Israel-Iran-Lebanon Escalation, Trump Walks Out Of Interview, Ebola Outbreak In DRC

[00:02] Israel and Iran traded fire overnight. It is the most serious escalation since their shaky ceasefire started in April. Israeli strikes hit Beirut despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Then Iran fired back at Israel. Is the region sliding back into an all-out war? I'm Michelle Martin. That's A. Martinez. And this is Up First from NPR News. [00:30] Let's call it quits because I've had it. Thank you, darling. Have a good time. Mr. President, let's please... He also defended his handling of the war with Iran before he walked out. And the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading at an unprecedented pace. Africa's CDC is warning of a regional threat that could rival the worst Ebola outbreak on record. Stay with us. Got the news you need to start your day. [00:52] you [00:56] This message is from AT&T with your summer essential, the iPhone 17 Pro. Its center stage front camera auto adjusts the frame to fit everyone into group selfies. Right now at AT&T, ask how you can get iPhone 17 Pro on them with eligible trade-in. Requires eligible plan. Terms and restrictions apply subject to change. Visit att.com slash iPhone for details. [01:22] This message comes from Progressive Insurance. You're listening to this podcast, so you've got a curious mind. Did you know that drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average? Visit Progressive.com and get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who save with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.

[01:51] Support for this podcast and the following message come from strawberry.me. [01:55] Be honest. Are you happy with your job? Are you stuck in a job you've outgrown or never wanted in the first place? [02:02] Are your reasons for staying really just excuses for not leaving? Let a career coach from strawberry.me help you get unstuck. Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner and get 50% off your first coaching session at strawberry.me slash NPR. [02:21] Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Iran and Iranian attacks on Israel are threatening to plunge the Middle East back into an all-out war. Iran launched rounds of missiles toward Israel, and Israel struck central and western Iran early Monday following an Israeli attack on Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital. This morning, President Trump posted on social media that Israel and Iran must, quote, immediately stop shooting, unquote. NPR's Jane Araf joins us from Beirut. [02:51] a lot of fast-moving military developments. Well, Iran now says it's halting further attacks on Israel, saying Israel has, quote, learned a lesson. But earlier this morning, sirens sounded in Israel after Iran and Yemen's Houthi rebels, Iranian allies, launched missiles. Iran says it targeted two Israeli military bases in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Iranian radar sites. And Israel

[03:21] In Lebanon, Israel kept up attacks in the south Sunday, including on the southern city of Tyre. So there's been a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in place since April, although there have been sporadic attacks. So what prompted this escalation? Well, the background is that this war in Lebanon is part of a wider Iran-U.S. deal. Iran insists on a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has occupied parts of the south and is fighting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. [03:51] Iran had warned that if Itzani strikes by Israel on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, where Hezbollah has offices, it would see that as a red line. So last night, Israel struck an apartment building there, killing two people, and Iran retaliated with the wave of strikes. Jane, you've just returned from southern Lebanon this morning. What's happening there? We were able to see some of the damage there from Israeli airstrikes in neighborhoods that are still under attack. [04:21] two weeks ago warned almost the entire city to leave, along with surrounding villages. It left the tip of Tyre, the section of the ancient city, with a large Christian population exempt from the warnings. So in areas that were still under threat, we saw apartment buildings leveled by airstrikes. In another place, there was an entire block with nothing standing. But despite that, there are still people there. A lot of them elderly or disabled, and they're trying to

[04:51] neighborhoods. Tyre was a thriving coastal city. Imagine Miami. So yesterday, there were new Israeli strikes in Tyre and other parts of the city, and more people flooded into that tiny section of the old city. There were displaced families with absolutely nothing, leaving damaged houses, setting up tents on the beach near fancy shuttered restaurants and luxury hotels, and some were just sleeping on the sand. What are you looking for next, Jane? [05:19] There's still the question of what Yemen will do. It has said it will target Israeli assets in the Red Sea, affecting crucial Suez Canal shipping channels. And there are Iran-backed groups in Iraq that the Iraqi government has been trying to rein in that are also a factor. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said events over the last 24 hours fueled Iran's distrust of the U.S. And then some of this depends on President Trump. [05:46] He told Fox News on Sunday that the deal with Iran had been days away, so we'll have to see what happens with that. He says Israel had not coordinated the strikes in Lebanon with the United States, and he said, I am not happy about it. That's NPR's Jane Raff from Beirut. Thank you very much. Thank you. [06:12] President Trump abruptly walked out of an interview with NBC's Meet the Press after being pressed about his controversial weaponization fund and ongoing false claims about elections. Let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time. Mr. President, let's please... Trump also used the interview to defend his Iran policy and continue to tout a possible peace agreement, but without giving details. NPR's White House correspondent Franco Ordonez has more. Franco made a good portion of the interview focused on the war on Iran.

[06:42] visibly frustrated. Yeah, he was defensive about the war not coming to an end faster. I mean, making several comments about other wars lasting longer, Vietnam, World War II. I mean, he wants more slack for what he's doing. Now, again, he said there'll be a deal soon or that military action would resume, but he didn't give any specifics. And as we've been reporting, he's been saying that kind of thing for weeks now. Yeah, he often talks about how desperate Iran is to make a deal, yet weeks go by, weeks go by, still no deal. [07:11] Yeah, I mean, Trump was pressed about that specifically. And he expressed some sympathy for the Iranians, saying they're being forced to do something that's very hard. [07:29] And it takes a little while. And he's said similar things about the new Ayatollah, who he said has been getting involved. [07:35] Yeah, one of the big challenges that the administration has faced and complained about is dealing with the various factions of the Iranian government, all the differing opinions. But like you said, the new Ayatollah does appear to be getting more involved. He still hasn't been seen, though, since the start of the war when his father was killed. But interestingly, Trump called the new Ayatollah brave and rational and said he had the respect of the people. [08:05] to get really, really heated. Tell us why. [08:08] Well, Trump says the fund is for those who have been unfairly targeted and victimized by the government. But many critics see it as a slush fund for Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol and beat police officers on January 6th. Now, a lot of Republican lawmakers are concerned about the political implications. I mean, so much so that Trump's own attorney general tried to assure them that the fund was going away. But in the interview, Trump made very clear that he's not given up on the idea.

[08:38] Fund is a great idea, and so do many other Republicans. [08:42] You have to get it approved. [08:44] If they get it approved, that's great. [08:46] If they don't get it approved, [08:48] I'd be disappointed. You know, it was soon after that that Trump walked out of the interview when Welker was pushing back on his continued claims of election fraud. So speaking of this week, Franco, what else are you going to be watching for? Well, I expect the Anti-Weaponization Fund will continue to take up a lot of oxygen in Washington, D.C. I mean, Trump's also heading up to New York to watch the NBA finals tonight. [09:18] ways that other presidents just have not done. And to that end, I mean, he's gearing up to host a big UFC mixed martial arts fight on the South Lawn on Sunday, though there are legal efforts to stop it. And then he heads to France, where he'll be doing some business with top European leaders talking about Iran, Ukraine, trade, and other global challenges. Coming up this week, that's a White House correspondent, Franco Ordonez. Franco, thanks. [09:42] Thank you. [09:43] Music. [09:51] African health officials are warning that the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading faster than any other in history. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the pace of spread is even outstripping the early trajectory of the 2014 West Africa epidemic. Health workers at the epicenter are still operating with limited resources as aid agencies scramble to contain the outbreak. Reporter Emmett Livingstone is in the DRC capital of Kinshasa. Emmett, tell us just how bad the situation is.

[10:21] - Okay. [10:21] The situation is pretty bad, and health workers are still fighting an uphill battle to bring this outbreak under control. Since it was declared on May 15th, confirmed cases of Ebola have spread across a wide expanse. Ituri, a province in eastern Congo about the size of West Virginia, is the epicentre of the outbreak, with about 94% of recorded cases in Congo. And according to Congolese health authorities, the virus has now spread to half of the province's health zones. [10:51] larger than the official figures suggest. Over the weekend, 71 new cases were confirmed across three provinces in eastern Congo. And this jump, according to Congolese health authorities, showed that there is, quote, rapid and ongoing community transmission. The Congolese government has stopped publishing figures on the total number of suspected cases, but aid officials say that they suspect them to be in the thousands. Wow. How's the health response going? So there's a massive international effort to stop the spread of the virus that's underway with [11:21] and NGOs, [11:23] But according to health workers, this is still really in its early days. Ituri has been decimated by decades of conflict, and its health infrastructure is extremely weak. In Mongualu, the town the worst hit by the virus, NGOs have started building new treatment facilities from the ground up in order to handle the number of cases. So at the moment, in some instances, Ebola patients are turning up to hospitals that are essentially construction sites. And another massive challenge is isolating suspected Ebola cases and also contact tracing.

[11:53] And some people are being healed, though. [12:10] Right, so some people are recovering from Ebola. On Saturday, Peter Stafford, an American doctor who had contracted Ebola in eastern Congo and was evacuated to Germany, was released from a medical facility after repeated negative tests. Inside Congo too, some patients are getting better. Health authorities said that over the weekend, three new people had been healed, bringing the total number to 12. And what this shows is that the virus isn't necessarily a death sentence. It's not a death sentence. [12:35] It's still extremely dangerous, but the species of Ebola virus that's circulating appears to have a slightly lower mortality rate than more common variants. Experts are saying that the chances of recovery are much higher if patients seek appropriate medical care early. But really, that's the whole problem in a nutshell, access to appropriate medical care. [12:53] All right, that's Emmett Livingstone in Kinshasa. Emmett, thank you very much. [12:57] Thank you. [13:07] OK, before we go, on June 11th, the globe's biggest sporting event comes to North America, the FIFA World Cup. The Super Bowl, you might say, averages something over 100 million live viewers. But the World Cup final, think like five times that much. The favorites, the underdogs and the Americanization of the world's game. Listen now to the Sunday story from the Up First podcast on the NPR app.

[13:32] And that's Up First for Monday, June 8th. Amy Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin. [13:37] This episode of Up First was edited by Tina Kraja, Dana Farrington, Miguel Macias, Mohamed Elberdisi, and John Stolmes. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Zoe Van Genhoven. Our technical director is Carly Strange. And we hope you'll join us again tomorrow. [13:54] *music* [14:05] Support for NPR comes from IBM. On Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell explores how organizations are using technology to solve complex challenges. I spoke with Sergi Ghosh, Heineken's chief AI officer. If you can connect all the different applications, all the platforms, remove fragmentation, scale very quick, that's what we call the best connected drawer. That's where IBM is really partnering with us. [14:35] podcasts. [14:36] This message comes from Midi Health. Introducing AgeWell, longevity care designed by women for women. Whether you're looking to prevent future health issues or just feel more like yourself, learn more at joinmidi.com. That's joinmidi.com. [14:53] This message comes from Mattress Firm. Sleeping hot can ruin your night. Mattress Firm's sleep experts can match you with a temper breeze designed to deliver cooling comfort for hot sleepers. Visit Mattress Firm and upgrade today. Restrictions apply. See store for details.