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Iran offers its own proposal to end the war. It demands reparations for war damages and ending attacks on Iranian leaders in Iranian allies. Israel wants to keep fighting how the U.S. respond.
I'm Stephen Skate with A Martinez and this is up first from NPR News.
[MUSIC] President Trump considers whether to try to take control of Carg Island. Even inserting U.S. forces so close to Iran's shores would be risky and tearing the potential for casualties. How might Iran retaliate against American boots on the ground?
And a jury found Google and Meta responsible for making addictive products, fueling anxiety and depression. We've sent a message with this that you will be held accountable just because of the features alone that drive addiction.
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From the heartland to your home garden, learn from those who grow it best. Listen to Garden Variety, a podcast from Iowa Public Radio and the NPR Network. Iran has responded to a U.S. peace plan with a proposal of a tone. The U.S. offered sanctions relief if Iran ended its nuclear program. Iran says it does not plan to negotiate at all.
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt warned of further attacks if Iran does not accept a deal. President Trump does not bluff and he has prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again. Israel wants to keep fighting. Officials there say attacks on Iran will increase in the coming days.
MPR's Daniel Estrin joins us now from Tel Aviv.
“Daniel, what do we know about the U.S. proposal for a ceasefire?”
This is a 15-point proposal given to Iran via Pakistan, according to the Associated Press. Iran, according to this proposal, would need to end its nuclear program. We would have to stop supporting proxy militias in the Middle East. It would have to reopen completely the straight of Hormuz and it would have to limit its missile program and an exchange Iran would get relief from sanctions.
Essentially, the terms the U.S. came to Iran with before this war started. Iran has officially rejected this and said it does not even plan on negotiations and it countered with its own terms or what are those terms? It has countered the U.S. 15-point proposal with an Iranian five-point proposal. And here are the five points Iran wants no more war or killing its leaders.
It wants guarantees there would be no further war or other new war against Iran. It is demanding reparations for war damages. It is asking for an end to the war on all fronts. So not just in Iran, but also against what it calls all resistance groups in the region, referencing Iran's proxies in Lebanon and Iraq.
And it is also asking for international guarantees of Iran's sovereign right to control the straight of Hormuz. So the question now is if the U.S. and Iran will actually hold talks in the coming days, maybe it will happen in Pakistan. Pakistan has emerged as a potential mediator for talks and an official in Islamabad who was not authorized.
“To speak about this publicly, told MPR that the Pakistani Interior Minister actually held a secret meeting”
today with the Iranian ambassador in Pakistan. China has also said that it's involved in a flurry of diplomatic efforts. And at the very same time, the U.S. is sending paratroopers to the Middle East, from the 82nd Airborne Division. These are soldiers trained in parachuting into territory to take control.
The speculation is that they could try to take control of land near the straight of Hormuz, which would be very dangerous that Iran could ambush them. So we've talked about what the U.S. wants and what Iran is counter-demand,
but there is a third party here and that's Israel.
What does Israel want? Israel wants to keep fighting, in Iran. Two military officials told me they're hoping for weeks more of war in Iran. And I spoke to another person today, briefed on the operation, not authorized to speak publicly, who said the Israeli military is actually speeding up its targeting in Iran over the next 48
hours. They're trying to hit as many Iranian arms factories as they can in case a ceasefire is declared. That person told me that Israeli leadership knew the U.S. was trying to negotiate an end of the war, but actually the Israeli military was caught by surprise about that. And there is one ceasefire condition that Iran has laid out, which is that Israel should stop attacks on his Bala in Lebanon. Israel wants the very opposite.
It is preparing as soon as the war ends, according to the person I spoke with, to send more ground
Troops to southern Lebanon to take over more of that part of the country.
That's MPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thank you.
You're welcome. President Trump is weighing whether to seize the home of Iran's main oil processing facility. Yeah, the Pentagon has ordered thousands of paratroopers and marines to the Middle East. We do not know if they have an objective, but as we heard from Daniel, analysts ask if they could be told to seize territory in the Persian Gulf region. One objective could be Harg Island,
analysts say a takeover of that island would be risky for U.S. service personnel to say at least. MPR's international affairs correspondent, Jackie Northum, is with us now. So, Jackie Wise, is island so important. Well, Carg Island is considered the crown jewel of the Iranian economy. You know, it's just a small island about eight square miles in size in the Persian Gulf,
not far off to coast of Iran, but more than 90 percent of Iran's oil exports are funneled
through the island. So, it's an economic lifeline for Iran, but it's also a symbol of the country's status as a major oil exporter, at least before all the Western sanctions were placed on Iran. As you mentioned, with this buildup of troops heading to the Middle East, it's looking increasingly likely as so the U.S. will try to seize and hold Carg Island. Now, earlier this month, the U.S. did bomb military installations on that island. They left
“though the oil processing facilities alone. Why would the Pentagon want to seize it now?”
And if that's, in fact, what their plan they do? Well, one thought is this buildup of U.S. service personnel could be negotiating tactic to put pressure on Iran to make concessions as a way to end the war. Although, I spoke with Caitlyn Tomaj, and she's a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and she focuses on U.S. military strategy and operations, including in the Persian
Gulf. And Tomaj says it's unclear why Iran would buckle to pressure over Carg Island when it's already withstood a large scale bombing campaign for the past month. She also said seizing and holding Carg Island, you know, less than 20 miles from Iran's heavily defended coastline, would be militarily challenging. Here she is. Even inserting U.S. forces, so close to Iran's shores would be risky and carry the potential for casualties. And then there's the question of
sustaining that U.S. military presence on the island, which I don't think would be simple, again, because U.S. forces would be within range of Iranian weapons, very close to Iran's shores. And Tomaj says, you know, this is really about a military mission that's in search of a strategic
“rationale, you know, what will the U.S. get in exchange for taking Carg Island?”
Well, how about getting ships to move through the Strait of Hormuz again? Well, the Strait of Hormuz is about 300 miles south of Carg Island, so it's hard to see what impact that would have. You know, the fact of the matter is, Iran has military assets all along its coastline, and on many of the smaller islands, and of course, it can put mines in the water, uh, it's still got drones and missiles. And as Professor Tomaj says, you know, any U.S. troops
trying to hold Carg Island could face bombardment daily by Iran. And if the U.S. did try to move to take the island, how could Iran retaliate? Well, it's warned that it would launch retaliatory strikes against energy infrastructures and other countries, you know, in the Gulf region, and that could include Abkhac, which is a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia. You know, that could send world energy prices soaring. Iran could also instruct proxies such as the Hussies to disrupt
shipping in the Red Sea. And then there's also the thought that Iran could apply scorched earth tactics. In other words, setting their own oil fields on fire out of desperation, again, affecting world markets. That's MPR's Jackie, Northam Jackie, thank you. Thank you.
Adam, art to blame for a woman's anxiety and depression, and should pay six million dollars
“because of it. That's what a Los Angeles jury found on Wednesday and a verdict that connected”
Silicon Valley companies to damage in young people's mental health. The plaintiff in this case said she became addicted to social media as a child. The damages are tiny compared with the company's net worth of trillions of dollars, but the case could have huge consequences for the future of social media. MPR correspondent Bobby Allen was in the courtroom. Bobby why is this trial so important? So it's been hard to suit tech companies for decades because of this federal law known as
section 230 that protects their content. So this trial did something different. It focused on features baked into the design of Google's YouTube and Metas Instagram and Facebook, things like the algorithm, the infinite scroll, autoplay beauty filters, which didn't smooth out people's skin and make them appear thinner. The one at the center of this case known as Kaylee told jurors that these features made it nearly impossible to put down her phone and let her down some
dark paths. She told the jury that social media worsened her depression, anxiety, she developed body image issues. Her lawyers argue that social media companies designed the apps this way
Deliberately that the apps basically should be seen as defective products tha...
mental health struggles. Here's Mark Linier, who was the main lawyer representing Kaylee. We've sent a message with this that you will be held accountable just because of the features alone that drive addiction. That's a huge message for these companies. Okay, so those companies, I met in Google how they responded to the verdict. Yeah, they're vowing to appeal. Here's Metas Ashley Nicole Davis after the verdict. Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked
to a single app. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online. So Bobby, this case was about
“one person Kaylee. How could the verdict though affect the entire social media industry?”
Yeah, well, this case is actually one of 2000 consolidated cases brought by parents, school districts, and state officials alleging that tech companies intentionally built social media apps to operate
like a digital slot machine. The Los Angeles trial that I was here for was the first test case
of this huge group of lawsuits there. Well, now be additional test cases brought to trial and eventually a social media companies are expected to settle this huge litigation. When lawyers suing the companies have been asked, you know, what changes could be in store they've pointed to,
“what this trial has been about. All of the design features that keep people sucked into”
their social media feeds. So it's possible social media companies will be wholly refigured, you know, the way that we see social media now may be totally different than what it looks like. Some years from now, this is already being compared to the huge litigation against big tobacco in the 1990s that foresee industry to stop targeting minors in advertising. Many see this verdict in Los Angeles as the start of a massive reckoning. Now, this is just what the second
big verdict against Meta this week. That's right. So a new Mexico, there is a separate jury that
ordered Meta to pay $375 million so much more for failing to protect kids from predators online.
Again, for a company worth $1.5 trillion, this won't exactly make them crumble, but it has been a punishing week for Silicon Valley and its critics say the floodgates are only about to be unleashed. MPR's Bobby Allen, Bobby thanks. Thanks. And we should note Google is a financial supporter of MPR. All right. Before we go, we have a quick request in review on Apple Podcasts. One user says they need a burst to stay informed and that if they skip a day, they start to feel lost. And we know
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And that's up first for Thursday, March 26th of a Martinez. And I'm Steve Innscape.
Today's up first was edited by Jerry Homes, Tara Neal, Brent Nealy, Alice Wolfly and H.J. My. It was produced by Zia Bouch, near Demos and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Heines and our technical director is Carly Strage. Our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens, join us again tomorrow. [Music]
