Israel Reacts To Iran Deal, Trump Meets World Leaders At G7, Georgia Primary Preview

0:02The U.S. and Iran have a deal to end the war, but Israel is not happy.

0:07Michel Martin:Israel's prime minister rejects Iran's demands for Israel to withdraw from Lebanese land. I'm Leila Faudil, that's A Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.

0:20President Trump is meeting with world leaders in France today. They're expected to discuss the deal with Iran, but European leaders are eager to talk about Ukraine. What else is on the agenda?

0:30Michel Martin:And voters in several states are heading to the polls today, including high-stakes runoffs in Georgia, a swing state, where President Trump's endorsement is facing another test. He's backing a different candidate in the state's Senate race than Georgia's Republican governor. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

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2:07Michel Martin:and Iran will sign an agreement to negotiate an end to the war this Friday in Switzerland. What those negotiations will look like are still not clear. But what is known is that Israel, which began the war with the U.S., will not be a party at those talks. Israel's prime minister has been sidelined in the agreement and could be a spoiler in negotiations to end the war. For more, we go to NPR's Keri Khan in Tel Aviv. So, Keri, what's in the agreement that Israel does not like? It's not so much what is in the agreement, but what is not. We don't have a lot of the details yet, as you said. But first and foremost, for Israel, there is no stated plan to deal with Iran's nuclear capabilities.

2:48Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that's why Israel started the war with Iran in the first place, to prevent what he said was this imminent nuclear threat, right? But the agreement being signed is just a commitment to negotiate, and that's concerning to Israel. Also unclear what will happen to Iran's proxies fighting with Israel, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. and Israel rejects Tehran's demands for Israel's withdrawal from all Lebanese territory, which Israel has significantly attacked and occupied during this war. And that's something Netanyahu says will not happen, and that could be a major sticking point in getting this pact even signed.

3:29Michel Martin:And what is Netanyahu saying publicly about that and not being part of the negotiations to end the war? He is not happy, and he's getting a lot of heat here at home for it. He held a press conference last night and immediately addressed the criticism that his goals were not met, especially Iran's nuclear question, which he calls his life's mission not to allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon. He says that will remain his priority. He was asked, of course, about his relationship with Trump. Recently, Trump has publicly called Netanyahu crazy, difficult, ungrateful. Netanyahu clearly didn't want to address any rift.

4:06He just said, look, Trump doesn't do everything I say, nor do I do everything Trump asks. We are partners, and often we agree, and sometimes we disagree. That happens in the best of families, was all he would say.

4:23Michel Martin:All right, so what are Israelis saying about the deal? There seems to be widespread dissatisfaction with the deal from the streets to the political corridors. Here's Ori Ben-Ami. He's a communication and relationship coach that we talked to in Tel Aviv. He called the deal shameful as it leaves Israel out of the picture and Hezbollah still active in Lebanon and Hamas still in Gaza. I think it's a loss for us. We did a lot of effort. We've been through a hell of time here in Israel. It seems like not for a lot of benefit. Political opponents and Netanyahu's allies are hammering him over it. Remember, elections are coming this fall.

5:02The far right, even those in Netanyahu's governing coalition, are calling it dangerous. And just remember, a few months back, Netanyahu saw a very different political landscape here for himself. He and the U.S. together would bring down Iran and he would sail to another electoral victory. Now, just months before voters go to the polls, he has this very public rift with the U.S. president, and he is left out of negotiating the war's end.

5:29Michel Martin:That's NPR's Carrie Kahn in Tel Aviv. Carrie, thanks. You're welcome.

5:41Michel Martin:It's President Trump's first full day at the G7 summit. Katsad and the UAE are not part of that group, but their top officials will be meeting with Trump today, key stakeholders to the deal he just came to with Iran. But as much as the European members of the G7 want the war to end, And they are just as focused on getting Russia to negotiate an end to its war in Ukraine. NPR's White House correspondent Daniel Kurtzleben is here. So, Daniel, what has the president done so far at the conference? Well, yesterday he met with French President Emmanuel Macron. And this morning, he and other G7 leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

6:17And while Iran has understandably gotten a lot of attention in the run-up to this summit, leaders at the G7 have been eager to talk Ukraine. Just this week, Russia fired dozens of missiles at Ukraine, killing 11 and sparking a fire on one of Ukraine's religious landmarks. And that all just came hours after Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky. And ahead of the G7, amid all that, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said one goal would be to increase the pressure on Russia in order to get Putin to negotiate. But of course, the topic of Iran will be central at this G7 meeting as well.

6:55Like you said, Trump will meet with leaders from Qatar and the UAE, both of which had targets Iran attacked during this war. And then after all that, there's a bigger meeting between G7 leaders and Middle Eastern leaders.

7:07Michel Martin:So what's the reaction been to the Iran deal there at the G7? Well, Macron praised it in brief remarks yesterday, calling the agreement important in that it deals with the nuclear issue. But of course, we don't know how that will shake out and further U.S.-Iran talks. It's also possible that the leaders of G7 countries, that's a group that includes Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, that they're going to praise Trump this week, even while they're pretty frustrated with him. I mean, this war did hurt their economies, after all. And additionally, we did see Trump get upset when some European countries didn't help out with the war to his liking, such as allowing the U.S.

7:46to use their airspace. But zooming out, as our colleague Franco Ordonez has reported, Trump's repeated antagonism toward European nations, whether it's regarding NATO or Greenland or tariffs, it's pushed those countries together, making them more willing to just kind of band together and push back against the U.S., like with Iran, for example. And Macron has been one of the louder European voices calling for those nations to be a little more independent from the U.S.

8:13Michel Martin:All right. So what's left on President Trump's G7 agenda? Well, in addition to those meetings he still has planned, there are other big topics the White House says it wants to talk about, like AI regulation, the Ebola outbreak in Africa, and critical minerals. Beyond that, Trump has a private dinner with Macron before he leaves at the Palace of Versailles, no less, which seems like it'll be the kind of spectacle Trump really enjoys. But altogether, he just seems to have come into the summit feeling like he has a better hand because of the Iran breakthrough. But there are still a lot of challenges to discuss, not to mention he's just not been on the best of terms with a handful of leaders here.

8:52As for news, one more thing. There is the possibility of more news from Trump at the end of this trip, because often at this type of summit, the president does take questions right before he leaves.

9:01Michel Martin:All right. That's NPR's Danielle Kurtzlein. Thanks a lot. Thank you.

9:11Michel Martin:Another Tuesday brings another set of primary elections that tell us how American voters are feeling about the state of politics. Yeah, that includes a set of runoffs in Georgia, which got some major endorsements over the weekend. NPR political reporter Stephen Fowler is covering this from Atlanta. All right, so there are Georgia runoffs for the Republican nominations for governor and U.S. Senate. What do we need to know there? Let's start with the Senate. John Ossoff is, on paper, the most vulnerable incumbent on the ballot for Democrats, and whoever wins this Republican primary will set up a high-profile, big-money matchup in November.

9:44So in the wee hours of the morning Sunday, after early voting already finished, President Trump made a lengthy endorsement for his pick to try and beat Ossoff, Congressman Mike Collins. Trump dinged Collins' opponent, former football coach Derek Dooley for not living in Georgia, for not voting in 2016 and 2020, and for saying that Trump lost Georgia in 2020, which he did. Dooley has the financial and political support of outgoing Governor Brian Kemp, whose argument, among other things, is that Dooley is the more electable candidate in a purple state like Georgia in a year that will likely be harder for Republicans at the ballot box.

10:21Michel Martin:Kemp also rejected Trump's falsehoods around the 2020 election. The two have not had the best relationship since then. Was that a factor in the endorsement? Republican strategists and voters alike that I've talked with in the last little bit say that that certainly didn't help Dooley's chances. And the Collins endorsement is not inherently a surprise if you're paying attention. Mike Collins has been one of the more prototypical Trump-era congressmen. He's very brash online and with his campaign messaging, especially when it comes to emphasizing Trump's policies around immigration. What was surprising is Governor Brian Kemp's endorsement Sunday in the race to replace him of current Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who also has Trump's backing.

11:02Why was that surprising? Well, in that conversation about electability in a divided state like Georgia, Jones is the more hard-right candidate, and he's less appealing to middle-of-the-road voters than this billionaire healthcare executive outsider Rick Jackson, who's also in the runoff. Burt Jones was heavily involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, and he's the leader of the state Senate, where he helped shepherd through some of the more controversial legislation in recent years in Georgia around everything from abortion restrictions to voting law changes. So Kemp's argument that Trump's candidate isn't right for the Senate, but is right to be the next governor, highlights this big divide in the Republican Party that we're seeing right now.

11:45Michel Martin:All right, there are other primary contests this midterm season and you've been keeping track of some of them. What else is worth keeping tabs on? Well, in Oklahoma, there is a series of musical chairs that left seats open after former Senator Mark Wayne Mullen was appointed the Homeland Security Secretary. Mullen's current replacement isn't running for a full term, so you've got a House representative, among others, seeking a promotion, then others looking to earn the nod for that House seat. In Alabama, you've got some runoffs, including both parties nominee for U.S. Senate and another case where President Trump has his pick facing somebody else in a runoff.

12:25Then there's D.C., where a highly consequential mayoral primary and the race to be the district's non-voting member of Congress are on the ballot, plus a rollout of a new ranked choice voting system for all you election nerds out there like me.

12:41Michel Martin:That's NPR's nerdy Stephen Fowler. Stephen, thanks. Thank you.

12:49Michel Martin:And that's Up First for Tuesday, June 16th. I'm Amy Martinez. And I'm Leila Faldil. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Tina Crya, Rebecca Metzler, Ben Swayze, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Taylor Haney. It was produced by Ziyad Butch and Ben Abrams. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines. Our technical director is Carly Strange. And our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. Join us again tomorrow.

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