Iran’s attack on Israel aims to restore deterrence but avoid return to war

Today's top stories

Israeli forces launched strikes in Lebanon and Iran, and Iran has attacked Israel in retaliation. The violence is threatening to plunge the Middle East back into an all-out war. This morning, sirens sounded across Israel after Iran and its allies, Yemen's Houthi rebels, launched missiles. Iran said it targeted two Israeli military bases in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Iranian radar sites. Israel struck central and western Iran early today after attacking Hezbollah targets in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

Israeli security forces examine a fragment of an intercepted Iranian missile in northern Israel, early Monday, June 8, 2026.

Rami Shlush/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Rami Shlush/AP

🎧 Iran has warned that any strikes by Israel on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital would be considered a red line, NPR's Jane Arraf tells Up First. Iran has called for a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of a broader Iran-U.S. deal. Last night, Israel targeted an apartment building, killing two people. Arraf, who is in Beirut, says that apartment buildings in the areas of Lebanon still under threat by Israel have been leveled by airstrikes. Despite the destruction, some residents, including the elderly and disabled, are still trying to live in these neighborhoods. Tyre was once a thriving coastal city, similar to Miami, but after the new strikes, displaced families began setting up tents on the beach near shuttered restaurants, with some individuals simply sleeping on the sand.

President Trump walked out of an interview with NBC's Meet the Press after he was confronted about his "anti-weaponization" fund and his persistent false claims about the elections. In the interview, which aired on Sunday, the president defended his Iran policy and mentioned a potential peace agreement, but he offered no details.

🎧 Trump made it clear during the interview that he hasn't given up on his administration's nearly $1.8 billion fund, despite acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's assurances that it's been phased out. NPR's Franco Ordoñez says he anticipates the anti-weaponization fund will continue to dominate discussions in Washington. Republican and Democratic lawmakers are concerned that the fund, which the president says would support people who have been unjustly targeted by the government, could be used to pay Jan. 6 insurrectionists. Trump also said during the interview that he deserves more leniency and patience regarding the war in Iran. He mentioned again that a deal would be reached soon, or that military action might resume. Ordoñez points out that the president has made similar statements on the war for weeks now without providing specifics.

Health officials in Africa are warning that the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading more rapidly than any other Ebola outbreak in history. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that the rate of transmission is exceeding the early trajectory of the 2014 West Africa epidemic. Health workers are operating with limited resources as they struggle to bring the outbreak under control. Over the weekend, 71 new cases were confirmed in three provinces of eastern Congo. Congolese health authorities say that the jump in cases demonstrates "rapid and ongoing community transmission." The Congolese government has stopped publishing the total number of suspected cases, but aid officials estimate that the numbers could be in the thousands.

🎧 Health authorities in the Congo announced over the weekend that three new patients have recovered, bringing the total number healed to 12. This suggests that the virus is not necessarily a death sentence, according to Emmet Livingstone, who is reporting from Congo's capital, Kinshasa. Livingstone says that wh