Michelle Martin

Iran already controls one key waterway used for oil shipping in the Middle East.

Layla Fadel

Now Yemeni rebels backed by Iran are trying to cut off another one. Will they succeed?

Michelle Martin

I'm Michelle Martin. That's Layla Fadel. And this is up first from NPR News. Seventeen 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 Hegseth as he asked them for more money to fund an imposter popular war.

Layla Fadel

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.

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Michelle Martin

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Layla Fadel

a new element of uncertainty in the US war with Iran.

Michelle Martin

For 10 days, the two sides have exchanged strikes as IR continues to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz. Now Yemen's Iranian backed rebels say they will blockade another waterway on the other side of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea.

Layla Fadel

With Me now is NPR's Emily Feng, who is in Tel Aviv to talk about this. Emily, good morning.

Emily Feng

Good morning, Layla.

Layla Fadel

So tell us more about this threat of a blockade. Where would it be?

Emily Feng

So it would be in this waterway called the Bab El Mandeb 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 strait lets Saudia raid, 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 straight, especially because another waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, has been effectively closed by the US Iran war. So any Houthi blockade would rattle energy markets even more and raise energy prices even higher.

Cameron Sanchez

Wow.

Layla Fadel

Just remind people, Emily, for people who don't pay close attention to this, who the Houthis are.

Emily Feng

They are a Yemeni Shiite militant group. They're aligned with the militant group Hamas. They're supportive of Hezbollah in 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 ceasefire 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 block aid. 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, you know, 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 Leila, those pipelines will take years to build.

Layla Fadel

And what about Iran? What's the Latest from there?

Emily Feng

US Centcom 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 there 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 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US 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,

Quill Lawrence

they'll have to work out that split internally. We're going to continue to respond if

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the door opens to diplomacy.

Quill Lawrence

If the guys that want to do

Michelle Martin

something productive for Iran win and take

Quill Lawrence

control of that system or take control of the negotiations, that'll be a very positive development.

Emily Feng

But then he added, that's just not where the U.S. and Iran are at this moment.

Layla Fadel

That's NPR's Emily Feng in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Emily.

Emily Feng

Thanks, Leila.

Layla Fadel

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee later today.

Michelle Martin

He is looking for a 3,350 billion dollars funding boost for the Pentagon's war in Iran. It's a rare chance to question Hegseth about the war. The Pentagon has not briefed the press since May, and it comes as the White House announced that President Trump will be in Dover, Delaware, today to receive the bodies of two soldiers killed in Jordan on Friday.

Layla Fadel

Here with more is quill Lawrence from NPR's national security team. Good morning, Quill.

Quill Lawrence

Good morning.

Layla Fadel

So what else do we know about the US Casualties at this point?

Quill Lawrence

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 US Military officials about this new and rapidly evolving reality of drone warfare. One of them was General Joseph Votel, who formerly led centcom. He said the US had built up power in the region by building these bases.

Michelle Martin

Our strength 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 things. 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.

Quill Lawrence

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 a thousand miles and hit US Bases all over the region.

Layla Fadel

Does it mean anything that after three months there were suddenly three, perhaps four casualties over the weekend? Has something changed?

Quill Lawrence

Just that. For 10 nights now, Iran and the US have been escalating tit for tat bombardments. Iran has stepped up attacks. It's possible they just got lucky or that the US had been very lucky so far. General Votel said that while any death is tragic, these numbers seem low considering the waves of missile and cheap armed drones that Iran's been throwing at these US Targets. Anyone comparing these wars to Iraq and Afghanistan, the casualties here are an order of magnitude smaller and there aren't 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

Layla Fadel

19, 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?

Quill Lawrence

A US Military official who is 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 US Munitions, which is something Hegseth 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 and Congress, but the US has been leaving key regional allies in the dark and they're the ones who are bearing the brunt of all these Iranian attacks.

Layla Fadel

NPR's Quill Lawrence, thank you for your reporting.

Quill Lawrence

Quill, thank you.

Layla Fadel

Today is the last day of voting in Arizona's primary.

Michelle Martin

How is the stage being set for some of the swing state's big races in the fall?

Layla Fadel

Joining us now is Cameron Sanchez with member station KJZ 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?

Cameron Sanchez

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.

Emily Feng

Medical, schools, taxes, the water bill, light bill, electricity, things like that. Yeah, the richer you are, the less the more you get. The poorer you are, the less you get.

Cameron Sanchez

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 concern that if Democrats win Congress, they'll allow too much immigration,

Layla Fadel

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?

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Right.

Cameron Sanchez

This is a Phoenix metro area district which is currently represented by a Republican congressman, David Schweikart, but he's running for governor, leaving an opening. So the front runners on the Democrats are former state legislator Amy Shaw and former broadcaster Marlene Galan 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 beat Schweikart before. Two years ago, Shaw beat Golan woods and others in the primary race, but lost to Schweikart in the general election. But this year Golon woods has the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. And then on the Republican side got former NFL kicker Jay Feely. He's a lot of name ID and Trump endorsement, but his opponent is a little further to the right. He's Joseph Chapl, who was a member of the Freedom Caucus when he was a state legislator.

Layla Fadel

Turning to the race for governor, the incumbent is Democrat Katie Hobbs. Our listeners might remember she was barely beat Republican Carrie Lake in 2022. Who are her potential opponents this time?

Cameron Sanchez

Two congressmen, Andy Biggs and David Schweigert. Biggs is seen as the front runner 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. And Biggs has been a Trump loyalist for a long time and voted against certifying the state's election results in 2020. This go around, Biggs is definitely leaning away from a far right image and pitching himself as someone who can work across the aisle. Schweikart comes from that toss up district where he does have experience appealing to independence.

Layla Fadel

What other races or trends will you be watching for?

Cameron Sanchez

The Arizona Secretary of State's 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 Culloden, 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 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 2020. 6. The Republican primary winner will face incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontes in the fall.

Layla Fadel

That's Cameron Sanchez of kjzz. Thank you so much for your reporting.

Cameron Sanchez

Thank you.

Layla Fadel

And that's a first for Tuesday, July 21st. I'm Layla Falden.

Michelle Martin

And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of up first was edited by Tina Kraia, Andrew Sussman, Larry Kaplow, Mohamed Elvardisi and Ellis Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hyness. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott. And our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

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Quill Lawrence

Americans are crazy, Chinese are crazy.

Cameron Sanchez

These are two countries full of these crazy hustlers.

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