Negotiations With Iran, Trump On Deal With Iran, ICE Impact On Airport Lines

0:02Iran denied any direct talks with the Trump administration as both sides continue attacks. But an Egyptian official tells NPR that messages to negotiate a ceasefire are being sent to Iran through back channels. I'm E. Martinez. That's Michelle Martin. And this is Up First from NPR News.

0:20President Trump backed off his threat to attack Iran's power plants and says a deal is likely. We're doing a five-day period. We'll see how that goes. And if it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this. Otherwise, we just keep bombing our little hearts out. What's at stake if there's no deal? And immigration enforcement agents are now in about a dozen airports across the country. Travelers in Atlanta's airport are still waiting in line for hours. So what's ICE actually doing to solve the problem? Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day.

0:56This message comes from Betterment. Their automated investing and saving tools give you the quiet confidence of someone who knows where to put their money. with tax-smart tools that help grow your after-tax returns year-round. Get started today at Betterment.com. That's B-E-T-T-E-R-M-E-N-T dot com. Investing involves risk, performance not guaranteed. Betterment is not a tax advisor, nor should any information herein be considered tax advice. Please consult a qualified tax professional. The U.S. and Israel have been bombing Iran for nearly a month, but President Trump now says there are constructive and in-depth conversations underway with the Iranians.

1:35He said this as he backed away from a 48-hour deadline he'd given Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to hundreds of oil tankers and ships. Trump says the U.S. is holding off on his deadline until the end of the week. Here he is talking to reporters on Monday. We're doing a five-day period. We'll see how that goes. And if it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this. Otherwise, we just keep bombing our little hearts out. And parent international correspondent Aya Bertrawi is here to give us the latest information. She's in Dubai. Good morning, Aya. Good morning, Michelle. So, Aya, Iran is pushing back on Trump's comment.

2:08Iran says there is no dialogue with Washington. So what do we know about what's actually happening? So, Michelle, there were real concerns that this war was going to escalate even further after Trump issued that 48-hour deadline to Iran. He said the U.S. would obliterate Iranian power plants if Iran did not allow those oil tankers and ships from Gulf Arab producers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. But we just heard Iran doubling down on its reasons for closing the strait after that. They said that they would not allow any u.s. or israeli vessels or of their partners in the region those gulf arab states to transit because of this war imposed on iran And then iran said it would strike at power plants here in dubai and abu dhabi and other parts of the gulf And we saw people here starting to look for solar panels and inquiring about generators You know, this is something we haven't ever had to do in these cities before But trump then said there are conversations with iran happening now and that iran asked for these talks to happen And an Israeli official told NPR the U.S.

3:01is planning talks in Pakistan with Iran in the coming days. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to discuss these talks. Now, Iran's foreign ministry was then quoted by Iranian state media saying there have been no negotiations with the U.S. since the start of this war. And that it was actually the U.S. that sent messages to Iran seeking talks to end the war. The Iranian foreign ministry said last night that Iran responded to that request through friendly countries. And tell us what NPR has learned about these back-channel efforts from countries in the region. So NPR has learned that Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan are among the countries involved in these efforts to de-escalate.

3:34We know there have been calls between these three countries and senior officials in Iran, and that's according to official readouts from those calls. And the three countries' foreign ministers had actually just met in Saudi Arabia last week for talks on containing the war. We also saw Egypt's president visit Gulf Arab capitals and meet with rulers here over the weekend. And, you know, Egypt does have ties with Iran as well. It's not a party to this war. And we've seen them mediate in other wars like Gaza. Now, the fear is that as this war drags on, Michelle, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are hardening their positions and they could end up getting involved in hitting back at Iran.

4:05We heard Saudi Arabia's foreign minister speaking last week that his country's patience is not unlimited. Could you lay out some of the reasons why or why not these efforts might be successful? So one of the reasons why we could see an effort and that this could lead to some kind of success is, you know, oil and gas prices are rising around the world. This is causing a lot of strain in countries all over the world. And also Gulf Arab countries, they continue to be hit hard. Their energy facilities continue to be set on fire. So there's a lot of reason for why there would be countries that would want this war to wind down.

4:37But also one of the reasons why it might not be successful is because there's just no trust. You know, Tehran and Washington were in talks last month when the U.S. and Israel launched this war. And with Iran's top leaders killed, including its top negotiator just last week, it's unclear who would be speaking right now on behalf of Iran. Now, Trump has laid out also stiff conditions for ending the war. He's talking about no nuclear enrichment by Iran and degrading its ability to produce and fire missiles. And he's been clear about Iran needing to cut support to militias in Lebanon and Iraq. This is also a demand by the UAE, which has been targeted by missiles and drones the most in the region, even more than Israel.

5:14Now, there are also demands on Iran's side. And Iran had already rejected all of that that Trump is wanting now, even before this war. And now Iran is even saying it wants compensation for the war. So all of this is happening as we continue to see hits across the region. Iran hit the city of Tel Aviv this morning in Israel. And Iran says a gas supply to a power station in the southwest of the country was struck overnight. That is NPR's Aya Batraou in Dubai. Aya, thank you. Thanks, Michelle. President Trump likes to make deals. And that's the language he used Monday when talking about postponing his threat to attack Iran's power plants.

5:51All I'm saying is we are in the throes of a real possibility of making a deal. And I think if I were a betting man, I'd bet for it. But again, I'm not guaranteeing anything. They want to make a deal very badly. As we have heard, Iran's regime responded through state media and denied that there were any direct talks between the U.S. and Iran. Iran also accused Trump of trying to buy time to take more military action. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez is following this. So Franco, tell us more about how Trump characterized what kind of conversations are happening. Yeah, I mean, as you guys mentioned, Trump said he was postponing attacks on the power plants for five days because his team was having, quote, productive conversations with Iran.

6:33Trump said they were talking to a top person in the Iranian regime who was not the new supreme leader, but he would not say who it was. He did claim, though, that whoever they were negotiating with agreed to Iran never having a nuclear weapon, which, of course, they've said before. All right. Trump emphasized that he wasn't guaranteeing anything. So how seriously should Americans take this? Well, I mean, it's very clear that Trump wants to reach a deal and to do so soon. Emily Harding, who handled the Iran portfolio and the George W. Bush White House, told me Trump is looking for an off ramp, basically.

7:06And he knows the politics. He knows the midterms are coming and sees the oil market struggling. And she recommended taking Trump's bravado with a bit of a grain of salt. It really fits his MO. This is how he prefers to negotiate. He makes a real maximalist pressure demand. And then he seems to want to find a way to negotiate out of it so he can take the pressure off and declare victory. But it kind of goes either way, right? I mean, the adversary gets a vote. And she points out that we've heard these kind of things before. I mean, Trump repeatedly said he was close to reaching a deal with Russia over the Ukraine war.

7:42And of course, that never materialized. Frank, you mentioned the politics involved. So what are the risks for the upcoming midterms? Well, I mean, I do want to say that Trump still likely has some runway politically to work with. I mean, right now, most Republicans are behind him, but the party often struggles when Trump's name is not on the ballot, which it won't be. That said, if the U.S. and Israel can wrap this war up in a couple of weeks, he'll probably be all right politically. But John McHenry, a Republican pollster with North Star Opinion Research, He told me if the war goes on much longer than that and gas prices continue to creep up, say another 50 cents or more, then you're going to start to see more inflation and not just in gas, but across the economy.

8:24And that kind of increase in inflation, sort of a Biden-esque increase in inflation, would probably really set Republicans back in the fall. It's the economy, stupid. I'm not calling you stupid, Franco, but how much of this is just about the economy? Yeah, I mean, it's a lot about the economy. And that was the big issue that Trump won on two years ago, that and immigration, of course. But it's also about the possibility of boots on the ground. There are around 4 ,500 Marines heading to the Middle East right now. And a recent Quinipeck survey found that 52 % of Republicans would be opposed to sending troops to Iran, you know, boots on the ground.

9:01And that could have a significant political impact. And A, I'm not saying those Republicans are all of a sudden going to vote for Democrats, but they could decide to just stay home and not vote in November. That's White House correspondent Franco Ordonez. Thanks a lot. Thank you.

9:24Now to a major domestic issue, what's going on at the nation's airports. ICE agents have been deployed to about a dozen airports across the country. Many transportation and security agents are calling in sick or quitting after working more than a month without pay due to a partial government shutdown. But ICE agents don't appear to have made security lines move any faster. Sophie, Grotis with Georgia Public Broadcasting saw wait times of up to five hours on Monday at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. She's with us now. Sophie, good morning. Good morning. So what else did you see?

9:54Well, most of the ICE agents have been kind of walking around near the main security checkpoints at the airport and just observing the area. They weren't wearing any face coverings, and they seem to be doing more patrolling than actually helping with security lines. And besides Atlanta, ICE isn't really saying publicly where else agents have been deployed. We do know they've been seen at about a dozen airports, including in Houston. And that's where Ariana Basulto was trying to get home to Charlotte for a second day on Monday from George Bush Intercontinental Airport. On Sunday, she said she was in line for three hours.

10:24I just missed my flight by two minutes. I had to book a flight for$300. Yeah, I got here five hours early thinking it was not going to, like, it was going to look like what it did yesterday. It looks way worse than what it did yesterday. So, yeah, even with those ICE agents deployed, lines had not gotten much shorter. And you were saying that ICE agents don't seem to be doing things like physically running security checkpoints or checking bags. So what are they doing? Well, it's not really clear. In Atlanta, the mayor said that ICE would mainly be in charge of crowd control in the domestic terminal and that they would report directly to TSA officers as long as they're there.

10:56Ann Deming had just arrived in Atlanta when she said that she got some help from one ICE agent finding the airport shuttle. And he was like, oh yeah, just go downstairs. I mean, nothing too major, but yeah. But super nice, super helpful. So yeah, in Atlanta, it's mostly crowd control. But the TSA union, in the meantime, says that it's against having these agents work security because they're not trained to do that. And there's also frustration over the fact that these ICE agents are getting paid while TSA officers are not. What else were you hearing from people about the presence of ICE at these airport checkpoints?

11:30Well, yeah, most people I spoke with said they didn't really understand why ICE needed to be at the airport at all because most of them were just observed walking around. One traveler waiting in line said he was actually happy to see ICE agents and applauded President Trump for sending them. But others, like Sam Rosales, who was traveling on Monday, said seeing ICE agents walking around the airport felt strange. That's very unsettling to have them, you know, in the presence of, you know, everyday stuff. Not really protecting borders in Atlanta. And again, despite having that extra manpower, people were still dealing with long lines.

12:00And what are officials saying about security lines in Atlanta going forward? So we know that hundreds of TSA officers have quit and that more than 40 percent in Atlanta had called out of work over the weekend. And the airport website that would normally show wait times instead just tells passengers to come four hours ahead of their flight. Yesterday evening, there was a little lull with shorter lines, and TSA officers that I spoke with said, don't be fooled, that as long as they're not paid, there's likely no end in sight to long lines at peak hours. And one more thing. President Trump has said that he could deploy the National Guard to airports if this drags on any further.

12:35That's Sophie Grotis with Georgia Public Broadcasting in Atlanta. Sophie, thank you. Thank you. And before we wrap up for today, our mission here is to provide fact-based journalism, listen. And we really appreciate it when we see that reflected in your feedback. Listener Cassie T717 recently wrote that they've listened for years because the hosts are, quote, no nonsense about the news, but still bring levity to the show. You know, levity is code for a Martinez, Michelle. Cassie mentioned me. All right. If you value that balance, please leave us a five-star rating or a brief review. It's the best way to help new listeners find our reporting.

13:10And thank you.

13:15And that's Up First for Tuesday, March 24th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Ian Martinez. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Rebecca Metzler, Susanna Capaluto, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Zia Hutch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. 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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