Trump and NATO, Shaky Ceasefire In Middle East, Lebanon's Day Of Mourning

The head of NATO visited Washington, insisting the alliance is helping the United States.

President Trump did not consult the allies before launching a war on Iran, then talked

of leaving the alliance when some refused to help.

I'm Steve Inskeep with Leyla Faddle, and this is up first from NPR News.

The ceasefire in the war with Iran has yet to cease all fire.

Gulf states are still intercepting a rawning in attacks.

Iran has not fully opened the Strait of Hormuz.

And that's over, continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

The country declared a national day of mourning.

After Israeli strikes killed more than 250 people in a single day, Hasbullah held its

fire yesterday, but shot rockets into northern Israel this morning.

Stay with us, we'll give you the news, you need to start your day.

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Well, my first job was working at the Tulsa beef company to pay off legal debts from having

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President Trump met with the NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta at the White House on Wednesday.

Trump has been talking again about leaving the NATO alliance.

He did not consult NATO allies before launching a war in Iran and then complained that many

allies did not help.

The announcement of a two week ceasefire doesn't appear to have eased the president's feelings.

He said on social media after the meeting, this is a quote in all caps.

NATO wasn't there when we needed them and they won't be there if we need them again.

NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonia is here to discuss the latest meeting.

Good morning, Franco.

Good morning.

What came out of the NATO meeting?

Yeah, I mean, it was a frank and open discussion where, according to the Secretary General,

Trump raised his disappointment about countries who did not help the U.S.

And in an interview with CNN, Ruta said he could see Trump's point.

At the same time, I was also able to point to the fact that the large majority of European

nations has been helpful with basing, with logistics, with overflights, with making sure

that they list up to the commitments.

Now, he would not say whether Trump told him he wanted to leave or as the Wall Street Journal

reported is considering pulling U.S. troops from countries who were unhelpful.

Now, Trump has long had a rocky relationship with NATO, but this war has really wrecked

what foundation was left and Trump's rage is just only intensified, calling NATO a paper

tiger and attacking some leaders, even by name.

Yeah, and some of those European leaders that he was attacking, they say they weren't consulted.

About this war in the first place. What do you make of the joint statement from some members,

including Britain, Germany, and France, committing to ensuring freedom of navigation of the

Strait of Harmless? Yeah, I wouldn't say it's very specific.

Earlier in the war, leaders did express reluctance to get involved, worried about being drawn

into a broader conflict. But diplomats did tell me before that their posture could shift once

the war is officially over. Now, the ceasefire is already being tested by the heaviest and most

wide-ranging Israeli strikes on Lebanon since the start of this war. Could that put this

entire deal at risk? Yeah, I mean, it's very fragile. The White House says Lebanon is not part

of the ceasefire, but the Iranian Foreign Minister says the terms are clear and that Washington

must choose between a ceasefire or continue the war via Israel. Actually, while President

Trump remained behind closed doors yesterday, Vice President Shady Vance spoke to reporters

and hungry and he called it a misunderstanding. No ceasefire ever goes without a little bit of

choppiness. What we have been very clear about is that we want to stop the bombing. We want our

allies to stop the bombing and with what the Iranians do the same thing. We're seeing evidence

that things are going in the right direction, but it's going to take a little time.

Vance is actually going to lead a high-level team of negotiators to Pakistan to meet with

Iranian officials about the ceasefire. Now, the ceasefire was contingent on the

street of Hormuz being open, but the Iranian said it was not because of the strikes in Lebanon.

Did the White House give any clarity on that? Yeah, press secretary Caroline Levitt pushed

back on those reports and she argued that what the Iranian government is saying publicly is very

different than what it's saying privately, but I will just add that our own Marlais and tried

to press Levitt on who currently controls the street, pushed her several times, and Levitt

would not answer. That's White House correspondent Franco Ordoña's reporting on this. Thank you,

Franco. Thank you, Leyla. It was supposed to be the first day of a ceasefire in the Middle East.

And in the first 24 hours of that ceasefire and oil refinery in Iran was hit, and five Gulf

Arab states reported attacks from Iranian drones and missiles. A blitz of Israeli air strikes

killed more than 250 people across Lebanon, according to authorities there. Joining us now

is NPR International Correspondent A. Abbott Trialie in Dubai to talk about this. Good morning.

Good morning, Leyla. So tell us what's been happening across the region.

You know, news of a ceasefire had come here overnight, but instead of waking up to that,

missile alerts sounded across people's phones and the Gulf, including where I am.

Iran says an oil refinery on its Levan island was hit, and what they described as an enemy attack.

They also said to Iran and other cities in Iran were targeted by small attack drones,

the origin of which they said was unknown. And then we saw attacks across the Gulf again yesterday.

Kuwait says a wave of hostile drones from Iran caused significant damage to oil facilities,

power stations, and water desalination plants. People were wounded here in the United Arab Emirates

and in Bahrain, and even in main gas complex in Abu Dhabi caught fire Saudi Arabia's critical

east-west oil pipeline was also attacked according to reports. Even Qatar said it intercepted drones

and missiles. Again, Leyla on what was supposed to be day one of a ceasefire. Now, all of this was

happening. As Israel launched its largest bombing of Lebanon since this war began, it said it was

targeting Hezbollah, but the attacks shook Beirut and tore through high-rise civilian neighborhoods

there. Okay, a lot of fire in the first day of a ceasefire. And in President Trump's latest

post on Truth Social, he says US aircraft and the tens of thousands of armed forces in the

region will remain in place until a real agreement is reached. What's Iran saying?

So Iran says it had made clear that any ceasefire deal must include Lebanon. And Pakistan,

which brokered the ceasefire between the US and Iran, also said Lebanon was included in the

two-week ceasefire deal reached Tuesday night between Iran and the US. But the White House says it

wasn't. Now, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Arakshi, as you just heard Franco say, said that the US

must choose ceasefire or continued war via Israel. He said it cannot have both. And Iran's

revolutionary guard corps warned it could strike at Israel again and that a US-Iran meeting being

planned tomorrow in Pakistan could be called off. But as I speak to you this morning,

a Maraudi fighter jets are still patrolling the skies here. The region is on edge and this

ceasefire is hardly holding. I have a foundation of this shaky ceasefire hinges on Iran opening

that key waterway, right? The Strait of Hormuz for ships. And the US and Israel holding their

fire is that straight open. You know, when this ceasefire was announced, Iran's foreign minister

said the safe passage of ships through the strait would be possible in coordination with Iran's

armed forces. But yesterday, after Israel attacked some hundred areas of Lebanon, the revolutionary

guard of Iran threatened it wouldn't be. Now, what we know from maritime intelligence firm

Windward was that five ships transited through the strait yesterday. That's less than half of what

transited the day before. And if these talks actually do take place in Pakistan, each side is coming

with high demands, Leila. The US, Israel and Gulf partners want Iran to stop nuclear enrichment,

pause its ballistic missile production, and support to groups like Hezbollah and open that

strait fully. Iran, on its part, wants compensation for the war, sanctions lifted, says its missiles

are a red line and maintains that it has a right to enrichment. So if these talks take place

tomorrow in Pakistan, it says Israel and Iran each day, they quote, have their finger on the

trigger. And with each side, including President Trump claiming victory going into these talks.

High, high stakes. That's NPR's A. Iba Trawi in Dubai. Thank you for your reporting.

Thank you. As we've heard, Israeli strikes killed so many people in Lebanon that today

is a day of national mourning. Israeli attacks hit densely populated residential areas. Israel

said it was striking leaders of the armed group Hezbollah, although its targets were far from that

group's traditional strongholds. Strikes even hit near the Corniche, which is Beirut's famous

seaside promenade. We are following reports of more attacks today. And NPR's Lauren Frayer is in

Lebanon's capital Beirut and joins us now. Good morning, Lauren. Good morning. What is the situation

where you are today? Well, church bells have told across Beirut on this national day of mourning,

even as warplanes still tear across the sky. People are still missing, still under the rubble.

I heard more booms overnight. Israel says it hit another bridge in southern Lebanon after that

wave of attacks yesterday, in which Israel says it hit Beirut 100 times in 10 minutes,

killing the nephew of Hezbollah's leader. Hezbollah for its part held its fire yesterday,

so it viewed the ceasefire as including Lebanon. But today says it has fired rockets into

northern Israel and air raid sirens have gone off there. Now, the Israeli military often issues

evacuation orders, telling civilians to flee areas where it's targeting militants or groups,

but I understand that didn't happen with these attacks. Well, it did issue orders for Beirut's

southern suburbs, but then it attacked central Beirut itself in attacks of the UN Secretary General,

the International Committee for the Red Cross, if all condemned. You know, more than a million

people have been displaced already by this Israeli invasion. The Capitol has swelled with a lot

of those people, and now they're in danger here. We spoke with Zainab Ein. She's a 18-year-old

college student from the South sheltering in Beirut. She stayed up late at night for that ceasefire

announcement. Sure, it would mean attacks would stop, and she'd returned to her studies.

I fell asleep, hoping that I'm going to wake up and go back home. But I woke up and they were

saying, there is no ceasefire at all. That Lebanon was not included, which was sad, but hopefully,

you know, we'll do something about this. She says, hopefully, Iran will do something. You know,

stick up for Lebanon. And that's what Iran says this closure of the straight-of-war

moose is about. It's Iran's response to these Israeli attacks against its proxy here in Lebanon,

Hisbola. And what effect is that having? I mean, we heard a little bit from A earlier,

fifth-the-world of the world's oil gets shipped through there. So this affects gas prices

almost everywhere, right? Yes, oil is still at around $100 a barrel. That's about a third higher

than before this war began. The U.S. Iran ceasefire is supposed to sort of formalize a system

of charging fees for ships to pass through that waterway. Some countries don't want that.

You know, the British Foreign Secretary called today for the straight to go back to where it was

before a toll-free international waterway, but Iran wants, has control now and wants to keep that.

And also, as we've been talking about, there's a meeting to work this out.

Yeah, that's in Pakistan by President JD Vance is going to that. Iran is threatened to cancel

those talks, though, because of these attacks on Lebanon. Vance said yesterday that Israel has offered

to, quote, check themselves a little bit in Lebanon to make sure those talks are successful. So

we'll see if that happens. But meanwhile, Iranian media today published a chart suggesting that

Iran's revolutionary guard may have laid minds under that waterway. President Trump shared a

statement on social media saying U.S. troops and warships will stay in the region until all of this

is resolved. And he said, if it isn't, quote, then the shooting starts bigger and better and

stronger than anyone has ever seen before. That's NPR's Lauren Freyr in Beirut. Thank you for

your reporting. You're welcome.

And that's up first for Thursday, April 9. I'm Laila Faldon.

And I'm Steven Skipe. Today's up first, presented by Rebecca Metzler, Jerry Holmes,

Mohamed El Bardisi, and Taylor Haney. It was produced by Ziyad Butch and Ava Pouquet.

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