Transcript of U.S. Strikes Inside Venezuela, Iran Protests, Flu Cases Surge

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The US carried out its first known strike inside Venezuela. There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.

President Trump says it sends a message to Nicolaus Maduro, but critics warrant it could escalate the conflict.

Harry Martinez, that's Michelle Martin, and this is a first from NPR News. In Iran, protests over the economy are spreading. Security forces are cracking down as anger over inflation and sanctions boil over. So is this a short-lived protest or the start of something bigger?

And flu cases are surging across the US, with millions already sick and hospitals bracing for more. A new strain is spreading fast, and fewer people are getting vaccinated, which makes this flu season different. How can you prepare? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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President Trump's critics say the American strike on a facility in Venezuela is drawing the US even closer into a more dangerous conflict.

Trump gave a few new details this week of the attack against a dock in Venezuela, where drugs are allegedly being loaded on boats. There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.

They load the boats up with drugs.

So we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area.

It's the implementation area.

That's where they implement.

It's the first known operation inside Venezuela, an escalation of his campaign against the government of Nicolaus Maduro.

Npr, White House Correspondent, Franco Ordonias, is with us now from Palm Beach, where President Trump is spending the winter holidays. Good morning, Franco.

Good morning, Michelle.

Just give us the big picture here. What is the significance of these latest attacks?

The President has been warning for weeks that he was prepared to launch land strikes, and he first mentioned this strike a week ago on a radio show. While he hasn't been clear about how the strikes were conducted, a US official confirmed to NPR's Tom Bowman that the CIA struck the dock. Now, until now, the US has focused on strikes on boats it claims, are trafficking drugs and some oil tankers. But both of those operations have been taking place in international waters. So this is a really big deal to strike on land. It's an escalation, but also creates more risks of killing innocent Venezuelans who have nothing to do with any of that stuff.

Also, the lack of Congressional input, let alone oversight, as this campaign has escalated, is something that has drawn attention, especially some members of Congress, as one might imagine. Wouldn't it be considered customary and appropriate to at least brief Congress ahead of a strike like this?

Right. I mean, typically when presidents have done this in the past, the so-called Gang of Eight would be briefed either before or very soon after. Those are the top senators and house leaders for both parties. It's Just another example, though, of how Trump has sought to build his own power while diminishing Congress's power. I was speaking with John Healey, who formerly served as ambassador of Panama, and he says Congress seems to be very slowly inching towards more oversight. One of the things that really surprises me is how the Congress has had two attempts to get a war power's resolution. They've narrowly failed, but they keep coming back to it. It's almost like a chicken and an egg. Now, he sees growing frustration among members of Congress, and he points to the Congressional hearings about the recent double-tap boat strikes in international waters off the Coast of Venezuela that killed survivors of one initial strike.

One of the things that stands out for me is that if the President did not mention the strike last week, we might not have heard of this. The reason I point that out is that it's so much different than these public displays of the boat strikes where the administration issued video, not as much as some members of and certainly members of the public want, but they did make a point of issuing video about it. What do you make of that?

Yeah, I mean, the MO really has been to seek as much credit on the strikes. Ambassador Feeley also told me that Trump is trying to send a message to Maduro that the US can get to him anywhere in any time. They want to get as much public credit for them. They want to build momentum to provoke regime collapse. They want Nicolas Maduro to sleep poorly at night.

What are you watching for next, Franco?

You know, That's hard to say. Trump said he spoke to Maduro fairly recently, but that he didn't seem to think it had much of an impact. Surely, I'll be watching for further escalation, perhaps another land strike, but also Congress is coming back soon, so we'll see if they have any questions or concerns about these latest moves and the latest escalation.

That is NPR Whitehouse Correspondent, Franco Ordonias. Franco, thank you.

Thank you, Michelle.

Iran is seeing its biggest protests in years. Thousands of people have taken to the streets in several cities across the country to protest the economy.

Inflation in Iran has skyrocket and the country's currency has plummeted to a record low. Anger is growing over sanctions on the country's ruling government. Businesses have closed as many students have joined the demonstrations.

Npr's international affairs correspondent, Jackie Northam, has been following these developments, and she's with us now to tell us more about it. Good morning, Jackie.

Good morning, Michelle.

First, could you just describe these protests and what prompted Well, what started this round of protests was, as you say, the economy, which is in very bad shape.

Iran has struggled under sanctions for more than a decade. And because of that, it's oil exports, which are the lifeblood of the country's economy, are sharply curtailed. And so, too, is investment. The local currency, the riyal, has plummeted. Inflation is running over 40 %. And the government recently published a draft of the budget which predicted that the real income of the salaried middle class will fall by about half. So on top of everything else, that seemed to ignite these protests.

How is the regime reacting to these protests so far?

We're starting to see the security forces crack down. There are videos on social media showing them firing tear gas into the crowds. Also, the authorities today announced a shutdown of government offices, banks, schools, universities across more than 20 provinces. And they said it was due to cold weather. They didn't mention the protests. The country's moderate President, Massoud Pzezkian, is urging the regime to listen to what he called the legitimate demands of the protesters. As far as the economy, the head of the central bank resigned, and the bank started throwing US dollars into the market to help prop up the riyal, which helped a bit, but it doesn't have unlimited resources to do that. I spoke with Javed Salahi Isfahani, and he's an economics professor at Virginia Tech, specializing in the Iranian economy. He said another thing is that the 12 Day war with Israel this past summer was expensive. There's a widespread belief now that Israel will start another war, which is smothering investment.

That introduces a uncertainty into an economy that's already very uncertain because of sanctions, because of government policies.

So you have a a perfect storm now reaching over Iran's economy. Michelle, the threat of another war grew larger when President Trump said on Monday that the US would back an Israeli attack if Iran appeared to be building up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

Jackie, given what's going on in Iran right now, is there a sense that this could threaten the regime?

The protests haven't reached that point yet, Michelle. There was a serious challenge to the regime in 2022 during an uprising after an Iranian woman died in police custody after being arrested for not wearing a head scarf. Those protests lasted for over a month, and more than 500 people were killed, 20,000 people were arrested. We are a long way from that. But there's been anger and frustration for months in Iran over severe water and energy shortages, civil rights abuses, and widespread corruption. You had all this onto the protests about the economy. There are serious concerns that this could spiral into something much larger.

Before we let you go, President Trump said on Monday that the US would back an Israeli attack if Iran appeared to be building up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs. How has Iran reacted to that?

Well, they said they would come down hard. They said that they would retaliate in kind to anything that the US can throw at Iran. At the end of the day, the hope is that there can be some negotiations, but neither side are in the position to start those.

That is NPR International Affairs Correspondent, Jackie Northam. Jackie, thank you.

Thank you.

This year's flu season is shaping up to be a particularly bad one.

Yeah, centers for disease control and prevention have released the latest numbers on how influenza is spreading across the country. Well, it's not a pretty picture.

Here's Gabriella Emmanuelle is with us now to tell us more about this. Gabriella Well, thank you so much for joining us.

Hi.

How bad is it?

Well, if you look at the CDC map, a lot of the country is showing up the highest level of flu activity, particularly the Eastern Seaboard, the Midwest, the South. The CDC estimates there have been 7. 5 million cases so far this season, up from some 4 million just the week before. Remember, the flu can be deadly. There have already been more than 3,000 deaths this season. Lisa Grosskoff is a medical officer at the CDC.

We anticipate that we are not at the peak and that we're probably going to see increases in the coming weeks.

Experts say the virus is moving, and they expect the entire country to see high case counts soon.

What's driving this surge?

Well, one big factor is a new strain called subclade K. It's caused huge number of cases from Australia to Japan to the UK. Here is Florian Kramer of the Icahn School School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Because it changed, there's less immunity to it, and that's allowing the virus to spread very quickly and extensively. The good news is it doesn't seem to be more severe or dangerous, and our treatments still work against it. But the genetic changes in the virus mean the flu vaccine this year is a bit of a mismatch. That's because the vaccine had already been formulated before this strain emerged. However, early data from the UK suggests that the vaccine is still quite effective at keeping people from getting so sick they end up in the hospital.

Okay, so it doesn't keep you from getting the flu, but it does keep you from getting so sick. Right. Okay. So this year, there's been a lot of upheaval at the CDC. I think a lot of people may remember that. Is their flu data still considered accurate?

Yes. Both people outside and inside the agency have told me that the quality of the data looks good. But some have raised concerns about the lack of a strong flu vaccination campaign from the federal government. Here's Andrew Pekosh of Johns Hopkins University.

I think a lack of a real push for influence of vaccines through agencies like the CDC could be contributing to some of the reduced vaccination vaccination rates that we're seeing.

Adult flu vaccination rates are just above 40%. That number has been trending down for several years. The CDC's Grosskopf told me getting vaccinated was one of the most important things you can do. But I should add, I got a follow-up email from a different CDC spokesperson saying, Vaccines are a personal choice and that people should speak to their health care providers about the risks and benefits.

In addition to vaccines, what else can people do?

All the basic precautions like handwashing and masking do work. It's good to remember there are antiviral treatments, and they work best if you get them early within the first two days of symptoms. Getting one of those at-home rapid tests for flu can be a good idea. Knowing how to contact a provider, just in case you need a prescription, is also a good idea.

That is. And here's Gabriella Emmanuelle. Gabriella, thank you so much.

Thank you.

That's up first for Wednesday, December 31st. Happy New Year's Eve. I'm Michelle Martin.

And I'm E. Martinez. Thank you for starting your mornings with us this year, and also for trusting us to give you the news you need to start your day. Now, if you're looking for more reporting and more conversations, you can always find our radio show, Morning Edition, and a lot more NPR content on the NPR app. Listener support is what makes all of this possible. So please consider joining the community of Public Radio supporters today by signing up for NPR Plus.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Metzler, James Hyder, Rebecca Davis, Mohamed El Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Zied Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our supervising producer is Michael Lipkin. Join us again next year, which is tomorrow.

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