Up First from NPR - Middle East Conflict, Military Parade, No Kings Protests

Episode Date: June 14, 2025

Iran and Israel traded military strikes overnight, raising fears of a wider conflict. Plus, a military parade will take place in Washington, D.C. later today, marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. army. Critics say it's a vanity project of President Trump and are organizing No Kings protests across the country.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Iran and Israel traded military strikes overnight. Tel Aviv was hit by a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles while Israel struck targets inside Iran for a second day. I'm Debbie Elliott. I'm Ayesha Rasco and this is Up First from NPR News. The U.S. helped defend Israel during Iran's missile attack will have the latest from the region. Plus, the largest military parade in decades will take place in Washington, D.C., later

today. It's marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. But critics say the parade is a vanity project of President Trump's. Nationwide protests against the president are timed to coincide with the parade. We'll hear from Chicago, where organizers are expecting a large demonstration. Stay with us, we have the news you need to start your weekend.

Israel and Iran both carried out military strikes overnight as the conflict between the two countries escalated. So far, Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Iranians, including several top security chiefs and damaged one of Iran's nuclear sites. Iran has responded with ballistic missiles and drones killing at least three Israelis. NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi is on the line from Tel Aviv. Thanks for joining us. Good morning.

Iran responded to Israel strikes yesterday evening. What's it been like overnight in Tel Aviv? It was a pretty long night. Sirens blared every few hours, sending us all into bomb shelters. Huge explosions boomed over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Some of those were the sounds of Iranian missiles being intercepted. But some did hit suburbs of Tel Aviv, including an area around the Kiria, which is Israel's Pentagon.

I visited one neighborhood called Rishon Le Tzion. It's a suburb of Tel Aviv in central Israel. It was hit by a missile last night. And over there I saw windshields of cars shattered, feet crunched on the glass and other rubble that was strewn on the roads, roofs on the houses were blown off, entire homes destroyed. I met 56-year-old Annad Baslo. She was still in her pajamas, a blue blanket over her shoulders. She was trying to get help from this makeshift community tent. She said her home was totally damaged.

I'm really shocked. I didn't expect all this would happen. It was very hard. Baslo said that she had nowhere to sleep tonight. And all of this, of course, is while Israel is still striking targets around Tehran, hitting nuclear facilities, killing dozens. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a fire at the international airport in Tehran. Now Israel says it wants to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, but is that it? Is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looking at a possible regime change? I mean, it's been Prime Minister Netanyahu's dream to topple the Iranian regime for decades and it would be a huge part of his legacy if it did

happen. And last night he addressed Iranians directly in a video message. He called on them to rise up and said that the Israeli attacks were quote clearing a path to freedom for them. Let's take a listen. And the time has come for you to unite around your flag and your historic legacy by standing up for your freedom from an evil and oppressive regime. But you know, the Iranian government has proven extremely resilient for 46 years and it remains in firm control for now. And at this stage, there's no reason to think Israel's campaign will generate an uprising

that threatens the government. And it's not something Israel could expect to happen with airstrikes alone. Hadeel, this all comes as the US and Iran are holding talks about Iran's nuclear program. What's the US role in all of this? I mean, the two sides were meant to meet on Sunday. Iran said it won't be going at first, but now the Iranian foreign ministry said it's still thinking about it, quote, unclear what decision it will make about attending. NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv, be safe.

Thank you. Thank you. Thousands of troops will march through Washington, D.C. later today as the U.S. Army marks its 250th anniversary. President Trump pushed for the military parade, which also happens to fall on his 79th birthday. NPR's Frank Langford was out talking to people near the parade route yesterday and joins us now. Hi, Frank.

Hey, good morning, Debbie. So what are you hearing from folks? Yeah, I met a number of people who driven or flown here for the parade. Many of them were from military families. And they all said this is a great opportunity to honor the army, which was created back in 1775. I met this guy named Jerry Miller. He says he's a veteran and a Trump supporter. He'd driven five hours from his home in a town called Hope Mills in North Carolina. We were chatting next to the fountains.

You know where this is. And the World War II memorial on the National Mall. And this is what he said. Having this parade is great. I'm a soldier. I've always wanted to be, I'm very proud. My family's proud of our country. And other people should grow up

being proud of this country too. The United States is worth defending. It's worth fighting for. There's no other country like the US. And that's why everybody wants to come here. That's why we have to put walls up to keep people out. So some people excited about this, but I imagine you found some others

who maybe felt differently. Yeah, there were a lot. I mean, everybody agreed with Jerry that it's very important to honor and celebrate the Army. This was not about the Army, but there were a variety of concerns. We've heard the price tag, $25 to $45 million at a time when the administration is trying to cut costs.

There's concern about the tanks tearing up DC streets that overnight they were going to be putting out metal plates to protect them. But the biggest objection, Debbie, is what we've heard for some time, and that is the idea of parading military hardware through the nation's capital. And some people, they were on the mall yesterday, they saw it as muscle flexing by President Trump. I met this guy named Gavin Schmidt. He says he's a political moderate, and he was in town with his family from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I think he's trying to demonstrate strength and authority, which is that authoritarianism side of things to me. I don't think this is a necessary show of force. They know what we have and what we're capable of.

And his wife, Danielle, she went even further. He's trying to show his power the same way dictators in the past and dictators of current day within China and Russia and things like that. He's just trying to show that same type of power. These kinds of military parades are not common here in the US. The last one was back in 1991 after the first Gulf War. But they are common in other countries. I think, Frank, you have a little experience with that?

I did. You know, I was based in China for many, many years. And I remember back in 99, I was covering this giant military parade. This was for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The communist regime then, Debbie, was so afraid of protests, they told ordinary people who lived along the parade route to stay inside their homes. I ended up watching the parade from a friend's balcony.

In many ways, people saw this as a sign of weakness by the regime now this prey tonight is going to be very very different It's very easy to get tickets You know president Trump has also expressed concern about protesters and he's threatened that if they show up They'll be met with very heavy force he says so what did you see? Were you able to preview some of the tanks and other things that are going to be part of the parade? I was not, you know. They were behind wooden walls. I went looking for them right by the Potomac.

I could see them on the other side of the river, but they were actually kind of hidden. I couldn't tell if that's because they want dramatic effect when they show up or whether the organized recognize that, you know, Debbie, this parade is controversial. That's NPR's Frank Lankford. Thanks so much. Happy to do it, Debbie. As President Trump watches the military parade, protests against him are planned to take place across the country. They're being billed as no king demonstrations. Organizers say they're in response to what they

call the growing authoritarianism of the Trump administration. The event follows protests triggered by federal immigration raids in recent days. Large demonstrations are expected in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, from where WBEZ reporter Sarah Karp joins us now. Hi there, Sarah. Good morning. Today's protest in Chicago is just one of hundreds that organizers say they're planning. There have been some demonstrations in Chicago there for most of the week.

What's going on now? So, you know, here there's been rallies ramping up, um, ever since the clashes began in Los Angeles and the national guard was called in. But even before that, there was a lot of angst in the city as immigration agents showed up at court hearings and at regular immigration check-ins. Tuesday night was the biggest demonstration this week, drawing more than a thousand people. So how do you think the No King event is going to be different? So this one is pretty different because it's been planned for weeks and organizers say this is a family event.

A number of organizations are involved, the Chicago Teachers Union and the ACLU and another main organizer is a group called Indivisible. Kathy Tolan with Indivisible says today's message is that authoritarianism won't be tolerated. For months seeing policies that are going to bring harm to Americans and to our democracy, we have federal agents terrorizing and kidnapping our neighbors.

So our rally today is an opportunity to say no. Now, President Trump has often criticized Chicago because of its status as a sanctuary city. Police there do not assist ICE agents in any arrests. Earlier this week, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker was before Congress defending the state's sanctuary city status as well. So what are local officials saying specifically

about today's event? So as you might know, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is very progressive and in lockstep with the protesters on most issues. This is what he said in a press conference this week about protesters. I am counting on all of Chicago to resist in this moment because whatever particular vulnerable group is being targeted today, another group will be next. So he and his police chief said they expect the event to be very peaceful today and noted that the city has experienced dealing with mass demonstrations without incident. Illinois Governor Pritzker told Congress this week that

violence at protests is unacceptable, but he noted that most people who come to these things are very peaceful. What steps has Chicago taken if President Trump takes similar action to what we saw in LA? So, our partner, the Chicago Sun-Times, is reporting that the Johnson administration has been told by federal immigration agents that they've been given 48 hours notice, a weekend deployment to five major cities, including Chicago. And they've been told that there could be tactical teams or mini tanks on the ground. But so far, we haven't really heard anything specific about the National

Guard or any actual military showing up. That's WBEZ's Sarah Carp in Chicago. Thanks. You're welcome. And that's up first for Saturday, June 14th, 2025. I'm Ayesha Roscoe. And I'm Debbie Elliott. Today's podcast was produced by Andrew Craig with help from Dave Mistich and Fernando Naro. Our director is Michael Radcliffe.

Our editors are Dee Parvez, Jacob Finston, Alex Leff, Cheryl Corley, and Martin Patience. David Greenberg is our technical director with engineering support from Zoe Vangenhoven and Damian Herring. Shannon Rhodes is our acting senior supervising editor. Evie Stone is our executive producer. And Luis Clemens is our deputy managing editor. Tomorrow on the Sunday story,

the US is facing a housing shortage, and some communities are also being forced to adapt to climate change. We'll take you to the Austrian capital, Vienna, where they're trying to tackle both problems at once, building affordable homes that are resilient to climate change. So what can US cities learn from this program? And for more news, interviews and analysis, tune into Weekend Edition on your radio. Go to stations.npr.org to find your local NPR station. Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to Up First sponsor free through Amazon Music.

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