Holiday Weekend Politics, Iran Mourns Supreme Leader, US Vs Belgium World Cup Drama
America celebrated its 250th birthday against a backdrop of deep division, with white nationalists marching in Washington DC, counter protesters filling the Mall, and President Trump delivering a speech attacking Democrats as communists.
Huge crowds are marching through Tehran for the funeral of Iran's former supreme leader as U.S.-Iran talks sit frozen until the mourning ends, while Israel's prime minister heads to Washington to talk with President Trump about Iran and the shaky ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza.
And the U.S. faces Belgium tonight in the World Cup, but the bigger story is off the field, after President Trump called FIFA's president about a red card and the American player's suspension was suddenly lifted.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Tina Kraja, Russell Lewis, Mohamed ElBardicy and Lindsay Totty.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Ben Abrams.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and Eowyn Fain. Our technical director is Damian Herring.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:55) Holiday Weekend Politics
(06:47) Iran Mourns Supreme Leader
(10:27) US Vs Belgium World Cup Drama
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Huge crowds are marching through Tehran for the funeral of Iran's former supreme leader as U.S.-Iran talks sit frozen until the mourning ends, while Israel's prime minister heads to Washington to talk with President Trump about Iran and the shaky ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza.
And the U.S. faces Belgium tonight in the World Cup, but the bigger story is off the field, after President Trump called FIFA's president about a red card and the American player's suspension was suddenly lifted.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Tina Kraja, Russell Lewis, Mohamed ElBardicy and Lindsay Totty.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Ben Abrams.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and Eowyn Fain. Our technical director is Damian Herring.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:55) Holiday Weekend Politics
(06:47) Iran Mourns Supreme Leader
(10:27) US Vs Belgium World Cup Drama
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
2026-07-06
14 min
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