Middle East

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to NPR's Jackie Northam and Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, who was in New York, about the multiple tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

U.S. destroys an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz. Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, on the border crisis. And, a heat wave builds across the U.S.

President Trump says that after the drone closed to within approximately 1,000 yards of the U.S. warship and ignored calls to stand down, it was "immediately destroyed."

Iran announced on Thursday it seized a small tanker in the Persian Gulf, highlighting the ongoing tensions at sea as the U.S. tries to find ways to secure the waterway.

Iran alleges that the small tanker was smuggling some 264,000 gallons of fuel. The vessel reportedly was seized south of Larak Island, less than 20 miles off the Iranian mainland

Hashem Abedi has denied involvement in the 2017 bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 people in Manchester, England. He was charged with murdering all of them.

As the U.S. has struggled to build support among its traditional allies in Europe to combat what it calls Iran's aggression, it has been forced to look elsewhere for support, such as Latin America.

"The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Brian Hook, U.S. special representative for Iran, about whether U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran are having the intended effect.

An Israeli cabinet minister has backed the discredited practice of conversion therapy, drawing objections from LGBTQ activists and the prime minister.

Marwa Awad of the U.N. World Food Programme tells NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro about the conditions in Syria and about her tenure there.

The Trump administration's top envoy on Afghanistan says he's making progress in talks with the Taliban while trying to reassure Afghans that the U.S. won't leave until there's a foundation for peace.