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What recent military actions has Israel taken against Iran?
Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. Israeli officials say Israel is conducting a, quote, broad-scale wave of strikes against Iran's military infrastructure.
Multiple airstrikes rocked the capital, Tehran, today. Israel claims it has done major damage to Iran's air defense systems. As NPR's Kerry Khan reports, Israel has lifted some restrictions on public gatherings inside Israel as the number of incoming missiles and drones fired from Iran decrease.
Israel's army chief of staff says 80% of Iran's air defenses have been destroyed and at least 60% of its ability to launch missiles have also been crippled. But while the number of incoming missiles and drones from Iran have decreased, military officials say the threat remains. It has suggested more large targets in Iran will be hit without providing details.
With the decrease in incoming projectiles from Iran, Israel has begun easing public gathering restrictions. Schools and many businesses, however, remain closed, as well as major religious sites in Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where normally tens of thousands of worshippers would attend prayers on this third Friday of Ramadan. Carrie Conn, NPR News.
White House officials will meet with some of the biggest U.S. defense contractors today. NPR's Franco Ordonez reports this meeting comes amid concerns about the stock of weapons available to the U.S. military. White House officials are expected to press its contractors to accelerate weapons production as the U.S. expands its war on Iran. The White House and Pentagon say the U.S.
military has already hit more than 2,000 targets. President Trump says the war may last four to five weeks. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says strikes will accelerate in the coming days. U.S. officials who were not authorized to speak publicly told NPR that they're concerned about a lack of missile interceptors and may have to draw from other stockpiles.
The Pentagon, though, has pushed back, saying they have sufficient precision munitions and that once they gain more control of Iranian airspace, they'll be able to rely on less sophisticated weapons. Franco Ordonez, NPR News. President Trump has fired Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He's nominating her replacement, Oklahoma Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen.
The change in DHS leadership comes as the agency remains shut down. NPR's Sam Greenglass says that Democratic lawmakers want changes. in how immigration agents operate before they vote for a funding measure. Mullen would be taking over a department that could still be shut down, so it is hard to imagine that he won't play a role in publicly pushing for Democrats to fund it.
Mullen is respected for having the ear of the president and also his old colleagues in the House, and that's one reason why he was one of the senators involved in talks to end the record-long shutdown last fall. You're listening to NPR. The government releases its monthly jobs reports later this hour.
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