
| 0:11.2 | Iranians crossing the border out of their country say life is unbearable. |
| 0:14.7 | I'm Michelle Martin. That's Steve Inskeep, and this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:20.9 | U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio talks of forcing a change in the leadership of Cuba. |
| 0:25.7 | They're in a lot of trouble. |
| 0:26.8 | And the people in charge are in, they don't know how to fix it. |
| 0:29.5 | So they have to get new people in charge. |
| 0:31.2 | President Trump cut off oil to Cuba and now contends he can do whatever he wants. |
| 0:35.3 | What is the Trump administration planning? |
| 0:37.3 | Also, the Federal Reserve meets today to set interest rates. |
| 0:40.4 | The war in Iran has sent energy prices soaring, and the job market has been weakening. |
| 0:45.1 | How does that affect their calculation? |
| 0:46.7 | Stay with us. |
| 0:47.4 | We've got the news you need to start your day. |
| 1:00.7 | Several countries across the Middle East have been shooting down Iranian missiles and drones. |
| 1:06.5 | The barrage is seen as Iran's response to the killing of Iran's security chief and the head of its paramilitary force. |
| 1:09.9 | Iran said it fired multiple warhead missiles at Tel Aviv. |
| 1:12.6 | This morning we have a glimpse of life inside Iran. |
| 1:17.8 | It comes from people who left their country crossing the border into neighboring Iraq. |
| 1:20.8 | And Pierre's Arzu Rezvani met them at a border crossing. |
| 1:21.5 | Arzu, welcome. |
... |
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