82nd Airborne Deployment, Israel Threatens Lebanon Invasion, DHS Funding Negotiations

Is this an escalation or a pressure tactic to force Iran to negotiate?

I'm Michelle Martin, that's a Martinez, and this is up first from NPR News.

Lebanon expels Iran's ambassador-blaming Tehran for dragging the country into another war. Israel is threatening to use what it calls the Gaza model in Lebanon's south. And Congress is inching toward a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but Democrats say President Trump's input is complicating negotiations. "I think any deal they make... I'm pretty much not happy with it."

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President Trump is sending thousands more American soldiers to the Middle East. NPR has confirmed at least 2,000 paratroopers have gotten orders to mobilize. The orders come as Trump's public comments this week have focused on diplomacy with Iran. He continued to insist his administration isn't talks to end the war. Something Iran has denied.

Trump said to say that whoever was representing Iran had offered some sort of prize related to the straight-of-arms moves, but he didn't say what it was or who offered it. So is this deployment a way to pressure Iranian negotiators or a signal of the eminent use of American troops? We have Quill Lawrence from NPR's national security team to explain Quill, what do we know about the troops?

Well, this weekend, PR and other outlets had reported that the commander of the 80-second airborne division.

And members of his headquarters staff were heading to the Middle East. And that suggested what NPR has now confirmed. U.S. officially was not authorized to speak publicly, told our colleague Tom Bowman that 2-3,000 troops from the 80-second airborne-based and Fort Bragg North Carolina have been notified that they're heading to the region. So, President Trump has said he won't rule out putting boots on the ground.

“That's what we're talking about here, right?”

Yeah, I mean, airborne and pair of troopers, I guess you might easily imagine them parachuting into taken air strip, but they have many other abilities. These soldiers come from the division's immediate response force, which is able to mobilize within 18 hours to go anywhere worldwide to do a variety of different missions. Along with the two marine expeditionary units that are already sailing toward the Persian Gulf, this could bring about 6 to 8,000 American ground troops and their supporting troops in close proximity to Iran.

Okay, and so what will they do when they get their what's their mission? This is all speculation, we don't know. For decades, there have been U.S. military plans sitting on a shelf to take cargo island, which is Iran's exporting hub at the top of the Persian Gulf, 90% of Iran's oil comes out of there. President Trump is said to have a particular interest in Hark Island going back decades.

The U.S. has already bombed it during this war, but they said they avoided oil infrastructure. But again, sending these troops, it could all be a negotiating tactic. Yeah, so I want to go back a bit because on Monday, President Trump said these are high-level negotiations and it could be heading toward a diplomatic resolution. But now he's sending thousands of ground troops to the region, which sounds like the opposite quill of de-escalation. Yeah, I can see why our listeners might be confused by this.

It's a mixed message.

I mean, NBR has confirmed that there are at least back-channel efforts with third countries to open up a dialogue.

President Trump says he's already talking with Iran, but the Iranians deny that. Now, having thousands of ground troops could make it a more credible threat in any negotiations to pressure the Iranian regime. That there is some threat of direct regime change, or a seizure of nuclear material. This is all speculation. Secretary of Defense Pete Hexeth has said, in blunt terms, that the U.S. won't get into some sort of prolonged quagmire, like Iraq and Afghanistan.

And Iran is still far from that, you know, a decade-long conflict with hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops and thousands of American troops killed in action. So far, Iranian casualties have been massive and the destruction. There has been massive, but U.S. casualties have been low. The U.S. could still, you know, sail and fly away. And the cost so far for the U.S. have been political and economic, and putting boots on Iranian soil would bring much higher risks of U.S. casualties, and bring in a whole other set of variables, and war is unpredictable.

“And the main economic pain point for the U.S. is the straight of her moves, which remains largely closed, choking off oil and other crucial exports.”

And driving up prices worldwide, including at the gas pump here in the United States, it's not clear how these extra troops would affect that Iranian blockade, or what countermeasures Iran might take. That's up to you, ours quail Lawrence quail, thanks. Thank you. For nearly a month, the world has been focused on U.S. and Israeli tax on Iran, retaliation across the Gulf and skyrocketing energy prices.

That's where Israel has been bombing homes, highways, bridges, and fuel stations in response to rocket fire by Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.

“It's reignited a long-running cross-border conflict, and the violence may be about to intensify.”

Israeli officials are warning of a ground invasion. And PR's learned frayer is in Lebanon's capital of Beirut, Aloran, what's like where you are. Well, we've been hearing loud booms through the United A. Israel says its targeting has ballamilotans in Beirut suburbs, so just south of where I am. You know, has ballas a powerful force in Lebanese politics distinct from the government. It's backed by Iran. Israel says its killed commanders of Iran's revolutionary guards here inside Lebanon.

Human rights groups, though, say the civilian cost has been disproportionate. The Lebanese government says at least 33 people were killed yesterday, including a three-year-old, more than 1,000 people killed this month. The government says nearly a fifthly the entire population of Lebanon has been displaced by this violence. People are camping out at a soccer stadium in Beirut, schools are shut indefinitely.

Less than a year and a half ago, a previous war between Israel and Hezbollah ended in a ceasefire, but Israeli attacks never really stopped.

And I spoke to a college student yesterday who's tried to start her freshman year three times since 2024, but classes keep getting canceled. We studied online the first semester. It was really hard. They opened the universities as shelters. They changed the system of the studying. They did it for us, the partial exams. And she didn't want to give her name because she's staying in an evacuation shelter run by a political party, and she's worried about potential retribution.

“What indications are there that an Israeli invasion might be happening soon?”

Israel's defense minister said yesterday, he said he is a plan to take Lebanese territory. Move the Israeli Lebanese border northward by about 10 to 20 miles up to the Litany River. He says he wants to finish off as Bella once and for all, using what he called the Gaza model. You've seen footage of how Israeli attacks left that territory.

Israel's been bombing bridges across that river, saying they're used by his Bella.

Moving that border would leave hundreds of thousands of Lebanese living in occupied territory, including this man, Paul Krish, he's a municipal official in a village called Ayn Ebel, and Pierre reached him by phone. He says he's worried his region will no longer be Lebanese. He doesn't know whether to stay or go. The roads are getting hit by Israeli interstrike, he says. And this has happened before. Israel occupied southern Lebanon for nearly two decades in the 80s and 90s.

Now, just want to be clear, US and Israel together have been attacking Iran.

“In Lebanon, is it just Israel striking independently?”

That's right. So Lebanon is actually a US security partner. The US helps fund the Lebanese army. So these are unilateral Israeli attacks on Lebanon. And if there's a ceasefire in Iran, you know, this front could actually continue. What's the Lebanese government then saying about this, considering as you know what they're supported by the US? The Lebanese government is in a pretty tricky position.

It has been tasked with disarming his Bala itself, but it hasn't done so. This week, though, the Lebanese government said it's spelling the Iranian ambassador, giving him till Sunday to leave the country. Israel praised that move, has Bala criticized it. It is a sign that Lebanon may be turning on Iran, which has been a power broker here.

That's MPR's Lauren Freyer in Beirut, Lauren Thank you. You're welcome. The lines that many airports are getting longer as TSA officers continue to go without pay. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA, has been shut down for more than a month. They've been talks on and off between the White House and Congress to reach a funding deal,

but is there actual progress being made? Well, let's ask MPR congressional correspondent Barbara. Sprunt Barbara, what's the view from Capitol Hill? Well, there may be a glimmer of progress here, but I don't want to oversell it. It's still just a glimmer.

Democrats have been demanding changes to immigration enforcement ever since federal officers killed to US citizens in Minnesota earlier this year. Senate Republicans sent Democrats another potential deal yesterday. But top Democrats said it didn't have the significant reforms that they want to see. What's new is the potential to fund DHS minus ISIS detention and deportation operations.

And this would allow the rest of the Department to get funded, including those TSA officers currently working without pay. I know Democrats have been pushing to fund DHS without any funding for ISIS for some time. This plan isn't quite that. It sounds like a little close or Democrats sold on it. Not right now.

They're concerned that there won't be major changes to ice enforcement tactics. One example that they've been pushing for is a ban on face coverings for agents and changes to warrant procedures. Now, as a reminder, ice still has money despite the current shutdown. And that's because of an injection of tens of billions of dollars that they got last year.

Some Republicans are too.

Republicans, why?

“Well, they're worried about the process.”

The White House is still going to want to fund ice enforcement. That's not going away. The suggestion is to fund the rest of DHS now and deal with ice later with a budget tool that would let Republicans pass it without Democrats support. That's called reconciliation. And if they're going down that road, some Republicans want to include another big legislative priority for President Trump in that same process, passing an elections overhaul package. But to use reconciliation, the legislation has to comply with a very specific set of budget rules.

And it's unclear that provisions of the bill would be able to get past those rules. In fact, yesterday, Utah Senator Mike Lee, who's a major supporter of the elections bill, said it's essentially impossible for it to pass in this way. I know President Trump is a supporter as well as he waited on this.

He has. Here's what he said yesterday.

Well, I don't want to comment until I see the deal, but as you know, the negotiating a deal.

“I guess they're getting fairly close, but I think any deal they make.”

I'm pretty much not happy with it. Now, I don't think that type of comment, basically. I'm probably not going to be happy no matter what, and still's a lot of confidence for GOP lawmakers. It leaves room for him to ultimately reject whatever framework emerges from these plans. And Democrats say it makes it hard for them as well. Here's Senator Patty Murray of Washington on the ongoing negotiations.

They would be a lot more productive if the president didn't keep making new and unreasonable demands over social media. It is awfully hard to find common ground with Republicans when it's not clear that they have common ground amongst themselves. Okay, so what now? Well, Senate Majority Leader Jonathan says he wants to get DHS funded by the end of the week.

“There's a two-week recess coming up for Congress, but I think it's hard to commit to that.”

There has been a lot of lip lash around here over the last few days. It's hard to see a clear path forward. That's NPR's Barbara Sprunt. Barbara, thanks. Thank you. Accuracy and depth are at the heart of what we do here at NPR.

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And that's up first for Wednesday, March 25th, let me mark you now.

And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of First was edited by Jerry Holmes Andrew Sussman, Kelsey Snell, Mohammed Elbar, D.C. and Alice Wolfleak. It was produced by Zayat Bunch and Neon Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We can engineering support from Nisha Heines.

Our technical director is Carly Strange, and our supervising producer is Michael Lippkin. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow. [Music]