Skip to content
US Hits Iran Amid Talks, Russia-Ukraine War Intensifies, Texas Primary Runoff

US Hits Iran Amid Talks, Russia-Ukraine War Intensifies, Texas Primary Runoff

Up First from NPR
May 26, 2026 13 min
Open in Clue

About this episode

The U.S. launched fresh strikes on Iran, targeting missile sites and boats laying mines, even as Secretary of State Marco Rubio says negotiations to end the war could still take a few more days, with Israel warning the emerging deal is a bad one as it escalates attacks in Lebanon. <br>Russia carried out one of its largest attacks on Ukraine, hitting every district in Kyiv over the weekend while Ukraine continues long-range drone strikes on Russian oil facilities and warns it desperately needs more air defense systems.<br>Texas Republicans are voting today in the most expensive primary in U.S. history, with President Trump’s endorsed candidate Ken Paxton challenging longtime Senator John Cornyn in a high-stakes race that could have major implications for the midterms.<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/>Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Tina Kraya, Anna Yukhananov, Mohamad ElBardicy and John Stolnis.<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 Zo van Ginhoven. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.<br/><br/>And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.<br/><br/>(0:00) Introduction<br>(01:59) US Hits Iran Amid Talks<br>(05:49) Russia-Ukraine War Intensifies<br>(09:44) Texas Primary Runoff<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 Hits Iran Amid Talks, Russia-Ukraine War Intensifies, Texas Primary Runoff from Up First from NPR gives you natural dialogue, unscripted speech, and vocabulary that actually appears in real conversations.

In the Clue 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