Trump Declares Early Victory, Lebanon Asks Israel To Talk, New York Protest Attack

President Trump says the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran is a success, but the U.S. will

go even further.

He compares the end game to Venezuela where the leader changed while the regime stayed.

How does this war end?

I'm Leyla Faldon, that's Stephen Skipe, and this is up first from NPR News.

Lebanon's government is asking Israel to talk.

The country's president says Hasbola dragged Lebanon into a war it did not choose.

Will Israel come to the table?

Also, New York mayor Zaltran Mamdani speaks of an alleged act of terrorism.

New York City will never tolerate violence, whether from protests or counter-protests.

People were protesting the Muslim mayor, then police say two teenagers allegedly inspired

by ISIS tried to deploy improvised explosive devices.

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President Trump took questions from reporters at a press conference on Monday for the first

time since the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran.

The administration took several days to explain what its objectives were in this war.

And Trump has given conflicting reasons for why he launched the strikes.

On Monday, he said this.

We're achieving major strides toward completing our military objective.

And some people could say they're pretty well complete.

We wiped every single force in Iran out.

That was one of several contradictory statements by the president throughout the day, suggesting

the war's end was near or not near.

And PR National Political Correspondent, Mar-a-Laison, has been listening to it all, and Mar-a,

good morning.

Good morning.

What do you make of the president's many words?

I think that the dominant message was declaring victory.

And after you declare victory, you tend to look for an off-ramp.

He said, quote, this was just an excursion.

We're close to finishing very soon.

He said, we've already won.

But then in the next breath, he said, but we haven't won enough.

And we're determined to achieve total victory.

Here's a little sample of that.

We could call it a tremendous success right now, as we leave here.

I could call it, or we could go further.

And we're going to go further.

But he didn't say what going further means.

President Trump model, at least in past military excursions, have been one and done.

Venezuela, very quick, got out, same with the Iran bombing in June.

It sounds like that's what he wants to do now.

I just want to note that the president's remarks have been moving markets.

Before this press conference, in the afternoon, while the financial markets were still open,

Trump told CBS the war was, quote, very complete, stocks immediately soared,

somebody made billions of dollars, and then he comes to the press conference.

He declares victory, but also hedges.

I mean, I guess we could blame us, the media, in a sense, because Trump always says

many, many words and people grab a few and try to interpret them.

But are you able to get a through line from all of these different statements?

Well, yes, there were some things that were different about yesterday.

He wasn't talking about unconditional surrender or regime change.

He was asked, what does victory mean for you?

Here's what he said.

Where they're not going to be starting the following day to develop a nuclear weapon.

And that shouldn't be hard to claim.

He also talked about having, instead of regime change, having an internal candidate

that he would approve to be Iran's new leader.

And he compared it to Venezuela.

He said the Venezuela model has worked really well.

In other words, leave the regime in place, but the leader changes.

Now, Venezuela is a small weak country in the United States' backyard.

Iran is very different, a big country, with regional ambitions.

He was also pressed on why he had promised the Iranian people he would come to their aid.

And he was asked, aren't you betraying them if you don't push all the way for regime change?

But he didn't answer that question.

I guess this is a good point to remember that a war has two parties.

Has two people with a vote, as military people will say.

How does this look to Iran?

Well, I think their objective is to survive and to make the cost of continuing the war as

high as possible for the U.S. and Israel.

That means keeping the gas prices high, keeping the Straits of Hormuz strangled, if not closed.

And the president did talk about that yesterday.

He said he wants to keep the Straits of Hormuz open, and he might have military escorts

for oil tankers through the Gulf.

But right now, the price of oil in the United States, the price of gas at the pump, is going

up.

And if it keeps going up, that could make continuing the war politically difficult for the president.

Mara, the president also talked about an Iranian girl's school that was hit very early in

the war.

What is he saying about that?

He seemed to suggest that Iran did this himself.

That's something no one else in his administration, including his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth,

has claimed.

He said it's easy to get a Tomahawk missile, although we know Iran does not have Tomahawk

missiles.

But he seemed to suggest that Iran got a Tomahawk and used it against its own civilians.

But he also said that the U.S. was investigating and that he would support the conclusion of

that investigation.

Okay.

So statements that have yet to be supported by evidence.

Mara, thanks so much.

You're welcome.

That's NPR's Mara Liason.

Now we do not know how this war ends, but we do have some idea of the scale of its destruction

so far.

Iranian health officials contend the United States and Israeli campaign has killed 1200

people in Iran.

Lebanese authorities report 500 deaths in an Israeli offensive there.

And we go next to Lebanon where NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi has been sometimes underneath the

bombs and covering this from Beirut.

Hi there, Hadeel.

Good morning.

Okay, so we heard from President Trump what do you hear from the other side in this

war?

Well, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard said that President Trump is trying to put quote

psychological pressure on Iran and they vowed to continue standing up to the U.S. and

Israeli aggression with quote courage and strong will.

It also said that the Iranian armed forces are waiting for the U.S. Navy at the straight

of Hormuz.

The reaction elsewhere in the region has been pretty muted, but we know that the Gulf

is calling for an end to the war and a return to negotiations, the price of oil as you

just heard from Mara soared yesterday as Iran targeted oil installations in the Gulf.

Now where you are in Beirut, we know there have been Israeli airstrikes.

There's been an Israeli ground force that has moved into southern Lebanon and the president

of Lebanon wants direct negotiations with Israel.

What does that mean?

Yes.

So Lebanon and Israel have been at war for decades.

The first ever direct talks were just three months ago actually.

And then yesterday, Lebanese presidents Josef Aron called for more direct negotiations

with Israel and for an end to the bombing.

He asked once again for help from the international community to provide the Lebanese armed forces

with equipment and what he called logistical support to help in the Lebanese government's

campaign to try and disarm and distance itself from the Iranian-backed militant group

Hezbollah, which operates mainly out of southern Lebanon.

Now just last week, security authorities in Lebanon actually issued arrest warrants.

It's unprecedented for those who they believed launched the rockets into Israel, which dragged

Lebanon into this war.

In the Justice Minister, even proposed to the Lebanese cabinet to issue an arrest warrant

for the leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qasim.

Now, these are some of the strongest rebukes ever by the Lebanese state towards Hezbollah.

But again, whether they're able to follow through remains to be seen.

You know, the Lebanese army says it's outgunned by Hezbollah.

And there are actually questions about political will within the army to go through with the

disarmament.

So how is Israel responded to this Lebanese effort at peace?

So an official briefed on the matter speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic

affairs told NPR that Israel sees positive signs from the Lebanese government in its

approach to Hezbollah, but that the war is continuing and will continue.

Hezbollah is still showing it has capabilities.

The official said with rocket fire toward Tel Aviv yesterday, they also said that Israel

has no patience to enter a war with Hezbollah every few months.

Let's remember that Israel has been striking southern Lebanon for 15 months now, even though

a ceasefire was broken last year, the Israeli military is also pushing further into Lebanese

land.

And there are fears for a wider ground invasion into Lebanon.

Now, let's talk about Iran itself.

Of course, the Israeli campaign continues there.

The U.S. campaign continues there.

They have a new Supreme Leader.

President Trump has talked about assassinating him too.

What are the Israelis saying?

The Israelis are being a little bit coy about that particular point.

In a post on social media yesterday, the Israeli foreign ministry posted a photo of the

late Ayatollah Al-Khamenei carrying a gun with his son, who is the new Supreme Leader,

also carrying a gun.

And the caption was like father-like son.

But when asked whether Masha'ab-Khamenei should be worried, the Israeli military spokesperson

said that they don't comment on specific targets, and they quote, leave some room for

surprise.

What we do know is that the war continues, bombs fell on Tehran just this morning.

And, P.S. Adil al-Shalchi, thanks so much.

You're welcome.

Two Pennsylvania men have been charged with terrorism-related crimes following an attempted

attack using explosive devices over the weekend in New York City.

OK, there were no injuries.

The device didn't go off, but federal investigators assert that the suspects, both of them teenagers,

were motivated by ISIS.

That group has worked to radicalize young Muslim men around the world.

And P.S. Brian Mann is covering this story, Brian.

Good morning.

Good morning, Steve.

What do you know about the suspects?

So, Amir Balot, who's 18 and Ibrahim Khayumi, 19 or both from Pennsylvania, neither have

criminal records.

Investigators said they arrived in New York City Saturday, apparently drawn by an anti-Muslim

protest, organized by a far right group.

It had been widely publicized.

Authorities said yesterday the men were caught on camera, throwing improvised explosive

devices at the anti-Muslim protestors, Jake Clayton, his U.S. attorney for the Southern

District of New York at a press conference yesterday in Manhattan.

He said the two suspects planned for this to be a deadly attack.

These were ISIS-inspired actions, and it is chilling that they wanted to do something

more than the Boston Marathon, more than three deaths.

Rebecca Weiner heads the NYPD's anti-terror organization.

He said at least one of these devices was a jar, Steve, that was packed with nuts and

bolts and screws, and also a chemical called TATP widely used in the IEDs around the world.

Weiner said it's very lucky this device didn't detonate when thrown into the crowd.

They could have caused death, destruction, extremely dangerous compound, and extremely dangerous

place deployed.

So, Balot and Khayumi were charged yesterday with crimes that include aiding a foreign

terror organization and using a weapon of mass destruction.

Disturbing to hear the composition of that weapon, but why do authorities say the men were

motivated specifically by ISIS?

Officials say Balot and Khayumi started talking after they were harassed.

According to court documents filed yesterday, they allegedly waived their Miranda rights and

told police they watched ISIS materials on their phone investigators say Balot allegedly

wrote on a piece of paper that he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

But also allegedly told authorities he hoped to carry out an attack bigger than the Boston

Marathon bombing in 2013.

Important to say, Steve, these are only allegations at this point that two men were

arraigned yesterday.

They have not yet entered a plea.

They're being held without bail.

How is Mayor Mamdani responding to all of this?

Yeah, Zoran Mamdani is New York City's first Muslim mayor speaking yesterday.

He condemned that anti-Muslim rally as bigotry, but said the far-right activists who gathered

had a right to free speech.

I will defend that right every day that I am mayor, even when those protesting say things

that I abhor.

New York City will never tolerate violence, whether from protests or counter-protests.

And Mamdani praised NYPD officers who responded quickly to this alleged attack.

Okay, so let's talk this through.

Where does the investigation go next with the suspects in custody and at least according

to the police saying some things?

Yeah, the FBI probe is continuing in New York City, also in Pennsylvania where these men

lived, agents searched a storage unit in Pennsylvania last night.

Officials have declined to say whether they think these men had actual contact with ISIS

recruiters or self-radicalized after looking at that material online.

NYPD officials say they do think these alleged actions are part of a pattern where the Islamic

state is attempting to mobilize young Muslim men using social media.

Brian, is there any evidence that this incident wasn't some way linked to the war in Iran?

You know, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tish spoke about this a couple of times yesterday.

She said there's no sign, Kayumi and Balot were motivated by US and Israeli airstrikes

in Iran.

But she said the war does have the city's anti-terror units on high alert.

She says drone and heavy weapons teams are forward deployed throughout New York City.

Officials say they also want residents to be vigilant.

And for us, Brian, man, thanks so much.

Thanks, Steve.

And that's up first for this Tuesday, March 10th.

I'm Steve Inskeep.

And I'm Layla Faldon.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Metzler, Hannah Blanc, Alfredo Carpahal,

Muhammadad Bredisi and Alice Wolfley.

It was produced by Ziyad Butch and Niyadou Mas.

Our director is Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Nisha Heinis.

Our technical director is Carly Strange.

Our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson.

Join us again tomorrow.

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