US Lifts Oil Sanctions On Iran, Trump Shifts To Economy, MN Subpoenas Thrown Out
Up First from NPR
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4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
President Trump heads to Pennsylvania today to talk up the economy and his promise that gas and grocery prices will fall now that the war is ending, but his approval is at record lows with even some Republicans unhappy over his handling of the economy.
And a federal judge in Minnesota threw out grand jury subpoenas from the Trump administration, ruling they were used to harass and retaliate against state and local officials who wouldn't help carry out the president's immigration crackdown.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Tina Kraja, Rebekah Metzler, Cheryl Corley, Mohamad ElBardicy, and John Stolnis.
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.
And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:57) US Lifts Oil Sanctions On Iran
(05:23) Trump Shifts To Economy
(09:17) Minnesota Subpoenas Thrown Out
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The U.S. has temporarily lifted oil sanctions on Iran for the first time in decades. |
| 0:07.4 | It's one of several incentives to get to Iran to comply with U.S. nuclear demands. |
| 0:11.8 | Vice President Vance says Iran will let inspectors back in, but Iran says it agreed to no such thing. |
| 0:17.1 | I'm Michelle Martin. That's A. Martinez, and this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:23.6 | President Trump is heading to Pennsylvania today to talk up the economy. He has promised gas |
| 0:28.5 | and grocery prices will fall now that the war is ending. But his approval numbers are at record |
| 0:33.5 | lows and even some Republicans aren't convinced. And a federal judge in Minnesota threw out grand jury subpoenas from the Trump administration. |
| 0:40.1 | The judge said they were used to harass and retaliate against officials who wouldn't help the president's immigration crackdown. |
| 0:46.5 | Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:53.4 | The United States has lifted oil sanctions on Iran. |
| 0:58.8 | It's a temporary measure that lets Iran sell its oil in U.S. dollars on the global market. |
| 1:04.5 | The 60-day sanctions exemption is just one of several economic incentives coming Iran's way. |
| 1:09.6 | NPR's international correspondent, Taya Batrawe, is in Dubai to explain what all of this means. |
| 1:14.5 | So, okay, these oil sanction waivers were announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Besant yesterday. |
| 1:19.5 | What does it mean for Iran? |
| 1:20.9 | Well, it basically means Iran can sell freely at standard prices just like any other major Gulf oil producer. And this is a pretty |
| 1:28.9 | stunning turnaround from what was just a weeks-long U.S. naval blockade on Iran's ports. |
| 1:34.6 | For years, Iran had been evading U.S. sanctions through dark fleets. These are ships that would |
| 1:39.2 | turn off their tracking systems and hide their origin. And then Iran would mostly sell this cargo |
| 1:44.0 | to state-linked |
| 1:44.7 | Chinese companies who were motivated to buy from Iran because the oil was sold at a discount |
| 1:49.2 | outside of the international dollar banking system. But the idea here with these waivers is to |
... |
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