Skip to content
US Strikes Iran Oil Tankers, Israeli Settlements Sanctions, Smithsonian Head Retires

US Strikes Iran Oil Tankers, Israeli Settlements Sanctions, Smithsonian Head Retires

Up First from NPR
Sep 9, 2026 13 min
Open in Hinto

About this episode

The U.S. has destroyed eight Iranian oil tankers since Saturday, as Iran fires back at American forces and Gulf countries reconsider the risks of hosting U.S. bases.<br>Britain, Canada and France are moving to restrict trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, with Britain accusing settlers of ethnic cleansing and Israel responding with diplomatic retaliation.<br>And Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch is retiring after nearly four decades at the institution, as the Trump administration continues criticizing the Smithsonian over exhibits it says are anti-white and too focused on negative parts of American history.<br/><br/><em>Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? </em><a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/news"target="_blank" >Subscribe</a><em> to the Up First newsletter.</em><br/><br/>Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org</a>.<br/><br/>Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Tina Kraja, Clare Lombardo, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.<br/><br/>It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.<br/><br/>Our director is Christopher Thomas.<br/><br/>We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis and Robert Rodriguez.<br/><br/>Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.<br/><br/>And our Supervising Producer is Michael Lipkin.<br/><br/>(0:00) Introduction<br>(01:55) US Strikes Iranian Oil Tankers<br>(05:45) Israeli Settlements Sanctions<br>(09:17) Smithsonian Head Retires<br/><br/>See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

Listen to this episode in English to learn English

Podcast episodes are one of the highest-density ways to absorb English at native pace. US Strikes Iran Oil Tankers, Israeli Settlements Sanctions, Smithsonian Head Retires from Up First from NPR gives you natural dialogue, unscripted speech, and vocabulary that actually appears in real conversations.

In the Hinto app, every word in the transcript is tappable. Tap an unknown word, see the translation in your language instantly, and keep listening without breaking flow.

Episodes to Learn English

More podcasts in English