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

Iran 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.

Amir Martinez, that's Michelle Martin and this is a burst from NPR news.

President Trump backed office 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'll just keep bombing our little hearts out.

What's a 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.

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ME slash NPR. The US 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.

He 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 US 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'll just keep bombing our little hearts out.

And parent international correspondent Air Bertrali is here to give us the latest information

she's in. Goodbye. Good morning, Aya. Good morning, Michelle.

So Aya, Iran is pushing back on Trump's comment. Iran 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 US 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 US 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 up 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 US is 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 US since the start of this war. And that it was actually the US 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 deescalate. We 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. You know Egypt does have ties

with Iran as well. It's not a party to this war. 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. They could end up getting involved and hitting back at Iran. We heard Saudi Arabia's

foreign minister speaking last week that his country's patience is not unlimited. Could you lie

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. But 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 US 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 and 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. Now 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 NPOs A. Bertrali in Dubai. A. 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.

All 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 US and Iran. Iran also accused Trump of trying to buy time to take more military

action. NPO White House correspondent Franco Ordonia is following this. So while 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.

Trump said they were talking to a top person in the Iranian regime, who is 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. So 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 in the George W. Bush White House told me,

Trump is looking for an off ramp, basically. And 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 M.O. 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 a 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.

And of course, that never materialized.

Frank, are 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 US 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. And that kind of increase in

inflation, sort of a Biden-esque increase in inflation would probably really set Republicans back

in the solve. 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 in 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 Quinnipek survey found that 52% of Republicans would be opposed to sending troops

to Iran, you know, boots on the ground. And that could have a significant political impact.

And hey, 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, Ordonius. Thanks a lot. Thank you.

Now 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. So if you'd grant us with Georgia public broadcasting,

so wait times up to five hours on Monday at Atlanta's Hartzfield Jackson International

Airport. She's with us now. So if you're good morning. Good morning. So what else did you see?

Well, 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 controlling 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 Basolto 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.

I just missed my flight by two minutes. I had a book of the fight for $300. Yeah, I got here five

hours early. I think it was not going to, like, it was going to look like what a DDSHA looks

way worse than what a DDSHA day. 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. And 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? Well, 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. It'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.

And 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% 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 wall 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. So if he got us with Georgia of public broadcasting

in Atlanta, so if he thank you, thank you. And before we wrap up for today, our mission here is

to provide fact-based journalism. And we really appreciate it when we see that reflected in your

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our reporting. And thank you. And that's up first for Tuesday, March 24th. I'm Michelle Martin.

And I'm Amartina's. Today's episode of about first was edited by Miguel Macias,

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