NPR News: 06-20-2026 1AM EDT
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What recent developments occurred in the U.S.-Iran conflict?
Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Talks over a preliminary deal to end the war between the U.S. and Iran were abruptly called off Thursday, Friday, as fighting in Lebanon escalated. Friday morning, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 people, and Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters killed four Israeli soldiers in another attack. NPR's Kerry Khan reports.
Israel bombarded targets in southern Lebanon, causing major casualties, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Hezbollah says it ambushed Israeli forces, destroying three tanks and killing the soldiers. Despite mounting pressure from the U.S., Israel says it will not withdraw from Lebanon. The preliminary U.S.-Iran peace deal calls for a halt to all military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon. Israel's defense minister says that will not happen and suggested on Israeli media that Israel could go it alone fighting Iran. Israel's far-right national security minister posted on social media, quote, for every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn.
How is the situation in Lebanon impacting regional stability?
Kerry Kahn, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
Israel and Hezbollah, meanwhile, have now agreed to temporarily stop that heavy fighting in southern Lebanon. Commercial ships are now moving through the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. signed a preliminary agreement with Iran this week to end the war and reopen the strait. Speaking at Joint Base Andrews, President Trump said that's good news for the U.S.
Our country's doing so well. Those ships are flowing out of the Hormuz Strait like nobody's ever seen before, actually. There were a lot of them, about 700 of them, and they're pouring out. The oil is all over the place. You're going to see oil drop so low. I hope the companies are happy about it.
The Strait is a critical conduit for much of the world's oil and natural gas. In Utah's midterm primaries next week, multiple candidates without ties to the Church of Latter-day Saints will take on former Congressman Ben McAdams, a young LDS Democrat. At stake in the fall's general election is a House seat in the state's new blue-leaning district. The outcome could help swing control of Congress in November. MPRS Malam Javid has more.
The Democratic primary next week pits McAdams, who some delegates view as too conservative, against three more liberal Democrats, none of whom is Mormon. Matthew Bowman is the chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University.
So it'll be interesting to see how that turns out and if someone who has never been LDS can actually win as a Democrat. which is a doubly hard thing to do in Utah, being both of those at the same time. So that'll be, I can think of an interesting harbinger of how Utah politics might change over the next couple of generations.
Bowman says that the city's demographics are changing. That and a blue-leaning congressional district have changed the way the city views politics. Maham Javed, NPR News.
It's NPR News. A large fire has almost completely destroyed a luxury resort at the Dominican Republic. More than 1,600 tourists were evacuated after the fire broke out, and local media reports say one Italian tourist died in the blaze. The hotel is on the country's southeastern coast, which is a popular destination for U.S. tourists. In Washington, algae has turned the newly repainted Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool green this week. Workers are using tiny bubbles and large vacuums to remove it, as NPR's Rachel Treisman reports.
Experts say algae growth is not unexpected in the stagnant, shadeless waters of the reflecting pool. It was likely helped by the recent renovations that turned the pool American flag blue. Here's swimming pool specialist Steve Goodale.
The new darker interior surface is going to absorb more sunlight. It is going to result in water that's warmer. and that ultimately is going to lead to more prolific algae growth.
The National Park Service is using hydrogen peroxide and what it calls nanobubbles to oxidize the algae, which workers are vacuuming up. In the meantime, observers have noticed pieces of the new blue paint peeling off and floating to the surface.
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