Steve Inskeep

Brendan, thanks so much.

Anytime, Steve.

That's Brendan Byrne from Central Florida Public Media.

He hosts the space podcast, Are We There Yet?

And that's a first for this Friday, April 10th.

I'm Steve Inskeep.

The head of NATO visited Washington, insisting the alliance is helping the United States.

I'm Steve Inskeep with Leila Fadal, and this is Up First from NPR News.

The ceasefire in the war with Iran has yet to cease all fire.

Gulf states are still intercepting Iranian attacks.

Iran has not fully opened the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has been talking again about leaving the NATO alliance.

He did not consult NATO allies before launching a war in Iran and then complained that many allies did not help.

The announcement of a two-week ceasefire doesn't appear to have eased the president's feelings.

He said on social media after the meeting, this is a quote, in all caps, NATO wasn't there when we needed them and they won't be there if we need them again.

And in the first 24 hours of that ceasefire, an oil refinery in Iran was hit, and five Gulf Arab states reported attacks from Iranian drones and missiles.

A blitz of Israeli airstrikes killed more than 250 people across Lebanon, according to authorities there.

Israeli attacks hit densely populated residential areas.

Israel said it was striking leaders of the armed group Hezbollah, although its targets were far from that group's traditional strongholds.

Strikes even hit near the Corniche, which is Beirut's famous seaside promenade.