[MUSIC]
Vice President J.D. Vance leads U.S. negotiations to end a war he reportedly never wanted.
President Trump says Vance gets the blame if he fails and Trump takes the credit if he succeeds. Which sounds like a joke, but is it? >> I'm Leila Faldin, that's Stephen Skip, and this is a first from NPR News. [MUSIC] President Trump told Israel's prime minister Chokko,
"Blokey," and it's a tax on Lebanon after it killed hundreds in one day. Israel agreed to negotiations with Lebanon, its neighbor in enemy since 1948.
“But can there be progress when the Lebanese government is weak and has little control over the political and armed group?”
Hasbada.
>> Also, the Artemis 2 crew is returning from a journey around the moon.
They plan to splash down near California tonight after traveling farther into space than any human's in history. Stay with us, we'll give you the news from around the world and a bit beyond. [MUSIC] >> This week on the MPR Politics Podcast. In Iran, President Trump is both escalating and de-escalating.
Pausing strikes on energy sites, claiming Iran wants to make a deal. But also, moving troops to the region. We impact what we know about where those troops are headed and how talks are playing out behind closed doors. This week on the MPR Politics Podcast, listen on the MPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> This weekend's negotiations to end the war with Iran puts some pressure on Vice President JD Vance.
>> Yeah, Vance is to lead the U.S. team that will meet for talks in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. It's a big role for an Iraq war veteran whose political brand included opposition to American wars in the Middle East. His task now is to bring together two countries that have been enemies for almost half a century. >> NPR White House correspondent Daniel Kurtz-Lavin is covering the story Daniel Good Morning.
“>> Hey, good morning. >> Why would the White House send JD Vance to negotiate?”
>> Well, you know, he's been asked how he got pulled into all these negotiations. And specifically, if those previous non-intervention statements you all mentioned, if those might be a reason why he's been involved. And he's also been asked if Iranians requested that he be in negotiations. Vance responded to all that by demurring saying he'd be surprised if that's true. He really tried to downplay his role here saying that he just thought he could make a difference.
That's why he's there. But it has been reported that Vance was initially within this administration allowed voice against this war. So there's some logic to him playing a part in trying to end it. Not to mention that if he wants to run for, say the presidency in 2028, he'd probably like to be able to say he helped and the conflict that a lot of people disliked. But all of that said, Trump laid out a sort of classic vice presidential trap last week at an Easter breakfast.
Here's what he had to say about peace negotiations.
So if it doesn't happen, I'm blame you, J.D. Vince, if it does happen, I'm taking full credit. You know, it sounds joking, but Trump does love claiming a win, and he doesn't like taking responsibility for losses.
“What is going to make it tough for Vance to get to a win here?”
Well, he's trying to broker a permanent peace between parties that don't even agree on what the current ceasefire is. For example, a big goal is to make sure the state of Hormuz is open, but that straight doesn't appear to be fully open right now, even after the ceasefire. And where things stand there has been really unclear. Trump this week even floated the idea of the U.S. and Iran together charging fees for ships to pass through, though he didn't explain any further how that would work. And that said, though, yesterday on social media, Trump posted that Iran better not be his words, charging tankers right now to pass through.
But besides the straight, there's enriched uranium. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt has said it's a red line that Iran turned that over. But that's after President Trump has waffled on that issue. Last week, he said in an interview that he doesn't even care about the uranium. And again, here, Trump has floated the idea of cooperating.
On social media this week, he suggested the U.S. and Iran dig up uranium together. Okay, so how do you think Vance is likely to take up that challenge? Well, we don't have a track record to look at. Prior to being the VP, Vance was a senator from Ohio and only for two years, so he doesn't have a lot of international experience. But he's been less than diplomatic in the lead up to these negotiations. We can't say that.
Because when asked about accusations from the Speaker of Iran's Parliament that the U.S. had violated points to the ceasefire this week, Vance had this to say about that speaker. I actually wonder how good he is at understanding English, because there are things that he said that frankly didn't make sense in some of the context of the negotiations that we've had. Now, that doesn't mean Vice President Vance will be disagreeable
or anything at the negotiating table. But it does show that, like his boss, he can be harsh. And Pierre's Daniel Kurtz Levin, thanks so much for the insights really appreciate it. Thank you. Now, the ceasefire is showing immense signs of stress. Yeah, that's especially true because it's not a ceasefire at all. In Lebanon, Israel says
Lebanon is not part of the deal.
including on densely populated civilian areas of Beirut far from places known as Hezbollah Strongholds. Many of those strikes came with no warning for civilians and killed more than 300 people. Today, Lebanese are still pulling their dead from the rubble, and Israel has issued new evacuation orders. Under pressure from President Trump and other leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will enter into direct talks with Lebanon. How is that supposed to help? We go to NPR's Kerry Khan in Tel Aviv
to explain Kerry. Welcome. Hi, good morning. Okay, so I get that there are long-time enemies. These two neighbors and it's a big deal for Israel to talk to Lebanon's governments. So first, what brought that about? Prime Minister Netanyahu is facing quite a pressure campaign. Iran's foreign ministry says it won't be involved in overall peace talks that are going to be held in Pakistan on Saturday. Unless this Lebanon issue part is part of the ceasefire agreement.
Trump is telling Netanyahu to pull back and speaking to NBC Trump said Netanyahu got the message
“and is quote going to low-key it. A person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly”
tells NPR that Israel has agreed to reduce its military activity. And that talks will take place directly between Israel and Lebanon at the ambassador levels and that will happen in Washington.
We don't know exactly when. So as you said, this is a huge deal. The two countries have never
had negotiations directly like this before. Huge deal, but I'm trying to understand this as an outsider. Israel is fighting with Hezbollah, this armed group in Lebanon, which is not exactly the same as the Lebanese government with whom these rallies are going to talk. Right. So talks are going to be difficult for sure. Israel and Lebanon have been in a perpetual state of war since Israel's establishment in 1948. Lebanon's government is very weak
right now and doesn't have much control over Hezbollah. Hezbollah, it does hold seats in the government's view, but they always say that the Lebanese leadership in the government doesn't speak for them. And last night, Hezbollah representative said that it rejects outright direct talks
“with Israel. So it is going to be tough. You're reporting from Israel. Do Israelis want to see fire?”
Well, I just got back from the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon and I heard repeatedly in those communities that have been hit hard by Hezbollah rockets that they don't want Israel to stop until they say Hezbollah is finished. Once and for all, I heard that a lot of including from the general manager of the border town of Shalomi, his name is Luchi Yusuf, and he said, if Israel were to stop right now, what was the point of the whole war?
It looks like there's no big achievement. We are in the same place as we were about 40 days ago. And he says in a few months, Hezbollah will just be back rearmed and fighting will resume
again as it always does. Okay, key player here, obviously Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
he has signaled that he's willing to back off a little bit in Lebanon. What is he telling his own people? He put out a video last night saying, "Look, don't worry, I am not backing down." "In of the Kurdish people." "I don't know, I'm sure they've not called Bill Smites. He's Bala." He said, "There is no ceasefire in Lebanon. We are still striking Hezbollah with great force and we won't stop until we restore your security." That doesn't sound like he's low-king
it to use President Trump's phrase. Not at all. And Pierre Scarycon is in Tel Aviv. Kerry, thanks so much. You're welcome. Okay, the Artemis 2 crew is coming back to Earth. Before astronauts launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida nearly 10 days ago, after a mission around the moon and back, they're set to splash down near California tonight.
Just an amazing story that's unfolded over the last couple of weeks.
Brendan Burn, of Central Florida, public media, has been covering the whole thing and he's on
“with us again. Good morning. Good morning, Steve. How did the astronauts get home?”
So the crew has been preparing their cabin for a reentry for a bit now. They're packing all of their stuff up. They're putting their seats back in place, pulling out their space suits. They're going to hit the Earth's atmosphere about 25,000 miles per hour. It's the experience. Temperatures, yeah. It's fast. It's the experience temperatures. Up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Jeff Radigan, Artemis 2, lead flight director says the whole process
will take only about 13 minutes. But I'm going to say it's 13 minutes. The things that have to go right is the way I think about it. I have a whole checklist in my head that we, you know, we're going through of all the things that have to happen. All the things that have to happen include blowing the top off the capsule so that a series of parachutes can deploy. Those parachutes will slow them down to just 20 miles per hour and they'll splash down in the
Pacific. Now, I should add mission control will lose contact with the crew for six of those 13 minutes during the reentry process. Suspense full six minutes. I'm sure 5,000 degree temperatures.
Okay.
Steve, there's always a risk when returning from space. Mission pilot Victor Glover called it like
writing a fireball through the atmosphere. Speaking from the Orion spacecraft, Glover said that he had been thinking about this portion of the mission since he was selected for it back in 2023 and he's been looking forward to it ever since. We have to get back. There's so much data that you've seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us. There's so many more pictures,
so many more stories and gosh, I haven't even begun to process what we've been through.
One thing to keep mind what you mentioned, Steve, is the heat shield. This is the piece of hardware beneath the capsule that protects the crew from those extreme temperatures during ranchery. Well, NASA tested it on the uncrewed mission that came before this one and they found the heat shield wasn't performing as designed so NASA and the Artemis II crew worked on a way to mitigate the risk. What was the solution? Well, the solution was to hit the atmosphere steeper and faster. Wow.
“It sounds kind of like the opposite of what you should do, right? But by approaching this reentry”
that way, the crew was spent less time in those really energetic moments of return and that should keep the crew safe, right, again, says as long as they get that initial approach just right. Let's not be around the bush. We have to hit that angle correctly. Otherwise we're not going to have a successful ranchery. And then what happens? Once they get down, I mean, well, there's a recovery team stationed on the USS John P. Mertha that will head out to the
capsule. They'll deploy a raft just outside the hatch, which they're calling the porch and pull the astronauts out. They'll head back to the transport ship and then hit a ride to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Their capsule will be scooped up out of the water, then
“trek to cross the country, returning it here to Florida Space Coast at about two weeks. Remember”
this is a test flight. So engineers are going to be picking apart the spacecraft to see how it performed and make any necessary changes ahead of the next mission Artemis III, which NASA wants to launch next year. I'm just enjoying the idea. They're going to be stepping out out of the porch. Brendan, thanks so much. Anytime, Steve. Let's Brendan burn from Central Florida Public Media.
He hosts the space pod cast. Are we there yet? And that's up first for this Friday, April 10th.
I'm Steve and Skip. And I'm Leila Fauden. Today's episode of Up First was
“edited by Rebecca Metzler, Jerry Holmes, Amina Khan, haven't that of her DC and Taylor Haney?”
It was produced by Zeyad Bunch and Avapu Katch. Our director is Katie Klein. We get engineering support for Misha Heines and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our executive producer is Jay Shailer. Join us again on Monday.
