Transcript of War In Iran Ramps Up, Trump Pressured By Gas Prices, Massachusetts Primary Results

The U.S. fights another battle over the Strait of Hormuz. The military says it wants to keep open the waterway that was open before the U.S. started a war.

Iran fired back at American bases. So where is this conflict heading?

I'm Steve Inskeep, with Leila Fadel, and this is Up First from NPR News. The midterms are 2 months away, and President Trump is under pressure to bring down gas prices. He met with oil executives and is banking on a new deal with Venezuela, neither of which seems likely to lower prices before November. Can the president convince voters? He's trying.

And Massachusetts held its primary yesterday. Incumbent Senator Ed Markey held off a younger challenger by positioning himself as the anti-establishment candidate. What does the race tell us about the Democratic Party and the push to the left? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. The latest U.S. strikes on Iran aim to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

A major U.S. goal in the war is to clear the waterway that was clear before the U.S. started the war. Over the past 24 hours, the U.S. says Iran tried to lay mines in the strait, so the U.S. hit targets in Iran. Iran claims the strikes hit civilians, and Iran opened fire on U.S. allies in the region.

NPR's Hadeel Alshalchi is following all this from Istanbul and joins me now. Good morning.

Good morning, Leyla.

So a second day of strikes. Walk me through what happened.

So late last night, the US military issued a statement saying it had completed a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets. It said those targets included air defense sites, radar systems, communication sites, and minelaying capabilities. It said that the strikes were a result of recent Iranian attempts to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members based in the region. Iran retaliated by targeting US assets assets in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, and Iraq. The Kuwaiti Armed Forces said its defenses were, quote, confronting Iranian missile and drone attacks, and told its citizens to find shelter. Now, the Iranian Guard Corps spokesperson said today that U.S. forces bombed military and civilian targets in southern Iran, causing civilian and military casualties, and that Iran would continue to attack U.S. bases in the region. We also know Iranian state media reported that a US strike on a wedding in southern Iran killed 5 people and wounded 50 others. The US military didn't immediately respond to that claim, but the spokesperson for US Central Command posted online that they were aware of reports of civilian casualties. There have also been heightened travel warnings for Americans traveling in the Middle East.

So all of this is focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which, as Steve mentioned, was open. Before the US and Israel attacked Iran. Who controls the key waterway right now?

So, I mean, the short answer is no one country. Iran continues to blockade some routes in the waterway, and the US has a Navy blockade on Iranian ports. But then yesterday, new data coming out of a maritime intel firm called TankerTrackers showed that around 4 million barrels of crude oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz on average per day in August. And it was all largely undetected by Iran. Now, that's still only a third of what exited the strait before the war, but notable nonetheless. Iran has also said it was close to agreeing with Oman on a proposed framework to temporarily reopen the strait. Iranian officials said they'd come up with maps for establishing a temporary corridor, maritime control, traffic division, but then they've gone radio silent in the past few days on the status of those talks.

Now, President Trump has said he is in no hurry to get back to the table with Iran to negotiate opening the the strait or ending the war, although we hear him change his position pretty frequently. Is Iran interested in getting back to talks?

Well, to be honest, Iranian officials for days now have been calling for a return to diplomacy. Just yesterday, Iranian President Mahmoud Rouhani said Iran would go back to a ceasefire it reached with the U.S. in June if President Trump is willing to do so also. He said that Iran would, quote, immediately reciprocate If the U.S. commits to the promises it made in a memorandum of understanding. And just as a reminder, that MOU called for an immediate ceasefire, and in it, Iran agreed to allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. to end its naval blockade, lift sanctions, and have temporary relief on Iranian oil exports. But then, of course, the ceasefire broke in July after Iran struck tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

That's NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Istanbul. Thank you, Hadeel.

You're welcome.

President Trump is under pressure to bring down gas prices before the midterm elections amid surging energy prices from the war in Iran.

Trump met with oil and gas executives on Tuesday to discuss increasing capacity. He's also betting that a new oil deal with Venezuela can help to ease pressure on drivers. Neither effort is likely to pay off soon, certainly not by November, but that may not really be the point.

NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez is here to discuss the politics of all this. Good morning, Franco.

Good morning, Leila.

OK, so let's start with the Venezuela deal, because the way the president is selling this is that it's the answer to high prices. Is that true?

Yeah, I mean, the reality is Venezuela's oil reserves are so messed up that it'll likely take years before oil production meaningfully ramps up to make a difference. A US official not authorized to discuss this deal publicly admitted to reporters that the oil industry has been devastated by corruption and lack of investment, and that it also needs to be rebuilt. I asked when we could reasonably see that, and He did not answer, stating that there was no timetable. But again, experts say that this could take years.

What about meeting with executives? Does that do anything to fix gas prices if the problem is the oil just isn't moving because of the war with Iran, because of the fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz?

I mean, certainly not overnight. I mean, before the war, tens of millions of barrels of oil, about a fifth of the world's consumption, passed through the Strait of Hormuz in Iran. Now it is a fraction of that. And it's going to be very hard to change that without ending the war. But this is the top issue on many voters' minds.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, and that's because gas prices are basically a proxy for the rest of the economy. We talk all the time about the big signs at gas stations displaying prices, how it's a massive scoreboard for the economy going up and down the highway. Now, John McHenry, a veteran Republican pollster, he told me that Trump has an incentive to take action, even if his policies won't necessarily produce results over the next few months ahead of the midterms.

The first challenge is to show that, you know, people are concerned about it and that you care about it as well and that you're doing something about it.

Yeah, and with the midterms coming up, I imagine Republicans are glad he's talking about affordability, right?

Yeah, I mean, one of the challenges for Trump, and especially for other Republicans, is that he so often is taking the party off message. Last week is a good example of that, with all the talk about changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America during the trade fight with Canada. Doug High, the former communications director for the Republican National Committee, told me that Trump is hurting Senate candidates in tight races by forcing them to talk about things they don't want to talk about.

In North Carolina, does Michael Whatley want to be answering questions about renaming of lakes or whatever the side issue will be, you know, later this week, which we know is going to come? Or does he want to be talking about, here's what I'm trying to do for you?

So yes, Hai's glad Trump's talking about the economy. He just wishes he did it sooner.

So gas prices in the US now average about $4 a gallon nationally. And Trump likes to blame former President Biden. But how much do Americans hold Trump responsible?

Well, I mean, we've seen recent polling that shows even Trump's base is growing more frustrated. I mean, part of the problem for Trump is that before the US launched strikes against Iran, average prices were $1 a gallon lower national in February. We're talking under $3. And that is just a reality that Trump just can't escape.

That's White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Thank you, Franco.

Thank you, Leila.

Massachusetts held its primary election yesterday. The most high-profile races there mirrored other recent Democratic primaries nationwide.

Yeah, meaning that there were matchups between progressives and moderates, also races pitting establishment politicians against political newcomers, and also questions about the future of the Democratic Party.

NPR politics reporter Sage Miller joins us now to explain how Massachusetts fits into these election trends. Good morning, Sage.

Good morning.

OK, so Democratic Senator Ed Markey fended off a primary challenge. That's despite the concerns about his age and his status as an establishment figure. What happened?

That's right. Senator Markey pulled out another win. He faced a tough primary challenge 6 years ago against then-Congressman Joe Kennedy III. Now it's another primary cycle. And Markey's primary challenger, Congressman Seth Moulton, is 47 years old, which matters because Moulton argued on the campaign trail that it's time for a new generation of leadership and Markey should pass the torch. He cited Markey's age as a reason. The senator is 80. The Democratic Party has been reckoning with the age of its elected officials. It's one of the primary reasons why Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid for president in 2024. But Markey proved to be resilient yet again by winning Tuesday. likely bolstered by his status as an incumbent and his progressive politics in the predictably blue state.

How did Markey position himself as the right choice despite Moulton's campaign strategy?

Well, he said that he's the original progressive in Massachusetts, and that messaging worked in the past. He won, so it looked like it worked again this year, too. Plus, it wasn't just the age issue. Markey was able to beat someone he labeled as more moderate. He knocked Moulton for his critical stance on transgender rights, not to mention that Markey is the rare incumbent incumbent that has support from key progressive figures like Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We've seen Sanders and AOC campaigning mostly for young progressive candidates this cycle, and it worked in other places. I'm thinking of a congressional district in Colorado where voters selected a younger first-time candidate who was more progressive over a longtime incumbent. The same thing happened in both Michigan and Minnesota's Senate primaries, where sitting congresswomen labeled as establishment moderate candidates lost, there seems to be a real appetite among Democratic voters for more progressive candidates, even sometimes in competitive seats.

Okay, so he's not young, but he's positioning himself as the progressive candidate. So choosing him, it shows a tendency toward the incumbent in a year when we've seen a wave of anti-incumbency from Democratic primary voters. Yeah?

That's right, Leila. It's a good reminder that every district is different and every state is different, like in South Boston, where a moderate Democrat, Congressman Stephen Lynch, held on to seat. He's been in Congress for the last 25 years. And fun fact, Lynch is the only remaining House Democrat who voted against the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. But he hung on against a more progressive candidate, which was considered to be shocking to some because Lynch represents a part of the state that is deeply blue. I think it shows that both Lynch and Markey are considered effective lawmakers by the people they represent. And that goes a long way in an era where voters across the nation are viewing the midterms as a referendum On the establishment political class.

That's NPR politics reporter Sage Miller. Thank you, Sage.

Thank you.

And that's Up First for Wednesday, September 2nd. I'm Leila Fawcett.

Indeed you are. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Today's Up First was edited by Tina Kraia, Rebecca Metzler, Megan Pratz, Mohammed Elbardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziyad Bajch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hynes, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our supervising producer is Reena Advani. Up Again Late. Join us again tomorrow.