Saudi Uranium Enrichment Deal, Trump Defends Iran War, GOP Congress Out Of Sync
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 23 July 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Trump is asking Americans to be patient about what the war is costing them, promising Iran will pay for itself the way he claims Venezuela has, but his own supporters are getting harder to convince as gas prices climb again.
And the House heads home for a month today after cramming in four big bills on the way out, none of which the Senate is likely to take up as written, even though Republicans run both chambers.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Tina Kraja, Rebekah Metzler, Jason Breslow, Mohamad ElBardicy and Adriana Gallardo.
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 Stacey Abbott.
And our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:55) Saudi Uranium Enrichment Deal
(05:26) Trump Defends Iran War
(09:03) GOP Congress Out Of Sync
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | President Trump went to war with Iran to stop it from enriching uranium. |
| 0:06.0 | Now he signed a deal that could let Saudi Arabia do just that. |
| 0:10.0 | Will the deal spark a Middle East nuclear arms race? |
| 0:13.0 | I'm Michelle Martin. That's A. Martinez. |
| 0:15.0 | And this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:20.9 | President Trump is threatening to bomb bridges and power plants in Iran and is telling his supporters the war is a win. |
| 0:26.9 | He says military action in Iran will pay for itself the way he claims it did in Venezuela. |
| 0:32.1 | But with gas prices up again are MAGA voters losing patience. |
| 0:35.5 | And Republicans in Congress are working to get a lot done before a month-long summer break. |
| 0:39.9 | The legislation that just passed the House will need to be overhauled to get through the Senate. |
| 0:44.6 | Both chambers are led by Republicans, so why aren't they in sync? |
| 0:47.4 | Stay with us. We've got news you need to start your day. |
| 1:00.8 | The U.S. has agreed to build and run nuclear energy plants in Saudi Arabia. |
| 1:05.3 | The Gulf State is rich in oil, but it's been trying to pivot to other energy sources. |
| 1:09.5 | And while Saudi Arabia's crown prince has said the kingdom does not want nuclear weapons, |
| 1:12.1 | he has also said Riyadh will pursue one if Iran develops a nuclear weapon first. With us now is MPR's Emily Fang in Tel Aviv. Emily, so this |
| 1:18.8 | agreement first tell us what's in it and actually, too, what's not. So it would allow American companies |
| 1:24.6 | to run commercial nuclear power plants and Saudi soil for decades to come. |
| 1:29.3 | And under the agreement, Saudi Arabia is not permitted to reprocess American nuclear |
| 1:33.9 | material for weapons. |
| 1:35.1 | But there is nothing in this agreement and a security protocol attached that stops the |
| 1:40.1 | kingdom from using these plants to say enrich uranium or other nuclear fuel that's provided |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 27 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.