Middle East War Intensifies, Trump's Rational For War, First Midterm Primaries

The Pentagon says not a single Iranian ship is left in the waterways off Iran.

It's also targeting symbols of the regime, including the country's paramilitary forces.

I am Michelle Martin, that's Amartinus, and this is up first from NPR News.

President Trump answered questions publicly for the first time about why the U.S. attacked Iran.

It was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn't do it.

His Secretary of State gave a different rationale to reporters.

And people in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Texas cast their votes in the first primaries

of the midterms. Democrats in Texas chose James Talleriko to try and flip the U.S. Senate seat

in a deep red state. What are the primary results? Tell us about the mood heading into November.

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In the Middle East, Israel and the US continue striking targets across Iran as Iran

widens its retaliatory strikes in the region.

The US Military Central Command says it has destroyed Iran's navy and in Iran,

preparations for the funeral of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who was killed by Israel were

set to begin tonight but have been postponed. The widespread fighting continues to disrupt

air travel and shipping channels in the region.

For more, we go to MPR's Kerry Khan in Tel Aviv.

Kerry, Israel and the US have continued their air campaign today.

What's the situation now?

The air strikes continue in cities throughout Iran.

On state TV, you see ruins of buildings in the capital Tehran.

Many of the targets are symbols of the regime, including the Basij command centers.

That's Iran's state-run paramilitary force.

That was a crucial to the protestor crackdown earlier this year.

US military sent comms said today that it has obliterated Iran's navy and they say not a single

Iranian ship is left in the waterways of Iran.

And joint US and Israeli military strikes are focusing on Western Iran's Kurdish areas.

And these have long been anti-regime strongholds.

According to Iran's Red Crescent Society, the death toll is now more than 1000

and that's with at least 175 of those killed from the bombing of an elementary school at the

start of the war.

And all this is happening is Iran is planning a state funeral and a

succession process for a new Supreme Leader.

Iranian officials have announced three days of mourning for the Supreme Leader who Israel

killed last weekend. Officials had called for mourners to come out in large numbers as his

body lions state. And the funeral was set to begin actually this evening but this morning they

postponed the official mourning rituals stating that they need more time to prepare for what they

say will be millions of mourners expected. They have not set a new date. A new assembly of experts

and another committee are convening to pick the next leader and that's according to state media.

Yesterday Israel struck a site in the city of comb where the assembly was to be convening.

They were not there at the time though and that's according to Iran's far state news agency.

In a statement today, Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated his country's pledge

to kill any new leader pick to threatens to destroy Israel. He said that person quote will be

an unequivocal target for elimination.

And this is all spreading into into Gulf states. I mean, not just only Israel. I mean, where is

all this headed possibly? Yes, we've seen Iranian drones and missiles hit targets in the Gulf

yesterday. The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia was hit and a drone sparked a fire at the U.S.

Consulate in Dubai last night. The U.S. State Department is advising U.S. citizens to leave more

than a dozen countries throughout the Middle East. The state of Hormuz is still mostly closed to

traffic. Israel's pounding sites too in Lebanon after Hezbollah fired at Israel yesterday.

Hezbollah was able to shoot missiles into central Israel. Israel's Defense Minister says there

is a plan ready for further advance of troops into Lebanon. While many fronts in the war

appear to be opening up, we've actually seen a number of missiles and drones coming into Israel

in the Gulf drop significantly in the last 24 hours. And so far, Gulf states have not retaliated.

But for how long that will last, that's still an unknown. That's NPR's Kerry Khan in Tel Aviv.

Kerry, thank you. You're welcome. We also have new details from the Pentagon about four of the six

soldiers killed by an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait on Sunday. They were all in the Army

Reserve. Sergeant First Class Noah L. Tegin's 42 years old of Bellevue, Nebraska, 39-year-old

Sergeant First Class Nicole M. Amor of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Captain Cody A. Cork, 35

years old of Winter Haven, Florida, and 20-year-old Sergeant Declan J. Cody of West Des Moines, Iowa.

The names of two other service members killed have not yet been made public.

President Trump answered questions publicly for the first time Tuesday about the ongoing U.S.

strikes in Iran. He claimed that if the U.S. had not attacked Iran, there would have been a

nuclear war. But if we didn't do what we're doing right now, you would have had a nuclear war

and they would have taken out many countries. It's one of several shifting answers the

president has given on why the U.S. attacked Iran in the first place and what his ultimate goals are.

MPR White House correspondent Deepa Shirom joins us now to discuss. So we've heard differing

takes from the president and also from the Secretary of State over the last few days. So what's

the latest that the White House is saying for why the U.S. struck Iran over the weekend?

Yeah, you know, there has been a lot of mixed messaging here, and just to put this into context

for a second, Trump said on Monday that the U.S. attacked Iran because Iran was developing

nuclear capabilities and missile capabilities that would soon be able to hit the U.S.

Though previous government analysis says those capabilities were not imminent. But that seemed

to counter what his Secretary of State, Mark Rubio said that the U.S. believed Israel was going

to strike Iran and Iranian counterattacks would have put the U.S. at risk. So the U.S. struck Iran first.

Yeah, so two different answers there. And then yesterday from Trump, another different answer.

Right. So Trump was asked yesterday if Israel forced the U.S.'s hand. And the president said he

might have forced Israel in attacking Iran after negotiations fizzled.

You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics. And it was my opinion that they were

going to attack first. They were going to attack. If we didn't do it, they were going to attack

first. I felt strongly about that. And I want to emphasize there that Trump didn't cite any U.S.

intelligence that Iran was going to strike. He said it was his opinion and that he felt Iran was

going to strike the U.S. or Israel. What do people think about this non-alignment on answers

from the administration? I mean, the public polling that's been conducted so far shows that Americans

are not in favor of this war. And the majority think the U.S. will now be in a long-term conflict

with Iran. In response to all this, the White House in the last few days has been trying to

realign their messaging here. Senior administration officials tried to explain in detail yesterday

why the negotiations with Iran were breaking down. Later today, the Pentagon and the White House

are holding more briefings. But five days into this war, I mean, questions remain. And a big one

is timeline. And what's the end goal? Trump has said that he expects these strikes to last several

more weeks. But what will define success here for the Trump administration? And what does the U.S.

want for Iran after these strikes bent? And I guess one more thing, a lot of people are

worried about is the price of oil. That's aside from just the horrible things that happen when

when there are missile strikes. I mean, has the president addressed that at all?

Yeah, I mean, Trump said yesterday that oil prices might be high for a quote little while,

but he said as soon as this conflict ends, and again, didn't provide a timeline there,

he said oil prices would be even lower than before. No real clarity on how the president plans

to facilitate that. I will say the global price of crude oil has risen since this war began.

And of course, you know, to put this into domestic context, it comes as Americans at home are

still really worried about affordability and the economy. There's a midterm election coming up

later this year. Trump seems to have an eye on oil prices, though, because yesterday he announced

efforts to try and guarantee the safety of oil tankers traveling through the street of hormones

that can pass to deliver the 20% of the world's oil that comes through that route.

That's MPR's Deepa Shiverham. Thanks a lot. Thanks.

Democrats in Texas have chosen the candidate they want to try and flip a U.S.

Senate seat from Republicans, and that candidate is James Talleriko.

He beat Congressman Jasmine Crockett, Texas, North Carolina, and Arkansas all held primaries to

state the first of the 2026 midterms. MPR senior political editor and correspondent

Dominica Montanara was up late watching the returns and is up early with us. We'll get to the

Lone Star state in a second. Let's start with the Tar Heel state, North Carolina. What do we learn

there? Well, the Senate race there is now set. You know, it's Republican Michael Watley, who's a

former Trump Republican National Committee chairman, and he's going against Democrat Roy Cooper,

who's the state's former governor. Cooper getting in the race was seen as a really big get for

Democrats. Last night, he focused his message on prices, but also said this. I'll be a strong

independent senator who will work with this president when I can and stand up to him when the

people need me to. I will always, always put the people of North Carolina first before politics,

before party. So work with the president when he can. He said and stand up to him when necessary,

and you didn't hear him mention he's a Democrat. That's a very fine line Cooper is trying to walk

in trying to flip this seat. All right, and deep in the heart of Texas, what do we learn from those

results? Yeah, you mentioned the Talarico one. This was a really competitive primary, though he

wound up winning by about seven points as of this taping. Here he was last night. This is a people

powered movement to take on this broken, corrupt political system. This is truly a campaign

of by and for the people. I mean, Democrats really hope that this populous message and a more

measured tone from a Talarico can help them win, but this is Texas. It won't be easy. No

Democrat has won statewide since 1994. Yeah, and for the Republicans in this race in Texas,

that thing's going to last a little bit longer. So tell us so why that is. Yeah, no one broke

50%. So it's going to a May 26th runoff. So Texas get ready for more money and more nasty attacks

between incumbent Senator John Cornyn and state attorney general Ken Paxton. And there's one person

who's going to be key above all else in this race. Neither of them is in the race. See if you can

make out who it is. And here's Cornyn. The final two years are President Trump's agenda hangs in

the balance. I'm proud to have supported President Trump and worked with him to help him achieve

his goals in the Congress. Okay. And here's Paxton talking about Cornyn. For too long, he stabbed

our president in the back by trying to derail his presidential campaigns and supporting the Democrats

law fair against the president. Get the drift here. You know, either candidate would love

President Trump's backing, but he has not endorsed anyone saying he liked all the candidates in

this primary. You think eventually Trump will get involved? You know, I think it's possible that he

does wind up putting his finger on the scale here. I mean, this has been a bitter and nasty primary.

$70 million poured in to help John Cornyn. Another hundred million could be spent in the next 12

weeks of this runoff. So if you're Trump looking down the line here, do you really want to spend

a hundred million dollars the party to do so on a Senate primary and a state you should win

or maybe spend that money on some of those front line swing house races?

MPR Senior Political Editor and Correspondent Dominical Montenegro. Thanks a lot. You got it.

And we have another story we're watching. An MPR review out today compiled dozens of accounts

describing how the Department of Homeland Security is using sweeping surveillance tools to track

people's ice wands to deport and even monitor and intimidate US citizens who criticize its policies.

MPR's Kat Lonsdorf talked to a woman named Emily in Minneapolis. Now we're only using her first

name because she fears retribution from the federal government. Their message was not subtle,

right? They were in effect saying we see you. We can get to you whenever we want to. And it

didn't scare me. Hear that reporting on our radio show Morning Edition. You can find it on your

local MPR station or on the MPR app. And you can read the full investigation at npr.org.

And that's up first for Wednesday, March 4th on Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's

episode of Up First was edited by Hannah Block. We're back on Metzler, Dana Farrington,

Mohamed El-Bardisi, and I was wolfly and was produced by Zeyad Butch, Ana Perez, and Nia Dumas.

Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas. Our technical

director is Carly Strange. Our supervising producer is Michael Lipkin and we hope you'll join us

again tomorrow.

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