Up First from NPR - Hormuz Negotiations, Michigan Senate Race, Trump Talks Economy

Starting point is 00:00:00 President Trump has claimed several times that a deal to reopen the strait of Hormuz is close. Now Iran is saying it too, but in a deal that is being negotiated directly with Oman. I'm Michelle Martin. That's Laila Fadl, and this is up first from NPR News. Progressive Abdul El-Said leaked out a primary victory for a Michigan Senate seat. He now faces former GOP congressman Mike Rogers in November. What does El-Said need to do to win in a state that voted for President Trump two years ago? And President Trump traveled to Las Vegas where he claimed the economy was fine and blamed Democrats for high prices. The economy is the greatest economy we've ever had by far.

Starting point is 00:00:42 What do voters say? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. Iran's deputy foreign minister says his country is close to a deal to allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The deal may not even involve the U.S. Instead, it's being hammered out between Iran and Oman, which is located on the southern edge of the strait, one of the most important waterways for oil and gas exports. To discuss what the deal might entail, we're joined now by reporter Samir Hashmi in Dubai. Good morning, Samir. Good morning. So what do we know about this potential agreement?

Starting point is 00:01:19 Well, Iran says that the deal with Oman is in its final stages, but hasn't shared the precise details. What the country's deputy foreign minister, Kazim Uri Babadi said is that the talks with Oman have covered technical arrangements, the security details, and a proposed. joint coordination center between the two countries to manage maritime traffic. Now, he was also speaking to Iran's state media, and in an interview he said that under the proposed arrangement, temporary routes would allow ships to pass through Iran's waters and exit through Oman's waters. Now, Iranian officials have also stated that this would not

Starting point is 00:01:59 be the complete reopening of the street. And according to Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, and Ismail Bhaegh, when he was speaking to the press, he said that the deal with Oman would not guarantee safe navigation due to, quote, a U.S. blockade of Iran's ports. Now, these negotiations have been on for the last three weeks, and they're hoping to, they're on the verge of finalizing it is what these officials are saying. Is the U.S. involved at all in these talks? Well, Iran denies it. Iran says it's directly negotiating with Oman, and it's not talking to the United States.

Starting point is 00:02:33 However, we heard from President Trump earlier this week saying that the U.S. was in talks with Iran, and they were also discussing the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. And he also threatened that this was Tehran's last chance for a deal, otherwise the U.S. would strike them again. And he also said yesterday that he expects the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to be announced soon in the next few days. And the talks have made progress. Yeah, and we should point out this was all open to shipping before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran more than five. months ago. Will the deal give Iran de facto control of the street? It's tough to say at this stage, because we don't know the exact details of this deal that has been hammered between Iran and Oman. But if you see the statements that have come out from Iran over the past few months since the

Starting point is 00:03:20 war started, and even during the ceasefire, which was announced in June, Iranian officials have insisted that they need to have some sort of control over the strait, whether it's taking permission from Iranian officials, ships taking permission from them or paying a toll. So they have made those statements consistently. So there are talks to open the Strait of Hormuz again, but that hasn't stopped the attacks. There were attacks on another key shipping route on the Red Sea. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, on Wednesday, the Houthis, which is the Yemeni group backed by Iran, Iran-backed militia. They said that they had struck two Saudi oil tankers on Wednesday on the at sea, and they also threatened to intensify these attacks in an effort to close all access routes

Starting point is 00:04:06 to Saudi oil shipments. Now, this is a critical route to export oil for the Saudis, especially since the Strait of Wormoz's shut. So the Saudis are relying on this route to send shipments carrying oil since the war started. So if this is also blocked, it would add more uncertainty for oil supplies coming out from this region and add to the oil volatility that we have been seeing. That's a reporter Samir Hashmi in Dubai. Thank you so much for your reporting. Thank you very much. A pivotal race for an open Senate seat in Michigan is now fully underway. Progressives are celebrating the narrow primary victim of Abdul El Seid, a former public health official who campaigned on Medicare for all.

Starting point is 00:04:54 In a few minutes, we'll ask former President Barack Obama's chief strategist how he would advise El Seid. But first, a preview of what lies ahead as the Michigan Democrat prepares to face former Republican. Congressman Mike Rogers. Colin Jackson of the Michigan Public Radio Network joins us to discuss what's next now that the primary election is over. Good morning, Colin. Good morning. So let's start with why this race is so competitive. Michigan is a swing state. What does that mean for the Senate race? You know, well, President Trump won Michigan in 2024, but a Republican hasn't won a U.S. Senate race here since the 90s. You have Democratic strongholds in southeast Michigan, you know, think Detroit or Ann Arbor, and pockets around college. towns and population centers like Grand Rapids and Lansing. But West Michigan, northern Michigan, you know, minus a few places here and there are generally redder. And to borrow a term, El-Said will have to lose by less in those rural areas to win the state. Tell us how El-Said will

Starting point is 00:05:51 try to go about doing that. During the primary, El-Syid pushed a populist platform that he often boiled down to three slogans, money out of politics, Medicare for All, and money in your pocket. He built a younger coalition campaigning alongside Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other progressive voices. And he beat Congresswoman Haley Stevens, a moderate in the primary. And, you know, she relied on a traditional coalition of black, working class, and Jewish voters. Now, El-Sai is going to have to appeal to those voters. He's already calling for a Democrats to unite behind him to defeat Mike Rogers. He said that on morning edition on Tuesday. We also know that what unites us is way bigger than what divides us. We know that Trumpism has been just a colossal failure. We know that to

Starting point is 00:06:35 defeat Trumpism, we're going to have to defeat Trump's handpicked candidate for U.S. Senate. What messaging are we hearing from Mike Rogers, the Republican? Mike Rogers is an establishment Republican with a long track record in office, but he can also appeal to the MAGA base. And Rogers is already trying to paint El-Sayyad, who is Muslim, as a communist and an extremist. You know, Rogers' reaction statement to the wind included some dog whistles referencing terrorism and baselessly linking El Sayyad to the Muslim Brotherhood. You know, El Saeed, who is the son of Egyptian immigrants, you know, he said he's dealt with this his whole life and he considers it baseless fear-mongering. Rogers is also saying that he understands the concerns of blue-collar voters. You know, here he is in an interview on Fox News recently.

Starting point is 00:07:19 We need a senator to fight for these jobs, to fight for these defense industrial-based jobs. I'm the only guy in the race that actually worked on a car assembly line, Chrysler-Laborin convertible. Who doesn't want one of those? I will tell you that we're feeling pretty good about where we're going. El-Saiyat does have the UAW endorsement, but blue-collar workers are still pretty much a big factor here. Okay, so a lot of fear-mongering around El-Sayat's faith. What are some of the main challenges for each campaign to win in November? Rogers will have to balance appealing to MAGA Republicans, but also not turning off the

Starting point is 00:07:55 independents who are largely against Trump here. Meanwhile, El-Said is going to need to bring in people that he may have turned off back to his side. You know, think some Oakland County Jewish voters in Metro Detroit who have issues with his criticism as Israel. There is establishment voters and moderate Dems who do think he's too extreme. And he'll also need to contend with the big fundraising gap. In the primary race, APEC and other outside groups spent over $60 million against him. Republican groups are pledging a lot of money against him too. And APEC says it's committed to keeping outside out of office. That's Michigan Public Radio Network's Colin Jackson in Detroit.

Starting point is 00:08:29 Thank you, Colin. Thank you. President Trump traveled back to Las Vegas to try and pitch voters that his economic agenda is working. I saw polls today on television. I say, Donald's Trump polls on the economy aren't good. The economy is the greatest economy we've ever had by far. In a city that relies heavily on tourism, though,

Starting point is 00:08:56 tipped workers say Trump's policies are not helping. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Chivram is. is in Las Vegas and joins us now. Good morning, Deepa. Good morning. So polling does show Trump's approval rating on the economy is dipping. Even among his own supporters, what was his message yesterday in Las Vegas? Yeah, Trump is really struggling when it comes to trying to sell his economic agenda as prices of goods have gotten higher since the U.S. and Israel started war with Iran. A new Reuters-Ipsos poll shows that for the first time in almost 10 years, more Americans prefer Democrats to Republicans on handling the economy. And that's bad news for Republicans in the

Starting point is 00:09:34 upcoming midterm elections. But in the last few months, I will say Trump's message hasn't really changed much. He continues to insist that the economy is great. He says any high prices are there because he inherited it from Democrats. And he says people are making money thanks to his policies, including no taxes on tips. Now you spoke with some workers in Vegas. Are policies like no tax on tips popular? Yeah, I chatted with several. workers in Vegas, some of whom said they did see higher tax refunds this year. But I also spoke to workers who said there are economic factors, other ones, that are making things difficult. Mario Sandoval is one of those workers. He's been a server at Binion's Steakhouse in downtown Las Vegas for 40 years. And he referred to himself as a tipped worker, but he put the tipped part in air quotes. And I asked him why. I've experienced 9-11, 2008, the pandemic.

Starting point is 00:10:30 And I have to tell you, our income right now is at the level of 9-11. It's bad. He says people aren't eating out and tipping the way they used to. So he's getting tips, but not as much. Now, any worker in Vegas will point out that June, July, and August are the slower months for tourist season here. But Sandoval says his restaurant started seeing a decline last year. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, tourism did decline more than 7% in 2025. And there was a noticeable drop in visitors from Canada, which is a nationwide trend after Trump's soured relations with Canada over tariffs and, you know, saying that he wants to make them the 51st state.

Starting point is 00:11:13 So Trump is here plugging no tax on tips as a way to put money back in people's pockets. But there are a lot of folks in Vegas I spoke with who say that with declining tourism and higher prices, it's not. not enough. How are Republican candidates there trying to message around Trump's policies? Yeah, the interesting thing I noticed while spending time here is that while Trump is on stage saying his economy is a success and at times mocking the idea of affordability, Republicans like Marty O'Donnell, who's running for Congress in this area, are taking a little bit of a different approach. He's trying to argue that life should be more affordable, that one job should be enough to get by. It's actually kind of a similar argument to what Democratic

Starting point is 00:11:53 candidates are saying here too. So I found that really striking that someone like O'Donnell, who supports President Trump, is making a pitch on stage that sounds really different than how the president talks about the economy. Did Trump talk at all about some of the latest primary results? Yeah, for a speech that was billed as talking about his economic agenda, Trump spent a lot of time talking about a lot of other things, including some of the races from Tuesday night. He specifically railed against Dr. Abdul-El-Said, a progressive candidate who won the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, and he criticized Wisconsin's Francesca Hong, who's running for governor. And Trump brought up some things he's been talking about more recently, which is how the direction of the Democratic Party,

Starting point is 00:12:33 he says, is trending toward communism, which Trump says is a threat. But in his remarks, he also implied that Republicans would face off better against more left-wing Democratic candidates. And he said he thinks he's, quote, happy that Elsa had won. That's NPR's Deepa Shiverham. Thank you, Deepa. Thank you. And that's up first for Thursday, August 6th. I'm Leila Faldon. And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of A First was edited by Padmarama, Tina Craya, Rebecca Metzler, H.J. Mai, and Alice Wolfly.

Starting point is 00:13:07 It was produced by Zia Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Highness and Patrick Murray. Our technical director is Carly Strange. And our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

Up First from NPR - Hormuz Negotiations, Michigan Senate Race, Trump Talks Economy

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