Negotiations With Iran, Trump On Deal With Iran, ICE Impact On Airport Lines
Up First from NPR
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4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
Trump says he believes a deal is possible but is not guaranteeing anything, as the political clock ticks with midterms approaching and gas prices rising. And ICE agents are now in more than a dozen airports across the country to help ease security lines during the partial government shutdown, but passengers in Atlanta's airport are still waiting for hours.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Rebekah Metzler, Susanna Capeluto, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas/Ava Pukatch.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:57) Negotiations With Iran
(06:14) Trump On Deal With Iran
(09:55) ICE Impact On Airport Lines
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Iran denied any direct talks with the Trump administration as both sides continue attacks. |
| 0:06.9 | But an Egyptian official tells NPR that messages to negotiate a ceasefire are being sent to Iran through back channels. |
| 0:13.3 | I'm May Martinez. That's Michelle Martin. And this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:20.9 | President Trump backed off his threat to attack Iran's power plants and says a deal is likely. |
| 0:26.0 | 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. |
| 0:32.6 | Otherwise, we just keep bombing our little hearts out. |
| 0:35.2 | What's at stake if there's no deal? |
| 0:37.6 | And immigration enforcement agents are now in about a dozen airports across the country. |
| 0:42.3 | Travelers in Atlanta's airport are still waiting in line for hours. |
| 0:45.6 | So what's ICE actually doing to solve the problem? |
| 0:48.4 | Stay with us. |
| 0:48.9 | We'll give you news you need to start your day. |
| 0:56.6 | 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. |
| 1:05.5 | He said this as he backed away from a 48-hour deadline he'd given Iran to open the Strait of Ho moves 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 Bertrawe, 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. Iran says there is no dialogue with Washington. So what do we know about what's actually happening? So Michelle, there were |
| 1:44.4 | real concerns that this war was going to escalate even further after Trump issued that 48-hour deadline |
| 1:49.0 | to Iran. He said the U.S. would obliterate Iranian power plants if Iran did not allow those oil |
| 1:54.1 | tankers and ships from Gulf Arab producers to pass through the Strait of Hamos. But we just heard |
| 1:58.6 | 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 |
| 2:17.8 | solar panels and inquiring about generators. You know, this is something we haven't ever had to do |
| 2:21.8 | in these cities before. But Trump then said there are conversations with Iran happening now and |
| 2:26.5 | that Iran asked for these talks to happen. And an Israeli official told NPR, the U.S. is planning |
| 2:32.3 | talks in Pakistan with Iran in the coming days. |
... |
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