Up First from NPR - US-Iran Talks, Summers Resigns Over Epstein Ties, Cuba Kills Four In Boat Strike

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

U.S. and Iranian officials are meeting in Switzerland for another round of high-level talks. The talks will focus on Iran’s nuclear program, but the U.S. also wants ballistic missile restrictions.Harvard professor and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is resigning from his university positions over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Also, Cuban border agents shot and killed four alleged terrorists on a boat registered in the U.S.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 James Hider, Tina Kraja, Elissa Nadworny, Tara Neill, HJ Mai and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.Our director is Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Our Deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.(0:00) Introduction(02:13) US-Iran Talks (06:02) Summers Resigns Over Epstein Ties(09:59) Cuba Kills Four In Boat StrikeLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Good morning, A. Hello. Good morning. Well, we miss you already. Really? Wow. Because you were here and we enjoyed your company? I find that hard to believe.

U.S. and Iranian officials are meeting today. President Trump is still considering military strikes. The talks will focus on Iran's nuclear program, but the U.S. also wants ballistic missiles on the table is a deal possible. Tommy Martinez, that is Michelle Martin, and this is up first from end. NPR News. Harvard professor and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is resigning from the university.

His high profile has become the kind of pall that's been cast upon the university at a time where the university hardly needs any more burdens. It's the latest consequence triggered by the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And Cuban border agents shot and killed four people on a U.S. registered boat. The Cuban government described them as terrorists who tried to infiltrate the island. Who were these men? Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day. This is Ira Glass. On this American life, we look for stories that are surprising. And you won't hear anywhere else. Like, for example, this one astronaut who went to the moon, you know what he's not into? Space. Was it cool to float around waitless?

No, no, no. This American Life, unexpected stories, wherever you get your podcast. Life Kit can help you change your life in record time. In just about 20 minutes, a Life Kit episode gives you evidence-based tips you can put into practice that day. No fast-forwarding to get to the good stuff. Just smart, straightforward advice right away. Listen to the Life Kit podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. U.S. and Iranian officials are meeting today in Geneva to discuss Tehran's nuclear program in what seems like a last chance to avert war.

That's after President Trump claimed without providing evidence in his state of the union address on Tuesday that Iran is building missiles that will soon be able to reach the United States. NPS Jane Araf is following the talks from Amman Jordan and is with us now to tell us more. Good morning, Jane. Good morning, Michelle. So these are the third high-level talks between Iran and the U.S. in this round of negotiations over curbing Iran's nuclear program. If you would just remind us about the background against which this is all taking place. So Israel attacked Iran last June and those were followed by. U.S. air strikes just before scheduled negotiations. So that obviously put a halt, a dramatic halt to those talks. These ones now are an even bigger deal because of the U.S. military

buildup in the Middle East, the biggest since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. So those U.S. threats against Iran and the probable Iranian retaliation have raised what seems to be a very real risk of a wider war. And it has the entire region in the state of high. high alert. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to reporters late Wednesday. He said he didn't know if today's talks were the key for a decision on military action, but he added this. That would be good if progress was made on Thursday. And I would say that the Iranian insistence on not discussing ballistic missiles is a big, big problem. I'll leave it at that. So in addition to uranium enrichment being discussed, the U.S. is demanding that Iran give up

ballistic weapons as well. You know, it's interesting, Jane, that both sides seem to be tamping down, expectations of any breakthrough today? So just give us a sense of the state of play and what can be accomplished. Sure. The Amani foreign minister, who's mediating the talks, is going to relay the Iranian counterproposals that he received to the U.S. delegation this morning. That delegation has headed by Steve Whitkoff, the billionaire real estate developer appointed by President Trump as a special Middle East envoy and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The Iranian foreign minister, Abbasarakj, said yesterday there was basis for some agreement with the U.S. on the nuclear issue, but he makes clear that ballistic missiles are not on the table.

Iran has said that expecting it to give up its national defense assets is a demand driven by Israel, and he calls it a recipe for failure in negotiations. So, bottom line, no breakthrough is expected today. But if more talks are scheduled, that itself has seen as progress. And this demand for no nuclear or ballistic weapons is not all that this administration wants from Iran. So tell us more about that. The administration is also demanding that Iran stopped support for our militant groups in other countries. It has demanded that it halt its crackdown on Iranian anti-government protests in which thousands of people,

mostly protesters, have been killed by security forces. Limited protests restarted in Iran last weekend. Ultimately, though, there's that specter of terror of terror. toppling the regime. Trump in February said regime change in Iran would be the best thing that could happen. So that really is hanging over everything. As well as the specter of this wider war, I take it the rest of the regions dealing with that. Things are quite tense, actually. A lot of countries are advising their citizens to leave some countries in the Middle East while they can. Oil prices are higher. All of these countries in the Middle East are seen at risk because so many of them

have U.S. bases. That's NPR's JANRF. Jane, thank you. Thank you. Harvard professor and economist Larry Summers announced he will resign from teaching there later this year. This comes after more was revealed about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Harvard is continuing to investigate Summers and others for their ties to the convicted sex offender. Suvonne Lee from WBUR and Boston is here to tell us more. Good morning, Suvon. Good morning, Michelle. So catch us up to these developments. They seem to be happening pretty rapidly. Sure. So both Summers and Harvard announced. his resignation in separate statements. Summer said his decision to retire was, quote, difficult.

He said he will be always grateful to his students and colleagues. Summers had been on academic leave since new emails with Jeffrey Epstein surfaced in November. Those emails shed more light on their tight relationship. They discussed Summers' interest in a woman outside his marriage, and they banter about Epstein being Summers' wingman. Summers had stopped teaching his fall courses and step back from public appearances. So for him to announce that he's retiring doesn't totally come out of left field. A Harvard spokesman said Summers's resignation comes in connection to the school's ongoing review and to the new Epstein files released by the government. Now, it's unclear what is affiliation with the school will be, but the spokesman tells me he won't receive the honorary

title of Professor Emeritus. Can we just clarify here, is he resigning or is he just retiring sooner than perhaps was expected? Well, Summers' statement said that he was retired. He was hiring. However, the Harvard University statement said that at least the dean of the Harvard Kennedy School accepts his resignation from being a co-director at that center in connection to the school's new investigation. Interesting. Okay, so remind us, if you would, about why there's so much attention on Larry Summers? Sure. So Summers is one of the most well-known figures at Harvard. He's a prominent economist. He was Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton. And he was Harvard's president for five years, starting in 2001. During his tenure, Epstein gave millions of dollars to the

university. We know Summers kept up a personal correspondence with the late financier even after Epstein's first conviction in 2008. That continued until 2019, shortly before Epstein's arrest on charges of federal sex trafficking of minors. Summers hasn't been accused of any criminal wrongdoing, but the emails demonstrate the closeness he had to Epstein. And what are other faculty they're saying. Yeah, so I've been talking with faculty since these emails came to light in November. Some applauded Harvard's decision to reopen investigations into Epstein's ties with professors. Summers's retirement doesn't come as a huge surprise. Here's Timothy Patrick McCarthy, who's among the faculty at Harvard's Kennedy School. His high profile has become not just a

distraction for Harvard to have to deal with, but the kind of Paul that's been cast upon the university. at a time where the university hardly needs any more burdens. And McCarthy is referring there to what he called President Trump's full frontal assault on higher ed. I also talked with Theta Scotchpole, a government professor at Harvard. She told me Summers' departure is also a loss. Despite his repeated failures of good judgment, this is somebody who has a lot to offer intellectual life

and was a valued teacher by many Harvard students. Not just Harvard, though. He had relationships with faculty and other academic institutions, as we recall. Right. A handful of professors and at least one college president are among the names in the Epstein files. A math professor at Harvard was just

placed on administrative leave. Bard College, a small liberal art school in New York, is investigating its longtime president Leon Botstein for emails that show a deeper friendship to Epstein. Each day is bringing new developments. It's kind of like, what consequences will be next?

That is WBURS, Suvonne Lee, Suvon, thank you. Thank you. The Cuban government says its border troops engaged in a gunfight with a boat registered in Florida and killed four people on board. The government says they were, quote, terrorists trying to infiltrate the island. NPR's Ader Peralta is following this story from his base in Mexico City. Adder, good morning. Hey, good morning, Michelle.

So how did this happen? Well, the Cuban government says this boat was registered in Florida and it ventured into Cuban territorial waters. They say when Cuban border troops approached the vessel, The people on board opened fire. Cuban troops then returned fire, killing four people on that boat and injuring the other six. The Cuban government also said the captain of its vessel was injured. Cuba's interior ministry says that the men on the boats had, quote, terrorist intent. They said they recovered assault rifles, handguns, and Molotov cocktails. The Cuban government, as I understand it, released a list of people that they say were on the boat.

Do we know anything about them? Yeah, the Cuban government says that some of these people were known to them. They were Cubans living in the U.S., and some of them had been designated as terrorists by the Cuban government. We were able to learn about one of the survivors. His name is Amahil Sanchez-Gonzales, and he runs a group called Auto-Defenza del Pueblo, or the people's self-defense group. And I spoke to his friend, Kiki Naranjo. They run the organization together, and he says that over the past few years, they've been recruiting Cubans inside the island to build a clandestine society.

Essentially, he says the point is to sabotage the Cuban government. from the inside. And Naranjo says he did not know of the plans that Sanchez had, but that he would have been proud to be on that boat. None of those men, he told me, are terrorists. All of them are men who want Cuba to be free, he says, but they grew tired. They got tired of promises of presidents, they got tired of promises of deputado. They got tired.

of promises from presidents. They got tired of promises from Congress. And I pressed him a little bit because the Trump administration is also very much turning up the pressure on Cuba. The U.S. has enacted an oil blockade, driven the country to the brink of collapse. And I asked Narang Ho if he didn't think that was enough to topple the government. And he replied, the only thing the Cuban government understands is bullets. So what could be the fallout of this incident, which I think many people realize it's taking place against a background of some tense moments already between the U.S. and Cuba. Yeah, I mean, look, the first thing everyone thought when they heard this news was Brothers to the Rescue. And 30 years ago this week, the Cuban government shot down the plane of a U.S. organization that helped rescue Cuban migrants out at sea.

Four people were killed. And the U.S. Congress reacted by codifying the embargo against Cuba. Those sanctions are still in place today. Yesterday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, we're not jumping to conclusions. We're going to investigate. And I spoke to Michael Bustamante who studies Cuba at the University of Miami, and he says this will no doubt inflamed tensions in South Florida, but he was surprised by how measured Rubio's comments were.

I think the Trump administration seems torn between actually wanting to escalate things with Cuba beyond a point, but then also fearing the consequences. And those consequences, he said it could be mass migration or regime change triggering a U.S. military intervention, which he doesn't think Trump wants. That is, NPR's Ada Peralta reporting from Mexico's, City. Ader, thank you. Thank you, Michelle. And that's up first for Thursday, February 26.

I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm May Martinez. Today's episode of Up First was edited by James Heider. Tina Kriya, Melissa Nad Wernie, Tar Neal, H.J. Mai and Alice Wolfley was produced by Zad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Carly

Strange. Our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. Join us again tomorrow.