NPR News: 06-20-2026 7PM EDT
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What recent developments are happening in U.S.-Iran relations?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. Vice President Vance is heading to Switzerland for talks between U.S. and Iranian negotiators on ending the war President Trump and Israel started more than three months ago. He says Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are already there. Meanwhile, there is confusion over the status of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says it's closed because Israel continues its deadly bombing campaign on the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. But Vance says the Strait is open to ship traffic.
No, we're not seeing any evidence that the Iranians are still closing down the Strait of Hormuz. It is going to take some time to clear those mines, though.
Speaking there to Fox News. Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon today killed at least 16 people, including children and a Lebanese army soldier, according to officials. This despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-supported Hezbollah was announced yesterday. NPR's Jane Aref visited Nabatea earlier this week, which is still a center of fighting.
There is an awful lot of destruction, including downtown in the historic Ottoman-era market, hundreds of years old. All of that was heavily damaged. We met one of the town residents, Najib Ayad, a little further into the city. He was returning briefly to see the damage to his apartment. There was the sound of artillery in the distance. You could see smoke rising. And inside, all the glass had been blown out, including the balcony doors. He's saying, you see that castle? See what it looks like? From his balcony, you can see the Beaufort Castle. It's a crusader-era fortress on a strategic hill that's now occupied by Israeli forces. So he said that as long as Israeli forces are that close, he could never move back.
There are now more than one million people displaced in Lebanon. Some had tried to return, but recent fighting has driven them out again. And here's Jane Araf reporting.
Southern Europe is once again bracing for unusually high temperatures in the coming days following a record-breaking heat wave that happened in May and in early June. Alison Roberts reports from Portugal, one of the places where a high risk of wildfires is of a particular concern.
Temperatures as high as 110 degrees are foreseen in Portugal's interior, with more than half the country at maximum fire risk by Tuesday. With nighttime temperatures in many areas stuck above 70 degrees in a country where most homes lack air conditioning, health officials are on high alert. Authorities are appealing to people not to observe the St. John's Eve tradition on August 23rd of releasing hot air balloons with open flames. Neighbouring Spain and France are also expecting unusually high temperatures, though meteorologists dismiss suggestions these could go up to 120 degrees. For NPR News, I'm Alison Roberts in Lisbon.
And you're listening to NPR News from Washington. A massive fire in the Dominican Republic yesterday nearly destroyed a luxury resort, forcing nearly 1,700 tourists to evacuate. The Viva Dominicas Beach by Windham is a popular destination for U.S. and international tourists on the Dominican Republic's southeastern coast. The cause of the blaze is under investigation. Fire officials, though, say it apparently spread quickly because of wind and also that part of the resort's roof was made of thatch. Pope Leo visited the birthplace of Mother Frances Cabrini today, using the visit in northern Italy to highlight the Catholic Church's duty to care for migrants. Meanwhile, a new poll shows most Catholics in the U.S.
say President Trump has been too critical of the Pope. NPR's Jason DeBrowes reports on the findings of a recent study from the Pew Research Center.
51% of those surveyed say the president has been overly harsh toward the pontiff, while just 19% say Leo has been too critical of the Trump administration. 16% of American Catholics say the pope hasn't been critical enough. The Pew poll also finds that nearly 8 in 10 approve of the first U.S.-born pope overall.
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