Middle East At War, Congress Briefed On War, Texas and North Carolina Primaries
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 3 March 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed Congress on the war and lawmakers walked out split, as both chambers prepare to vote on measures that would curb the president’s war powers.
And voters in Texas and North Carolina are casting ballots in two expensive Senate primaries that could offer an early read on where both parties are headed in November’s midterm elections.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Kelsey Snell, Padma Rama, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ana Perez and Nia Dumas
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:55) Middle East At War
(5:51) Congress Briefed On War
(09:35) Texas and North Carolina Primaries
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The State Department warns Americans across the Middle East to depart now. |
| 0:06.8 | Israel is sending troops into Lebanon as the scope of the war grows. |
| 0:10.3 | Israel and the U.S. say they are prepared for weeks of fighting. |
| 0:13.5 | I'm Amey Martinez. That's Laila Faddle, and this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:20.9 | Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the U.S. attacked Iran because Israel was going to attack Iran and Iran would retaliate. |
| 0:29.8 | We went proactively in a defensive way to prevent them from inflicting higher damage. |
| 0:34.1 | He gave a briefing to Congress before they prepared a vote on a measure to curb the |
| 0:37.6 | president's war powers. And its primary day in Texas and North Carolina, too closely watched |
| 0:42.7 | Senate races could tell us where both parties are headed in November's midterms. Stay with us. |
| 0:47.8 | We'll give you the news you need to start your day. |
| 1:00.4 | This message comes from Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. |
| 1:07.6 | You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart, get Wise. |
| 1:12.3 | Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com. T's and Cs apply. |
| 1:15.6 | The war in the Middle East continues to expand. |
| 1:25.8 | Israeli war planes this morning are striking Iran and Lebanon. And the U.S. is calling on its citizens to evacuate more than a dozen countries across the region as Iran retaliates. |
| 1:28.5 | NPR's Daniel Estrin has been in Tel Aviv covering the war since it began this weekend. Daniel, are a few days in. What stage is everything in right now? |
| 1:34.9 | Well, yesterday Israel focused on targeting regime symbols in Iran. So it bombed the Iranian |
| 1:41.0 | intelligence ministry headquarters, the state broadcaster, the presidential office, |
| 1:45.6 | the building of the National Security Council. |
| 1:47.9 | Today, Israel's military says its focus is on Iran's missiles and missile launchers. |
| 1:53.0 | And already Israel says it has destroyed hundreds of ballistic missiles and dozens of missile |
| 1:58.9 | launchers in Iran. |
... |
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