US Strikes Iran Oil Tankers, Israeli Settlements Sanctions, Smithsonian Head Retires

0:02The U.S. has now hit eight Iranian oil tankers since Saturday, targeting a key source of revenue for Tehran. Iran struck back at U.S. troops in Jordan. Are Gulf countries rethinking whether hosting American forces makes them safer? I'm Leila Fadil, that's Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. The U.K., Canada, and France are moving to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Britain says settler violence there amounts to ethnic cleansing. How is Israel responding to its allies? And the head of the Smithsonian is stepping down. Lonnie Bunch III worked at the research and museum complex for nearly four decades, leading it for the past seven.

0:40His departure comes after the Trump administration accused the Smithsonian's programming of being anti-white and too negative about American history. Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day.

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2:19Joining us to talk about the latest attacks and how this might affect U.S. strategy in the region is NPR International correspondent Aya Barchawi in Dubai. Good morning, Aya. Good morning, Michelle. So could you start us off with what happened last night? U.S. Central Command says it destroyed five Iranian oil carriers in the Gulf of Oman and off of Iran's Karg Island. Now, CENTCOM says it did give notice to crews aboard those ships to abandon them before they were bombed. And it says that these attacks were in response to Iranian missile attacks on a U.S. Navy warship that were successfully evaded.

2:52So since Saturday, Michelle, we now have the U.S. striking eight Iranian crude oil tankers. And this is another blow to Iran's economic lifeline that goes beyond the aggressive sanctions that are already in place and the existing U.S. naval blockade on Iran's oil shipments. What was Iran's response? Well, Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it targeted U.S. vessels and oil tankers, as well as 10 ships trying to transit through the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. help. Now, there's no confirmation on what was hit from those attacks. But Iran also attacked U.S. troops at an airbase in Jordan. Jordan says it intercepted all but two of Iran's 20 missiles last night.

3:28It says there were no deaths recorded. But, Michelle, it made no mention of injuries from those attacks. And one more thing, Iran also released visuals yesterday of an underwater U.S. naval drone that it captured. One of Iran's official accounts on X described it as one of America's most mysterious underwater toys, now in Iran's possession. And all of this just shows how Iran remains undeterred in the face of sustained U.S. military pressure. Iran has been targeting American assets and troops in the region since the start of the war. And this brings up the bigger question, what is the U.S. strategy now in the region?

4:03Exactly. And that is unclear. And there's also little discussion around the future of the U.S. footprint in the region. In part, that's because permanently pulling back troops now could signal weakness to Iran and other adversaries like Russia and China. And U.S. bases in Gulf Arab states and Jordan were meant to be a deterrence, but they've actually been used to attack Iran. And it's partly why Iran has now attacked these countries throughout the war. So Arab allies are broadening their defense ties with other countries and waiting really for the U.S. to show what its path forward is going to be.

4:34Meanwhile, you have the Pentagon under Secretary Pete Hexeth not being forthcoming about damage to U.S. bases from this war and the Trump administration asking satellite companies to censor their images over the Gulf. Still, we do know that in Bahrain, where the Navy's fifth fleet was hit by Iran, there were some 8000 military personnel there. Now it's less than 100. I asked Mackenzie Eaglin, who's with the American Enterprise Institute and is co-chair of the National Commission on the Future of the Navy about this lack of transparency. It's hugely damaging, just one, for precedent setting, because it's not how, you know, we operate in a federal republic.

5:08And two, it's not going to help like Congress grapple with, you know, how is our military performing? How are we ahead? How are we behind? What could we do differently? What could we do better? And Michelle, one indication, though, of how things are going actually came from the Chief of Naval Operations, Daryl Cottle. He was asked last week during a live stream when sailors would actually be able to go back to Bahrain to pick up their personal belongings. And his answer was, we are not going back in there anytime soon. That is NPR International correspondent Aya Bertali in Dubai. Thanks, Aya. Thanks, Michelle.

5:50Israel reacted with anger and defiance to yesterday's announcement that the United Kingdom would impose trade sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Britain's foreign minister called the ban necessary to stop settlement expansion and Israeli settler violence against Palestinians there. He accused what he called settler terrorists of ethnic cleansing. Canada and France joined the effort and imposed their own sanctions, intensifying international pressure on Israel from longtime allies. For more on Israeli and Palestinian reactions, we go now to NPR's Carrie Khan, who is in Tel Aviv.

6:22Carrie, good morning. Good morning, Michelle. So I understand that Israeli officials were rather indignant and retaliated quickly after the U.K. announcement. What did they say? Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the U.K. statements about Israel's content in the West bank outrageous lies. He said they were morally distorted and anti-Semitic. Here he is. I say to the Labour government and to every government in the world that thinks it can force Israel to act against our national and security interests. You have no chance of succeeding. Retaliation 2 was quick. They announced the closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem.

7:02That office mainly deals with Palestinian affairs. And they had a list ready of British representatives that are now barred and expelled from Israel. And what about the reaction from Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank? The Palestinian Authority's president put out a statement yesterday welcoming the sanctions. In the West Bank, we spoke with Suleiman Duwabsheh, the chairman of Duma, a Palestinian village. He said he wished the sanctions had been firmer.

7:33These decisions, he says, for us will have an impact, and that means a lot for Palestinians in the West Bank. But he said he doubts Israel will make any changes because he says the government does not respect international law. His town has been hit extremely hard by settler violence. Several residents have been killed by settlers since October 7th, and cars and homes have been burned. The UN says there have been more than 3 ,000 attacks by settlers in the West Bank since October 7th, 2023. And in this year alone, Michelle, the U.N. says at least 79 Palestinians have been killed by settlers and Israeli troops.

8:09But apart from the political fallout that you're just telling us about, will this trading ban actually affect Israel economically? The short answer, no. Most exports from the West Bank are agricultural, and Israel's total agricultural exports to the U.K. are very low. And that's according to Aran Yashiv. He's an economist at Tel Aviv University, but he did tell me that sanctions could be damaging if the entire European Union, Israel's overall top trading partner, were to join in. If this becomes a big, wide sanctions move, which is not the case right now, then it will make a difference, not what's being imposed right now.

8:52And sanctions won't take effect for months, he said. Israelis go to the polls in late October and could elect a new government, which could trigger sanctions relief. But I have to tell you that none of the leading candidates are discussing settlement expansion or the rising West Bank violence, and they especially are not discussing a two-state solution with the Palestinians. That is. And Paris Keri Khan joining us from Tel Aviv. Keri, thank you. You're welcome.

9:24The head of the Smithsonian Institution, Lonnie G. Bunch III, says he will retire at the end of the year. Bunch has spent nearly four decades with the Smithsonian, first as a curator, then as the head of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He took over the top position at the Smithsonian in 2019 and said yesterday he's going to step down. It follows more than a year of criticism from President Trump and his administration about the Smithsonian, who have called the institution radical and divisive. NPR's Andrew Limbaugh is covering this. Good morning, Andrew. Morning, Michelle.

9:58So why is Bunch retiring now? Well, to hear him tell it, it's just time. Here's what he told NPR in an interview last night when asked, why now? Because I'm old as dirt. The reality is that after 38 years, I've been able to accomplish so much. I've learned so much. I've built such great relationships. And now I want to make sure that I have time to write, to think, but really to bore my grandkids to death. And now's the moment to do it. Yeah, there's a lot he's not saying there, especially when you take into account all the recent attacks President Trump and his administration have levied against the Smithsonian.

10:34But Bunches denied any insinuation that his leaving had to do with pressures from the president. Say more about those attacks, if you would, for people who haven't been following this. Yeah, the president and his administration have been trying to paint the Smithsonian as radical activists, right? In 2025, Trump issued an executive order criticizing exhibits and programs that, quote, degrade shared American values. For example, the EEO singled out an art exhibit about the history of sculpture and racism in America. Jump ahead to July of this year, the administration issued a long report criticizing the National Museum of American History for moving towards, quote, extreme political activism.

11:10And last month, the Department of the Interior said that the executive departments can't support the Smithsonian under the current leadership. Like I said, Bunch has denied that his retirement has anything to do with these criticisms. But his statement announcing the retirement said that he was leaving with mixed emotions. Now, Bunch started out as a curator at Air and Space. He went to move on to American history and the National Museum of American History and Culture. But in his current role, he's in charge of all of the Smithsonian's museums, libraries, research centers, the National Zoo. Can you just say a little bit about what he's accomplished?

11:41I mean, two pandas came to the National Zoo under his tenure. Remember that? That was a big deal. He got the ball rolling on two new history museums, one focused on women's history and another on the history of the American Latino. But he said that one of the big goals of his role as head of the Smithsonian was to help Americans embrace ambiguity and see America as a really complicated place. And say more about him. Yeah, well, Michelle, you've interviewed him tons of times, right? He's got this breadth of knowledge about history, right? Actually, on top of him being the first African-American to lead the Smithsonian, he was the first historian to do so.

12:14You know, you ran through his career first as a curator. But then in 05, he became the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture. And this is before that museum even had a building, right? And so he spent like more than a decade thinking about that museum's collection, what the physical manifestation of African-American history would look and feel like, the basic like nuts and bolts of constructing a building until it opened to the public in 2016. One of the most visited museums in the world. And Andrew, remember when the museum opened? The demand for tickets were so high, I think the website broke.

12:49Oh, yeah. Like for a while, it was the place to go in D.C., which actually took a bunch by surprise. Here's what he told NPR a year after the museum opened. I didn't expect it to become a pilgrimage site so soon. It's really become a place where you see both intergenerational sharing and really sort of interracial dialogues. And I didn't expect that. I also didn't expect so many crowds. You know, we thought we'd get 4 ,000 people a day. We're getting 6 ,000, 7 ,000, 8 ,000 a day. I didn't expect that. And so, you know, Michelle, I think whatever the future holds for him or for the Smithsonian, that building will be his lasting legacy.

13:26That is. And here's Andrew Limbong. Andrew, thank you. Thanks, Michelle.

13:34And that's Up First for Wednesday, September 9th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Leila Faudil. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Tina Kraja, Claire Lombardo, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Batch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas. Our technical director is Carly Strange. And our supervising producer is Michael Lipkin. Join us again tomorrow.

14:08Thank you.

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