Iran And Yemen's Houthis Blockade, Hegseth On Capitol Hill, Arizona Primary Day

0:02Iran 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 Leila Faddle. And this is Up First from NPR News.

0:1917 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 asks 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.

0:52This message comes from NPR sponsor Charles Schwab with its original podcast on investing. Each week, you'll get thoughtful, in-depth analysis of both the stock and the bond markets. Listen today and subscribe at schwab.com slash oninvesting or wherever you get your podcasts. This message comes from Vanta. Risk and regulations are ramping up and customers now expect proof of security just to do business, Vanta automates your compliance process and brings compliance, risk, and customer trust together on one AI-powered platform. So whether you're prepping for a SOC 2 or running an enterprise GRC program, Vanta keeps you secure and keeps your deals moving.

1:35That's not just faster compliance. It's more time for growth. Get started at Vanta.com. This message comes from Rosetta Stone, offering an alternative approach to language learning. Without relying on traditional memorization, the platform guides users to intuitively think in a second language. More information at rosettastone.com. 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 waterway on the other side of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea.

2:14With 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 Bab al-Mendib 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 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.

2:51So 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 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.

3:29Saudi Arabia has not acknowledged these strikes, but this week, a Houthi spokesperson declared a blockade. Let's listen to his video statement.

3:43So 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. And what about Iran? What's the latest from there? U.S. Sent coms said they struck Iran overnight. Again, in a tenth 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.

4:28A 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 U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S.

5:04has 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, Leila.

5:35Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee later today. He is looking for a$350 billion 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. 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?

6:11This 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 Votel, 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 things.

6:49But 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 a thousand 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.

7:25have 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 so far. General Votel said that, well, 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 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.

8:04You know, one of the servicewomen who died on Friday, she was just 19. That'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 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 just the last two weeks. He said the vast majority recovered quickly and went back to work.

8:38It'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 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 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.

9:14NPR's Quill Lawrence, thank you for your reporting, Quill. Thank you.

9:24Today is the last day of voting in Arizona's primary. How is the stage being set for some of the swing state's 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.

9:59Medical, schools, taxes, water bill, light bill, electricity, things like that. Yeah. The richer you are, 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 concern 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.

10:40But he's running for governor, leaving an opening. So the frontrunners on the Democrats are former state legislator Amy Shaw and former broadcaster Marlene Golan 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 Golan Woods and others in the primary race, but lost to Schweikert in the general election. But this year, Golan Woods has the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. And then on the Republican side, we've got former NFL kicker Jay Feely.

11:12He's a lot of name ID and Trump endorsement, but his opponent is a little further to the right. He's Joseph Chaplik, 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 Carrie Lake in 2022. Who are her potential opponents this time? Two congressmen, Andy Biggs and David Schweikert. 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.

11:47Biggs has been a Trump loyalist for a long time and voted against certifying the state's election results in 2020. With this go-around, Biggs is definitely leaning away from a far-right image and pitching himself as someone who can work across the aisle. Schweikert comes from that toss-up district, where he does have experience appealing to independents. What other races or trends will you be watching for? 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 Colliden, 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.

12:30And 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 2026. 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.

12:59And that's Up First for Tuesday, July 21st. I'm Leila Fauden. And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Tina Crya, Andrew Sussman, Larry Kaplow, Mohamed Elbardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott. And our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

13:53Transcription by CastingWords Listen today and subscribe at schwab.com slash oninvesting or wherever you get your podcasts. One year after Congress eliminated federal funding for public media, NPR remains committed to informing the public. But a free press doesn't just happen. It's something we must protect. Without federal funding, we're relying on your support now. Please make your gift today at donate.npr.org. This season on Planet Money Summer School, we go to China. one of the world's biggest economies. And what we learned is... Americans are crazy. Chinese are crazy. These are two countries full of these crazy hustlers.

14:33The U.S. and China are more alike than you might think. On Planet Money Summer School, a strange lesson about success, how to handle the downsides of progress. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.