NPR News: 03-02-2026 2PM EST

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Trump administration is predicting the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran will not be drawn out. The president's outlook is four to five weeks. President Trump was presiding today over a medal of honor ceremony at the White House where three U.S. Army soldiers were being honored for their sacrifices, two of them posthumously. Using the country's latest losses, President Trump expressed condolences for the deaths of four American soldiers in Kuwait as a result of the current war. NPR's Deepak Shivaram reports Trump defended his decision to take military action. Trump says there were, quote, grave threats posed to America in the Iranian regime. He says the U.S. warned Iran not to rebuild their nuclear capabilities and that Iran didn't listen to those warnings. Trump also says that Iran would have soon had missiles that were capable of hitting the U.S. An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable

1:01threat to the Middle East, but also to the American people, our country itself. Trump claims the strikes on Iran was the administration's, quote, last best chance at keeping Iran's nuclear capabilities in check and preventing Iran from investing in terror groups. Deepak Shivaram and P.R. News. Yes, me and Farouk is project director for the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula at the International Crisis Group. She spoke about the options for U.S. allies in the Middle East who are being hit by Iran's retaliatory strikes. Within their plans to consider what kind of retaliation or response they are going to have to respond to those Iranian attacks, they are doing it in coordination with the U.S. have seen a joint statement by all the countries with the exception of a man. So the U.S. will remain their strategic ally. Yes, me and Farouk on NPR's morning edition. The Pentagon says it's canceling military fellowships at several colleges and universities,

2:04including Princeton, Columbia, and MIT. From a conversation, G.B. H. and Boston Kirk-Karpez report school officials say they were caught off guard. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls the institutions, quote, woke breeding grounds. He announced the military is dropping fellowships at 13 universities in a video statement Friday. This comes a few weeks after the Pentagon cut ties with Harvard, ending all military training, fellowships, and certificate programs at the Ivy League school. Hegseth has a master's from Harvard School of Public Policy. An MIT spokesperson says the university stands by its long record in military education, noting that more than 12,000 officers have been commissioned through MIT, and more than 150 of them have gone on to become generals or admirals. The university says its surprise administration would take those opportunities off the table. For NPR News, I'm Kirk-Karpez in Boston. This is NPR. Myanmar's state-run media say the military huntup has granted Amnesty to thousands of prisoners,

3:08including those jailed or in hiding for their political dissent. There was no sign that former leader Aung San Suu Chi would be released from confinement. The Amnesty coincides with a national holiday honoring Myanmar's farmers. The parliament is also weeks away from convening for its first session in more than five years. There is a celestial event coming early tomorrow morning. A total lunar eclipse will redden the moon, and PRZME held reports this phenomenon is called a blood moon. The moon orbits Earth, which orbits the sun. A few times a year, they all line up, creating a kind of cosmic shadow show called an eclipse. Its lunar, when the Earth is in the middle, casting its shadow onto the full moon. It looks red because the shorter wavelengths of blue and violet can't quite get through Earth's atmosphere, but the longer wavelengths of red and orange can, and a blood moon is made. It happens gradually over hours. In the U.S., totality starts Tuesday morning around 3 a.m. Pacific that's six eastern.

4:12It can also be seen from parts of Asia, Australia, Central and South America, Africa and Europe miss out. NASA says this is the last total lunar eclipse for almost three years. The next, New Year's Eve to ring in 2029. Amy Held and PR News. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow is down 148 points at 48,829 S&Ps down 7 NASDAQ is up 44 points. This is NPR News.