Up First from NPR
Intense Strikes On Iran, Trump Approval Poll, Georgia Special Election Runoff
11 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Tuesday would bring the most intense strikes across Iran.
Chapter 2: What are the latest developments in the strikes on Iran?
Now, video from the Red Crescent shows rescuers in the rubble of what appear to be residential buildings.
I'm Leila Fadil, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. A new poll finds a majority of Americans do not support U.S. military action in Iran. And the president's approval rating on the economy has hit its lowest point yet.
Chapter 3: What does the new poll reveal about American attitudes towards the Iran war?
What does that mean in a midterm election year?
Also in Georgia, the special election to fill Marjorie Taylor Greene's vacant House seat is heading to a runoff. A Democrat had a strong performance and now faces a Republican who was endorsed by President Trump. What can that election tell us about the midterm voting?
Chapter 4: How is Trump's approval rating affected by the current conflict?
Stay with us.
Chapter 5: What insights can we gain from the Georgia special election runoff?
We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
Chapter 6: What implications does the Georgia election have for the midterms?
These days, it feels like the news changes every hour. Well, NPR has a podcast that does that too. NPR News Now brings you a fresh five-minute episode every hour of the day with the latest, most important headlines in episodes that are clear, fact-based, and easy to digest.
Chapter 7: How do rising gas prices relate to the conflict in Iran?
Listen to NPR News Now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
The last time the United States and Israel attacked Iran, they called it the 12-Day War. The current war may need some different name because we have reached Day 12 with no sign of the end. Iran is talking of imposing more pain in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Chapter 8: What are the potential impacts of the new Iranian leadership?
Its government said they now consider banks and economic centers a target in the Middle East. This after Iranians say one of their banks was targeted. Pete Hexeth, the civilian head of the U.S. military, made a promise on Tuesday. Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran. That was yesterday. So how much damage is the U.S. doing?
NPR's international correspondent, Aya Batraoui, is in Dubai. Hi there.
Good morning.
What have you learned?
Well, Internet is cut across Iran, and many people are fearful of sharing what they're seeing, even in messages, due to fear of retaliation from the government. But, you know, based on the information that is coming out from official statements and activist groups, we know that already more than 1,200 people have been killed across Iran.
The Iranian Red Crescent Rescue Service also published a video overnight showing a residential area struck in the capital Tehran. standing over the rubble of a building there. And people who've left Tehran through the Turkish border have been telling NPR they're fleeing because the sky is red from bombings. And they have also reported multi-story residential buildings being flattened in Tehran.
Now, in addition to homes, we've also seen damage emerging from centuries-old landmarks and palaces in Tehran and cities... south like Ishfahan, 300 miles south of Tehran. But, you know, the Pentagon and Israeli military are only confirming hits on military targets. And a new video from the U.S.
military shows strikes on Iranian vessels yesterday, including 16 Iranian mine-laying ships near the Strait of Hormuz. You know, that's that narrow waterway that much of the world's oil was passing through.
Oh, I'm glad you mentioned oil. I want to tell you in Dubai what's happening here in the United States. Gas prices have gone up sharply in the past week. People do notice. I was talking with somebody yesterday who said, you know, I don't follow politics, but they knew to the penny how much they'd been paying for gas. So that's the U.S.
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