Up First from NPR - Iran War Week 5, Trump's Mixed Messages, TSA Back Pay

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

Pakistan says it is ready to host U.S.-Iran talks in the coming days, but Iran is still attacking U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and other targets across the Gulf as the war enters its fifth week. President Trump is sending mixed messages on the war, claiming Iran agreed to most of his demands while threatening to obliterate its energy infrastructure if a deal isn't reached soon. And TSA workers are finally getting paychecks after more than 40 days without pay, but Congress still hasn't reached a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Gerry Holmes, Rebekah Metzler, Russell Lewis, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Adriana Gallardo.It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Ava Pukatch.Our director is Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.(0:00) Introduction(01:51) Iran War Week 5(05:23) Trump's Mixed Messages(09:15) TSA Back PayTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Pakistan says it is ready to host talks between the U.S. and Iran. But are there signs a meeting will take place as the U.S. deploys Marines to the region and Iran attacks U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia? I'm Michelle Martin. That's Laila Faddle, and this is up first from NPR News. President Trump says Iran agreed to most of his 15-point plan to end the war, but he also threatened to obliterate Iran's energy infrastructure if a deal isn't reached soon. So what's behind the mixed messaging? And some TSA workers are finally getting paychecks after more than a month without them.

But Congress still hasn't reached a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security. So when will their next paycheck come? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. Iran is allowing some ships to pass through the state of Hormuz, but the vast majority of oil and gas tankers remain trapped. And despite thousands of U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, it's still launching dozens of missiles and drones daily at Gulf countries. Joining us to talk about the latest from the Gulf is NPR International correspondent Aya Bertrawe in Dubai.

Aya, good morning. Thanks for joining us. Good morning, Michelle. So what's it like there today, more than a month into the war? Well, to begin with, this is supposed to be the peak tourism season here, but the hotels are pretty empty. You know, the government did approve a financial package to help businesses here that are suffering just yesterday. And the central bank is also allowing local banks here

to draw from cash reserves. to help with liquidity as people move their money out or defer on payments or maybe even require more loans. And then there's what we call the new normal here. You know, this is a safe haven. People are not accustomed to coming under attack. And this city does not have shelters because Dubai was never attacked by missiles before this war. But this is what it sounded like this morning just a few hours ago from my balcony. So that was the sound of missiles overhead being intercepted. There's also fighter jets overhead chasing and shooting down Iranian-made Shahid drones. which are relatively cheap to make and have caused extensive damage.

Interceptors are expensive and in limited supply, and they're being saved to shoot down those missiles you just heard. And then there's the smaller things I've noticed, Michelle, like restaurants still offering premium wagyu, beef, and other luxury items on their menus. But then I had to go to a few different grocery stores yesterday to find carrots. Dubai imports most of its food, and the main port here has been inaccessible

because the Strait of Hermuz is effectively closed now for the past month. Well, that sounds really scary. So President Trump said in an online podcast, post yesterday, that if a deal isn't reached soon with Iran to open the strait, the U.S. would blow up and obliterate Iran's electricity plans. So what can you tell us about efforts to open the street? Pakistan says it's ready to host the U.S. and Iran for a meeting in the coming days, but there is no sign that a meeting is actually happening. If anything, a couple thousand Marines are now in the area and the 82nd Airborne Division was deployed last week. It's unclear

if Trump will order them to take Iran's island that holds most of Iran's oil. But the Trump administration says U.S. diplomacy is working, and they say that's why some ships are moving through the strait. Iran, though, says there are no talks with the U.S., and it is controlling the strait. Pakistan says Iran agreed to let an additional 20 Pakistani ships pass through the strait, but that's just two a day. That's a fraction of what was passing before this war. And you just played us that sound of missiles being intercepted above you in Dubai. What can you tell us about Iran's counterattacks on other parts of the Gulf? So key aluminum plants here were hit and there was extensive damage to the one in the UAE and then also in Bahrain. And in recent days, authorities in Kuwait say Iran attacked a water desalination and power plant damaging a service building there. Now, Kuwait like other Gulf countries relies almost entirely on desalination to draw sea water out and then turn that into drinking water. And that attack came after Iran says there were power outages in parts of Tehran over the past two days from U.S. Israeli strikes. Also, NPR has confirmed from a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly that more than a dozen U.S. service members were wounded in a Friday night attack that also damaged two aircraft at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Airbase.

Now, these aircraft were equipped with radars that are key to detecting incoming threats, and they were damaged. That is NPR's Aya Bertawi in Dubai. Aya, thank you. Thanks, Michelle. That social media post from President Trump about the state of Hormuz touting negotiations while making escalating threats. It's just one example of his incandumatial. consistent messages about the war. On truth socially, he talked about how serious negotiations with Iran are, and he was probably going to make a deal soon. In that same sentence, he also threatened to, quote, conclude our lovely stay in Iran with more strikes if a deal is not reached. Monday night in another post, he shared video of what the Associated Press reports is a likely U.S. attack on the city of Isfahan.

NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivran is with us now to tell us about this. Good morning, Deepa. Good morning. So tell us more about what President Trump is saying now. Yeah, well, President Trump said yesterday on social media that the U.S. is in discussions with a, quote, new and more reasonable regime in Iran. Though at the press briefing yesterday, press secretary Caroline Levitt declined to go into detail on what that meant. Of course, anything that they say to us privately will be tested and we will ensure that

they are being held accountable to their word. And if they are not, the president has laid out the military consequences that the Iranian regime will see if they don't hold true to the words that we are hearing privately behind the scenes. And the president's post said something similar to what he's been saying for weeks, that great progress has been made in the negotiations so far. But there isn't yet an agreement on opening the Strait of Hormuz, which is a critical route for oil transportation. And Trump had previously said that April 6th was this deadline for reopening the strait. Now in his post online, he's saying that a deal needs to be reached, quote, shortly. If it's not, the U.S., he says,

will resume strikes on Iran, and Trump says they'll hit electric plants, oil wells, and possibly desalinization plants. So the timeline the administration has set for the war to end was roughly six weeks. This conflict is now in week five. But thousands more troops were sent to the region this weekend. Do we have a sense of what the administration actually believes and is planning for? Yeah, this is where some of that mixed messaging really comes in because the president has been saying things like, you know, talks with Iran have been moving forward. He thinks that a deal will be reached on the street. He's even said that the U.S. is actually way ahead of schedule on achieving their goals in Iran. So maybe that means things would wrap up early. But while he's saying all that, he's sending thousands of U.S. troops to the region.

There's going to be about 50,000 U.S. troops in the Middle East. Now, Caroline Levitt said yesterday that this is about giving the president options. It doesn't necessarily indicate any new decisions from the president. But it does leave a lot of questions as to how successful U.S. operations are, are going and how much longer this war is really going to last, how much more involved U.S. personnel might be on the ground. And I should note, while all of that is happening, Iranian leaders are denying that there are ongoing negotiations with the U.S. at all. So as you just told us, the president has been touting this war as a success so far. But what do voters think?

Right. So for his base, Republicans are largely supportive of the war and support U.S. military action in Iran. But a majority of independence and, of course, Democrats, oppose it. And that's according to polling from Quinnipiac from last week. The president continues to both do this dance, right, of ramping up pressure on Iran, threatening more military action while also trying to push negotiations. And whichever direction he goes in will have political consequences, as well as massive impacts in the region. And here at home, midterm elections are just about six months away. I was talking to a Republican strategist, Alex Cohnett, who is telling me that war usually just brings in a lot of uncertainty, which isn't really boating well for the administration

right now. But he says the election isn't tomorrow. There's still time. That is. NPS Deepa, Shavram. Deepa, thank you. Thank you. Security screeners at most U.S. airports are finally getting paid. TSA officers have started receiving their first payments since the Homeland Security shutdown began more than 40 days ago. But the shutdown has not ended and when agents will be paid next. Next is still unclear. NPR's Joel Rose is with us now with the ladies. Good morning, Joel. Good morning.

So what do we know about these payments? Well, we know they started hitting the bank accounts of many TSA screeners yesterday, and that is some relief for the roughly 50,000 TSA security officers who had been working without pay since funding lapsed more than six weeks ago. I talked last night with Johnny Jones. He's a leader with the union that represents TSA workers. The employees are happy they're receiving the money, right? There's a sense of release there because most people's bank accounts were negative.

by the time they got this payment. But at the same time, Joan says there is still a lot of anxiety and concern. These screeners still have not gotten the full amounts that they were owed. DHS says most screeners have been paid for the two full paychecks they missed, but they have not been paid yet for part of a third missed paycheck. DHS says it is working aggressively to process that one. Where is the money coming from to pay these officers?

It's a good question. President Trump signed a memo last week, ordering Homeland Security to find the money to pay TSA workers after Congress repeatedly failed to reach a deal to fund the department. Lawmakers have disagreed over calls for tighter restrictions on immigration enforcement after Homeland Security officers killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January. But that said, we still don't know exactly where the money is coming from. A lot of the Trump administration's critics are wondering if it is even legal for the White House to do this.

And if it is legal, why didn't it happen sooner? Thousands of TSA officers have called out of work since the shutdown began. and many have picked up second jobs, leading to some of the longest security lines in the agency's history. But we still don't know when those security screeners will get paid next. And of course, none of this helps other DHS staff who are still not getting paid as the shutdown continues, including staffers at FEMA and at the Coast Guard. Oh, that's a good point. There are still people who are not getting paid at all.

Okay, to those security lines, are those long lines now behind us? Well, the initial signs are good. Security lines are generally much shorter on Monday, closer to normal. but the fallout from this episode is likely not totally over yet. I talked to Caleb Harmon Marshall. He is a former TSA security officer who now writes a newsletter called Gate Access. TSA as a whole is going to have a huge problem once this is all over and done with, you know, trying to get new candidates to come and work this job.

You know, more than 500 TSA officers have quit during this shutdown, according to DHS. John, one thing people were wondering is why some airports had, long lines and not others. Do you know? I've wondered that too. I mean, we tended to see the longest lines at airports where there was a high volume of travel that day, combined with a high percentage of callouts at TSA, which sometimes hit 40 percent or more. I talked yesterday to a former high-ranking TSA officer at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, which had four-hour security lines at times over the past month. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. He told me Houston has always been a tough labor market for TSA.

and that when the oil and gas industry was doing well, his workforce would often quit and take jobs there. So maybe that was a factor this time in Houston. But why did we see such high callouts at other airports in places like Atlanta, in New York, in New Orleans, in Baltimore? I don't know if we're ever going to know. That is. NPR Transportation correspondent Joel Rose. Joel, thank you. You're welcome. Before you go, could you please take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app? accuracy and depth are at the heart of what we do here at NPR.

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No. And that's up first for Tuesday. March 31st. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Layla Faldon. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Jerry Holmes, Rebecca Metzler, Russell Lewis, Muhammad al-Bardisi, and Adriana Gallardo. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Ava Pookech. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. Join us again tomorrow.