US Israeli War With Iran, Trump's War Address, Gulf Countries Bear The Brunt
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2026
⏱️ 16 minutes
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Summary
President Trump says the strikes will continue “at full force” and warns Americans there will likely be more U.S. casualties, as the White House still hasn’t spelled out the war's objectives or how long it could last.
And Iran’s retaliation is hitting America’s Gulf partners hard, with missiles and drones turning places like Doha, Bahrain and Dubai into battle zones.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by James Hider, Tina Kraya, Andrew Sussman, Miguel Macias, Olivia Hampton, 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 Zo van Ginhoven. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:20) Pentagon Update on Iran
(07:18) US Israeli War With Iran
(10:39) Gulf Countries Bear The Brunt
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Middle East is being engulfed by the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran. |
| 0:06.1 | Pentagon Chief Pete Hegsetth insists that the conflict would not be endless. |
| 0:10.4 | No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise, |
| 0:16.0 | no politically correct wars. |
| 0:18.2 | I'm Leila Faudil with A. Martinez, and this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:23.5 | Four U.S. service members were killed by Iranian strikes. |
| 0:27.1 | President Trump has said this about Americans dying. |
| 0:29.6 | And sadly, there will likely be more. |
| 0:32.9 | Before it ends, that's the way it is, likely be more. |
| 0:36.9 | He warned the U.S. military campaign could stretch for four or five weeks. |
| 0:41.3 | And America's Gulf allies are taking the brunt of Iran's retaliation. |
| 0:45.4 | Waves of missiles and drones are turning expat cities such as Doha and Dubai into battlefield. |
| 0:51.1 | Stay with us. |
| 0:51.8 | We've got the news you need to start your day. |
| 1:00.8 | Okay. into battlefield. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt |
| 1:07.0 | Family Foundation, working to restore a balanced relationship between people and planet. |
| 1:12.7 | The Schmidt Family Foundation is part of the philanthropic organizations and initiatives |
| 1:17.2 | created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to work toward a healthy, resilient, secure world |
| 1:23.3 | for all. On the web at the Schmidt.org. |
| 1:27.7 | The U.S. military says Kuwait shot down three U.S. fighter jets in an apparent friendly fire |
| 1:33.2 | incident and that all crew members survived. |
| 1:35.4 | It's part of a widening war against Iran launched by the U.S. and Israel over the weekend. |
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