Iran Deadline, Middle East War Escalation, Artemis II Trip Home

0:02President Trump is threatening to bomb Iran's bridges and power plants if it doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz by tonight. The entire country can be taken out in one night. As Trump threatens possible war crimes, he's also asking for a ceasefire. Amina Martinez, that's Leila Fadl, and this is Up First from NPR News. Israel is also warning Iranians not to take the trains today. NPR's Daniel Estrin expects heavy bombing on railroads that many civilians take. Is there any end in sight to this war? And the Artemis II crew is on its way home after a record-breaking trip around the moon. We will explore.

0:39We will build. We will build ships. We will visit again. But ultimately, we will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

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2:23David Greene:We can help you out. If a flexible schedule would help you, visit BetterHelp.com slash NPR for 10 % off your first month of online therapy. President Trump says Iran has until 8 p.m. Eastern tonight to accept a deal that includes opening the Strait of Hormuz before the U.S. starts blowing up bridges and power plants. The entire country could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night. That was Trump in a lengthy press conference Monday. He says Iran's next moves will determine whether the war is winding down or escalating. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez was at that press conference.

3:05So, Franco, it started off with all of them talking about the missing airman whose plane was shot down by Iranian forces. Where did it go from there?

3:11David Greene:Yeah, Trump, along with Defense Secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA director, really gave a detailed description of the heroic efforts by the military to rescue that missing airman. You know, and that involved hundreds of troops, the destruction of downed aircraft that they did not want the Iranians to seize, and a lot of deception, actually, to try and confuse the Iranians where the officer actually was. But as you know, A, Trump also veered in so many other directions. It was at times a rambling account of gripes against foreign countries who did not join the fight. He called NATO a paper tiger and even joked about his popularity in Venezuela.

3:48David Greene:But he really left no question, though, about plans to attack the power plants and bridges if a deal is not reached later today. We have a plan because of the power of our military where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o 'clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. I mean, complete demolition. And he said all that will happen over the course of just four hours if they wanted to. OK, now he's made that threat before. Last time he delayed those strikes because of negotiations. Where do those negotiations stand?

4:29David Greene:Yeah, talks are continuing. Trump said they have an active, willing participant on the other side, a more moderate one that the U.S. can work with. And there is a proposal for a 45-day ceasefire that continues to be kind of hammered out. That's an effort led by Pakistan, involves Egypt and Turkey. Trump called the latest proposal a significant step, but not good enough. That said, the Iranians rejected it. So I'm thinking, kind of remembering back, Franco, because Trump has veered from this war is about the end to now we're on the precipice of a very significant escalation that includes bombing Iran into the Stone Age.

5:03So which is it at this point?

5:05David Greene:Yeah, I mean, I think that's the critical question. And interestingly, Trump admitted that he didn't know either. I can't tell you. I don't know. I can't tell you. Depends what they do. This is a critical period. Again, he mentioned the 8 p.m. deadline later today, saying he'd already previously given a 10-day extension, which he extended again, because he didn't think it was appropriate to strike on Easter. Did he say anything at all about the potential impacts on the Iranian people? I mean, I should say that at the same time he's making these threats, he also says that he hopes it doesn't come to this.

5:35David Greene:I mean, he basically said this will take decades to rebuild the country if the U.S. follows through with these threats. But Trump also says the U.S. is receiving reports from inside Iran that the people were willing to suffer in order to have that freedom. In response, though, the Iranian president posted on Acts that 14 million Iranians, including himself, have volunteered to sacrifice their lives in the war. That's White House correspondent Franco Ordonez. Thanks a lot, Franco. Thanks, A. Israel is already bombing key infrastructure in Iran. Today, Israel has issued a new warning to Iranians.

6:12Don't take the trains. NPR's Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv and joins me now. Good morning, Daniel. Good morning, Leila. So what is happening here? Why is Israel threatening the trains? Well, the bigger context here is that during this war, Israel has been trying to leave Iran as battered and weak as possible. It's been crippling Iran's decision-making structures. Yesterday, Israel killed a top Iranian intelligence chief. Israel has moved on to crippling Iran's economy and bombing some of Iran's biggest revenue-making industries, steel and petrochemicals, including one petrochemical plant bombed today.

6:50And now this morning, Israel's military posted a warning on social media for Iranians not to take trains or to be near railroad tracks across Iran all day today. We don't have any further details from the Israeli military. We can expect heavy bombing along Iran's railway today. Targeting infrastructure that's not used in direct support of military action raises the prospect of war crimes. That's according to the Geneva Convention. The railway in Iran may indeed serve the regime there, but it definitely serves many Iranian civilians who use the railway to visit family across the country. And it could impact Iranians' ability to leave the country.

7:32We have NPR reporters visiting the railway station at the Turkey border with Iran, and they've been seeing trains packed with Iranians in recent days taking the train from Iran to Turkey. Many people just seeking internet for a few days because the internet has been shut off in Iran for more than a month. And it's really unclear if Iranians are even able to access the internet and to see Israel's warning to avoid the trains. What do we know about ceasefire efforts? What's on the table? Well, NPR has heard from an Egyptian official involved in those latest efforts who spoke to us on condition of anonymity to discuss the efforts.

8:09This involves Pakistani, Turkish and Egyptian officials who have all been talking to Iran, and they've been holding intensive talks with the U.S. since last night to try to reach a ceasefire. But the gaps still appear to be very wide. The U.S. wants the Strait of Hormuz opened as a precondition. And experts say that Iran wants to guarantee its control and its sovereignty over that key waterway, which has really proven in this war to be a strategic lever for Iran. So we're not seeing any signs that Iran is willing to compromise on the Strait of Hormuz. And the clock is ticking. Trump's deadline of 8 p.m.

8:47tonight is approaching. Although, remember, we have seen him delay his deadline many times before. Yeah, that's right. If Trump does follow through with this threat to bomb all power plants and bridges in Iran, where could that war lead? And how would this square with Israel's goals in the war? There are a lot of concerns across the region that Iran could retaliate. Iran has threatened that, and that could affect millions of people across the region and in Israel if Iran targets power plants in the region. Analysts say that President Trump seems to be looking for a quick deal to wrap up the war here.

9:23But there's a lot of concern in the region that Trump could exit the war and Iran's core capabilities could be left intact, including its enriched uranium. And now with Israel gearing up to bomb potentially Iranian trains today, that just helps Trump adding pressure on the Iranians. NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Daniel. You're welcome.

9:52The four astronaut crew of NASA's Artemis II mission is now on their way back to Earth. They have traveled farther than any humans have before after a trip around the moon. The mission is giving scientists here on Earth important new data that will help future space flights. Central Florida Public Media's Brendan Byrne has been following the mission and joins us now. Good morning, Brendan.

10:13David Greene:Good morning. So walk us through this trip home. Sure. So the Orion spacecraft whipped around the backside of the moon yesterday. and for about 40 minutes, the Earth was out of sight and the crew was unable to communicate to mission control. This was expected. And during this communication blackout, according to NASA, the crew reached the mission's maximum distance from Earth at 252 ,756 miles, beating the previous record set by the Apollo 13 mission. And as the spacecraft emerged from the blackout, it began its journey back home with these words from mission specialist Christina Cook. We will explore.

10:50We will build. We will build ships. We will visit again. We will construct science outposts. We will drive rovers. We will do radio astronomy. We will found companies. We will boast their industry. We will inspire. But ultimately, we will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other.

11:12David Greene:And with that, Cook and her fellow crewmates were on their way home, a quarter-million-mile journey that will come to an end on Friday. How has this mission gone so far? All signs point to it being a success. The Orion spacecraft conducted key test flights of its control and life support system. The crew took thousands of photos of the far side of the moon and made their own geological observations for lunar scientists to better understand just what the moon is made of and how it came to be. And on the way home last night, the crew even saw an eclipse from space. The moon was in a location where it blocked the light of the sun, allowing them to see things like the solar corona, which is the atmosphere of the sun.

11:49David Greene:Here's mission pilot Victor Glover explaining just what he saw. This is, we just went sci-fi. This has, it just looks unreal. Now those remarks come from Glover after he and his crewmates spent hours viewing areas of the moon never before seen by human eyes. So really, that eclipse must have been impressive. And last night they got a call from President Trump to congratulate them on their accomplishments, and he even asked for their autographs. Okay, so what happens next? Do these astronauts just get to hang out, coast back home? Oh, no, there's plenty of work to still do. Remember, this is first and foremost a test flight of Orion with its first human passengers.

12:29David Greene:The crew will demonstrate the radiation shielding of the spacecraft, manually control it once more to see how it moves. But one of the most critical tests will come during reentry on Friday as the Orion space capsule punches through Earth's atmosphere at 25 ,000 miles per hour and during temperatures of up to 5 ,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That re-entry will test the heat shield and parachutes that will slow the crew down so their capsule can gently splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. Brendan, I've got to ask, since it's gotten so much attention, how's the space toilet? It's certainly been a bit of a rocky road for Orion's bathroom.

13:04David Greene:It worked, it didn't, it worked again. But remember, the crew's testing new hardware. This is the first toilet to fly to the moon. So what they learn will help future human missions in the vehicle, and hopefully that next crew won't have any issues flushing their toilet. Brendan Byrne is with Central Florida Public Media and is the host of the Space Podcast, Are We There Yet? Brendan, thank you for joining us again. Anytime.

13:30And that's Up First for Tuesday, April 7th. I'm Leila Faldin. And I'm E. Martinez. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Metzler, Jerry Holmes, Amina Khan, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley was produced by Ziyad Butch and Ava Pukach. Our director is Katie Klein. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas. Our technical director is Carly Strange and our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. Join us again tomorrow.

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