President Trump announced a U.
"We're not gonna let Iran make money on selling oil to people that they like it, not people that they don't like."
"Hours of peace talks with Iran ended without a breakthrough."
"I am Michelle Martin, that's a Martinez, and this is up first from NPR News." His really strikes continued in Lebanon this weekend, even after Trump told Israel to "low-key" it, "and bastards from Israel and Lebanon will meet face-to-face in Washington tomorrow," "but a Hezbollah commander tells NPR that the group has no intention of disarming." And President Trump's strongman ally in Hungary, Victor Orban, is out after 16 years in power.
Voters turned down and record numbers, so what does it mean for Hungary's relationship with the rest of Europe?
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This month on through line, the story of the Supreme Court fight over whether a boy born to Chinese immigrants was truly American. "If the sons and daughters of Chinese are not citizens, then what of the English, the Irish, the Germans, the French?" "The dramatic history of birthright citizenship on our series, America in pursuit, from through line, listen on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts." President Trump is trying to ramp up pressure on Iran. "The President declared Sunday that the U.S. is going to impose a naval blockade on the state of Hormuz,
announced this just hours after the U.S. A.R. on peace talks failed to produce a breakthrough."
For more, we're joined by MPR National Security Correspondent Greg Myrig, the President explained how exactly this blockade would work. Yeah, the President didn't really provide many details, but he said it won't take long for the U.S. to clean out the straight. The U.S. military central command said the blockade against ships going to or from Iranian ports would take effect at 10 a.m. eastern time today. Trump first announced the blockade in a truth social post and then he spoke about it in an interview on Fox News.
"We're putting on a complete blockade. We're not going to let Iran make money on telling oil to people that they like it and not people that they don't like or whatever it is." So, Iran is benefiting in several ways by keeping the straight mostly closed. It's clearly frustrating, Trump, it's driving up world oil prices, and Iran also makes money on the limited amount of oil that's getting through. Some of it is believed to be Iranian oil, and Iran also charges
four and ships up to two million dollars to pass through the straight.
“Okay, now does the United States have enough naval forces in place to actually enforce this blockade?”
You know, apparently so, the U.S. does have a sizable navy presence. There's somewhere around 15 ships in the region, including one aircraft carrier group with another one nearby. Iran is believed to have placed mines in the straight, and a U.S. official who's not authorized to speak publicly told MPR's Tom Bowman that mine sweepers will also be used. Only a few ships go through the straight. Now on most days, it's way down from the more than 100 ships the day before the war.
So the U.S. Navy can certainly keep track of a few massive slow-moving, unarmed commercial ships, but there are still lots of unknowns. You know, will any ship try to break a U.S. blockade? And if so, how will the U.S. respond? The main threat will be from Iran. The country's Revolutionary Guard said if a warship approaches the straight, it would be viewed as a ceasefire violation, and Iran would deliver a severe response. So because of all this, is it fair to suggest that
“Trump's decision here means that the U.S. Iran peace talks in Pakistan did not go well?”
Yeah, I mean, a blockade certainly doesn't improve the atmosphere for peace talks. Trump seems to be betting that increased pressure will force Iran to make concessions, but Iran seems to feel it's in a pretty strong negotiating position. It whisked weeks of heavy U.S. and Israeli bombing. Those air strikes didn't force Iran to reopen the straight. So why would a U.S. blockade? Vice President J.D. Vance led that U.S. delegation that
met Iran for 21 hours on Saturday and into Sunday morning in Islamabad, Pakistan, but Vance said afterward that Iran chose "not to accept our terms," no word yet on if there will be additional talks. Considering Greg that there appears to be no clear breakthrough in sight, what kind of a political risk is this for President Trump? Yeah, Trump's in a bind. He wants to end the war and reopen the straight,
but how? He's clearly like to do it quickly through negotiations, but he said yesterday, quote, "I want everything. I don't want 90 percent. I don't want 95 percent. I told him I want everything." And of course, Iran is still demanding concessions. So his other option would be to restart the war, but a military escalation doesn't come with a guarantee of success. That's M.P.R. Greg, my reg. Greg, thanks a lot. Sure thing, a oil prices have
searched past $100 a barrel after breakdown of U.S. Iran peace talks and President Trump's
Threats to blockade Iranian ports in the straight-of-haul moves.
ceasefire across the Middle East. Attacks continue unabated in one country, Lebanon,
“Israel continues to target Iran back Hezbollah fighters there. Lebanon's authorities say a”
red-crossed paramedic is among the more than 100 people killed in a weekend of Israeli attacks. M.P.R.s. Lauren Frayer is in the capital of Beirut. Lauren, there is a regional ceasefire, but while the U.S. and Israel insist Lebanon is exempt, Israel has continued to attack that country. That's right. Israeli air strikes have hit across the south of Lebanon and in border villages where Israel says it's seizing territory from Lebanon to create what it calls a buffer zone where
Hezbollah can't fire across border rockets. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually crossed into that zone yesterday. War of flat jackets stood on Lebanese soil and said Lebanese will
not be allowed to return to their homes. As you know, more than a million people have been displaced
by this Israeli invasion mostly from that southern region. Netanyahu's defense minister was there with him as well. Said the goal is to do to Lebanon what Israel did to Gaza. He said they're destroying
“homes so that Hezbollah cannot use them. And the Lebanese government says Israel has already”
destroyed around 40,000 homes in the past 35 days. As you mentioned in the latest attacks, Lebanese red cross ambulance team, the red cross says they were directly targeted by an Israeli drone killing one paramedic and wounding another. The Lebanese government says Israeli attacks have killed at least 87 medics in the past six weeks. Human rights groups call this a war crime. Now, sea stalks are set for tomorrow in Washington between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors.
How do people view those? They're really viewed as historic. I mean, these are the first
direct government talks since 1983. A lot of people were in a live the last time these two governments had contact. Israel and Lebanon are sworn enemies. It's the Lebanese government that is conducting these talks, but has Bala, which is the combat and really a big power broker in Lebanon, does not support the talks. Has Bala held a big rally here this weekend, filling several Beirut city blocks. Now, not everyone supports Has Bala. Some Lebanese
blame the group for dragging them into yet another war, but amid these constant Israeli attacks, at this rally, I met people like this man, Khalil Harb, who says he wouldn't normally be part of Has Bala's Shiite Muslim base. I drink, I'm not religious, I don't pray, but I know concerning issues related to Israel, I'm with Has Bala, of course. People at the rally told me the real turning point came last week with this Israeli barrage of attacks on what locals are
calling Black Wednesday, more than 350 people killed in a single day. Many in central Beirut, even along the city's waterfront, not Has Bala's strongholds. Now, Israel says one of its goals for those talks is to get Has Bala to drop its weapons and disarm. Now, you recently got a rare account from inside that group. I did. I interviewed a veteran Has Bala field commander. He gave only his nom de Gergihad out of fear. Israel would track and kill him as it has many of
his comrades. We spoke by phone, but not on his own device. He says Bala's stopped using most electronics. He described passing handwritten notes on the battlefield through careers on motorbikes. And he gave us this rare account of the group's org chart. He says there's much more direct control
from Iran now. He told me that they never really disarmed after previous wars with Israel.
Relinquished only decoy weapons and hid their real arsenal underground. As you mentioned, disarming Has Bala is one of Israel's demands in these talks in Washington. That's NPR's Lauren Freyer in Beirut, Lauren Thanks. You're welcome. In Hungary, voters turned out in record numbers on Sunday to put an end to strongman leader,
Victor Orban's 16-year-old hold on power. In last night, people in Budapest poured on the streets to celebrate. Just days ago, President Trump and ally of Orban's sent Vice President JD Vance to Budapest to try to give the Hungarian Prime Minister an electoral boost. But Orban's challenger of 45-year-old conservative named Peter Magjar and his centerite teaser party, one in a landslide. MPR's Rob Schmitz,
joins us live from Budapest. Rob, I mean, all the signs were pointing toward this results,
“but now that it actually happened, I mean, how big of a surprise is it to people in Hungary?”
Yeah, for weeks, polls were showing that Victor Orban and his Fides party were trailing the teaser parties Peter Magjar. But most Hungarians, I spoke with in the days leading up to the election, did not think Orban would lose. And that's because of who he is. Or Victor Orban is the longest serving Prime Minister in the European Union and in his 16 years in power. He's changed the constitution in so many ways. They were all meant to keep him and his party in power. But yesterday,
he failed spectacularly. Yeah, by a wide margin, how did that happen? So he lost so badly
Yesterday that his opponent Peter Magjar and his centerite party now have mor...
seats in the Hungarian parliament. It's a super-majority that will allow Majr to push forward
“his agenda to re-democratize Hungary and it will also allow him to reverse the changes that Orban”
has made to Hungary's constitution. And the reason that Majr got that many votes was because nearly 80% of voters turned out yesterday, more than any other election since Hungary adapted democracy after the Cold War. And last night, Majr thanked his supporters at a massive rally along the banks of the Danube. And he sang here that together, we brought down the Orban regime together, we liberated Hungary together, we took back our homeland. Majr also vowed to rebuild ties with both
“the EU and NATO. So on that, then what does his victory mean for the rest of Europe?”
So Hungary may be a small country of 9 million people roughly the size of New Jersey,
but under Orban it had enormous power and influence inside of Europe. Orban used Hungary's membership in the EU to block around a hundred billion dollars worth of EU aid to Ukraine. It vetoed budgets and harsh penalties on Russia, the country logically half of all EU vetoes in the past 15 years.
“Orban also used Hungary's EU membership as an entry point for investment in influence from authoritarian”
countries like Russia, China, Turkey. Orban is close friends of the leaders of all these countries. In fact, members of Orban's government have been caught handing over internal EU memos regarding Ukraine to Russia. The perhaps most importantly, Orban has been a lasting symbol of Europe's populist far-right movement, and he was good friends with President Trump. And this stunning defeat shows the limits to that movement when the people become fed up with a populist hold on power.
All right, that's MPR's Rob Schmitz, Jonas Live from Budapest. Rob, thank you very much.
You bet. And that's up first for Monday, April 13th, the May Martinez.
And I'm Michelle Martin today's episode of First Was edited by Andrew Sussman with Charlotte Tina Kraya, Muhammad O'Bartese, and H.J. Mike. It was produced by Zayat Bunch, and even Kukaj. Our directors Christopher Thomas, we get engineering support for Misha Heines, our technical director, Stacey Abbott and we hope you'll join us again tomorrow. [Music]
