Up First from NPR - Iran And Yemen's Houthis Blockade, Hegseth On Capitol Hill, Arizona Primary Day

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

The war between the U.S. and Iran keeps widening as Yemen's Houthi rebels announce a blockade of Saudi Arabia that would choke off another key oil route, even as Iran signals it may be open to talks. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth heads to Capitol Hill today to ask lawmakers for a nearly 90 billion dollar funding boost for the war with Iran, in a rare chance for senators to question him after the Pentagon admitted 100 troops were wounded in the past two weeks and hasn't briefed reporters since May.And it's the last day of primary voting in Arizona, a swing state that's become ground zero for election denialism, with big fall races taking shape for governor, a toss-up House seat, and secretary of state.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, Andrew Sussman, Larry Kaplow, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia DumasOur director is Christopher ThomasWe get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott. And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.(0:00) Introduction(01:53) Iran And Yemen's Houthis Blockade(05:31) Hegseth On Capitol Hill(09:20) Arizona Primary DaySee 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

Iran already controls one key waterway used for oil shipping in the Middle East. Now Yemeni rebels backed by Iran are trying to cut off another one. Will they succeed? I'm Michelle Martin. That's Lelifado. And this is up first from NPR News. 17 American troops have died in the Iran War. The Pentagon says 100 more were wounded in the past two weeks. Today, senators finally get to question Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth as he asked them for more money to fund an unpopular war. And it's primary day in Arizona where Republican races will tell us how their voters feel about election denial. There are candidates running who tried to overturn the 2020 election results. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

There's now a new element of uncertainty in the U.S. war with Iran. For 10 days, the two sides have exchanged strikes as Iran continues to assert control over the strait of Hormuz. Now, Yemen's Iranian-backed rebels say they will blockade another one. way on the other side of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea. With me now is NPR's Emily Fang, who is in Tel Aviv to talk about this. Emily, good morning. Good morning, Leila. So tell us more about this threat of a blockade. Where would it be? So it would be in this waterway called the Bob Al-Mandib Strait.

It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and ultimately the Indian Ocean on one end. And on the other, the Suez Canal all the way up to the Mediterranean Sea. And this straight-let Saudi Arabia, which is one of the biggest oil producers in the world, now get millions of barrels of oil. a day out to the open ocean for export, and it needs this strait, especially because another waterway, the strait of Hormuz, has been effectively closed by the U.S. Iran War. So any Houthi blockade would rattle energy markets even more and raise energy prices even higher. Wow.

Just remind people, Emily, for people who don't pay close attention to this, who the Houthis are. They are a Yemeni Shiite militant group. They're aligned with the militant group Hamas. They're supportive of Hezbollah and Lebanon and the regime in Iran. and you may remember them from when they were attacking ships in the Red Sea and snarling up logistics lines there. Yemen is where Saudi Arabia had intervened in the civil war against the Houthis. But then this month, Saudi Arabia crossed a four-year suits fire with the Houthis

by firing missiles at a major airport in Yemen's capital. Saudi Arabia has not acknowledged these strikes, but this week a Houthi spokesperson declared a blockade. Let's listen to his video statement. So here he says the blockade on Saudi ships was, quote, a siege for a siege, basically retaliation, an eye for an eye. Any Houthi blockade, if successful, is going to test Gulf State unity against the Houthis, against Iran, and it's going to further test energy supply chains. Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries around it have been exploring pipeline projects so they can ferry oil over land

instead of by water. But Lila, those pipelines will take years to build. And what about Iran? What's the? the latest from there. U.S.S. sent com said they struck Iran overnight. Again, in a 10th round of consecutive attacks, Iran has been pounding countries which host American military bases and infrastructure as a result, especially Bahrain and Kuwait, but also Jordan, where at least two American service members were killed last Friday. A third is still missing.

So in total, that brings us to at least 17 service members who have been killed so far in this war. The Pentagon says 427 people have been injured. Iran's government says 3,000 people, they're. had been killed in this war. But amongst all this death and destruction, there's still some efforts at diplomacy. Iran's foreign minister said on state television this week, ending a war is possible, quote, through total military victory or through negotiations. And it's also said that it's received offers of diplomacy but has not specified exactly what those are. And then U.S.

Secretary of State Marker Rubio said the U.S. has also received some signals Iran wants to negotiate, but he's noted a split in Iran's ruling echelon between those who want to keep fighting and those who want diplomacy. They'll have to work out that split internally. We're going to continue to respond. If the door opens to diplomacy, if the guys that want to do something productive for Iran win and take control of that system or take control of the negotiations, that'll be a very positive development. But then he added, that's just not where the U.S. and Iran are at this moment. That's NPR's Emily Fang in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Emily. Thanks, Leela. Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee

later today. The White House is asking for a nearly $90 billion funding boost, most of that for military operations in Iran. It's been more than two months since Hegsaith testified on the Hill and the Pentagon hasn't briefed reporters since May. Hengseth's appearance comes as President Trump travels to Delaware to receive the bodies of two U.S. soldiers killed in Jordan last week. Here with more is Quill Lawrence from NPR's National Security Team. Good morning, Quill. Good morning. So what else do we know about the U.S. casualties at this point. This Iranian attack on a joint U.S. Jordanian air base on Friday killed two soldiers, another is missing and believed dead.

There was another drone-related casualty at a U.S. base in northern Iraq over the weekend. I spoke with three former U.S. military officials about this new and rapidly evolving reality of drone warfare. One of them was General Joseph Othel, who formerly led Centcom. He said the U.S. had built up power in the region by building these bases. Our strengths for the last several decades has been our forward deployment and our positioning across the Gulf that has reassured partners and put us in a position where we could be responsive to the thing. But now we are seeing that that same advantage has turned into a little bit of a disadvantage in the face of missiles and especially drones. It has also highlighted a significant vulnerability.

So in Iraq and Afghanistan, the enemy had no real range or air power. But now in the age of drone warfare, Iran doesn't even really need an Air Force because its drones can travel 1,000 miles and hit U.S. bases all over the region. Does it mean anything that after three months, there were suddenly three, perhaps four casualties over the weekend? Has something changed? Just that for 10 nights now, Iran and the U.S. have been escalating tit-for-tat bombardments. Iran has stepped up attacks. It's possible they just got lucky or that the U.S. had been very lucky. far. General Votel said that while any death is tragic, these numbers seem low considering the ways of missile and cheap armed drones that Iran's been throwing at these U.S. targets. Anyone comparing these wars to Iraq and Afghanistan, the casualties here are an order of

magnitude smaller and they're out-ground troops involved. But one similarity is that there isn't a clear cause or goal that can help the American people understand why these troops have died. You know, one of the service women who died on Friday, she was just 19. It's so young. We mentioned the Pentagon hasn't briefed on the war since May. Is the Pentagon purposely withholding information from the public, including on the wounded? A U.S. military official was not authorized to speak publicly confirmed with NPR that the Defense Department has been slow walking information on casualties. And just this week, the Pentagon spokesman admitted after questions from journalists that 100 service members have been injured in the last.

just the last two weeks. He said the vast majority recovered quickly and went back to work. It's also not clear how much damage has been done to these bases. There's concern in Congress about the rapid depletion of U.S. munitions, which is something Hegset is bound to get questions about today. Three former military officials I spoke with said that the Pentagon's poor communication has caused a lack of trust. One said, you know, they just don't have much credit. General Votel pointed out that it's not only credit with the American people in Congress, but the U.S. has been leaving key regional allies in the dark, and they're the ones who are bearing the brunt of all these Iranian attacks.

NPR's Quill Lawrence, thank you for your reporting, Quill. Thank you. Today is the last day of voting in Arizona's primary. How is the stage being set for some of the swing states big races in the fall? Joining us now is Cameron Sanchez with member station KJZZ in Phoenix to talk about this. Good morning, Cameron. Good morning. So you spent a lot of time talking to voters. What stands out as the main things that they're thinking about? Well, for Democrats, we've heard a lot about opposition to President Trump, and some voters do relate that to the cost of living. I spoke with

Dorothy Garcia at her home in Scottsdale, Arizona while I was tagging along with a Democratic candidate. Medical schools, taxes, the water bill, flight bill, electricity. You like that. Yeah. The richer you are, the less you, the more you get, the poorer you are, the less you get. For some Republicans, I do think the border, and since we're a border state, and immigration still remains a top issue. But there is concerned that if Democrats win Congress, they'll allow too much immigration in their view. Maybe the most competitive primaries there are for a House seat. It's a toss-up seat that Democrats hope to flip in their effort to take control of the House. Who's running there? Right. This is a Phoenix metro area. district, which is currently represented by a Republican congressman, David Schweikert, but he's running for

governor leaving an opening. So the frontrunners on the Democrats are former state legislator, Amy Shaw and former broadcaster Marlene Galang Woods. She's a former Republican who switched parties years ago. So both candidates say they can get the support of independent voters, and they both tried to beat Schweikert before. Two years ago, Shaw beat Galang Woods and others in the primary race, but lost to Schweigert in the general election. But this year, Galang Woods has the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. And then on the Republican side, we got former NFL kicker Jay Feeley. He's a lot of name ID and Trump endorsement. But his opponent is a little further to the right. He's Joseph Chaplick, who was a member of the Freedom Caucus when he was a state

legislator. Turning to the race for governor, the incumbent is Democrat Katie Hobbs. Our listeners might remember she barely beat Republican Kerry Lake in 2022. Who are her potential opponents this time? Two congressmen, Andy Biggs and David Schweigert. Biggs is seen as the frontrunner in this race. He's got Trump's endorsement, Andy the backing of Turning Point USA, the organization founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Biggs has been a Trump loyalist for a long time and voted against certifying the state's election results in 2020. At this go around, Biggs is definitely leaning away from a far-right image and pitching himself as someone who can work across the aisle. Schweckert comes from that toss-up district where he does have experience appealing to independence. What other races or trends will you be watching for? The Arizona Secretary of States race is one to watch because it highlights trends in Arizona politics like election security and the influence of turning point.

In the Republican primary, we have a state lawmaker, Alexander Colleton, who's a member of the legislature's Far Right Freedom Caucus, and he's an attorney who participated in multiple lawsuits to try to throw out election results in 2020 and 2020. 2022. And his opponent, Gina Swoboda, had Trump's endorsement when she became chair of the state party, and there are MAGA entities who like her, but she's never outright claimed elections are stolen. That's an opportunity to see Republican voters' views on election denialism in 26. The Republican primary winner will face incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontes in the fall. That's Cameron Sanchez of KJZZ. Thank you so much for your reporting. Thank you. And that's up first for Tuesday, July 21st. I'm Lela Fawden.

And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Tina Craya, Andrew Sussman, Larry Kaplow, Mohamed ElBarisi, and Alice Wolffley. It was produced by Ziac Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott. And our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.