Up First from NPR - US-Iran Talks, Texas ICE Shooting Trial, Rev. Jesse Jackson Dies At 84

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

U.S. and Iranian officials meet again in Geneva as the Trump administration sends more military forces to the region while pressing Tehran to limit its nuclear program.Nine defendants go on trial in Texas over a shooting outside an ICE detention center, in a case federal prosecutors are framing as terrorism and defense attorneys say grew out of a protest.And Reverend Jesse Jesse Jackson, the civil leader, presidential candidate and longtime advocate for racial and economic justice, has died at age 84.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, Alfredo Carbajal, Kara Platoni, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.Our director is Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Simon-Laslo Janssen.Our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.(0:00) Introduction(02:17) US-Iran Talks(05:40) Texas ICE Shooting Trial(09:26) Rev. Jesse Jackson Dies At 84Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ladies and gentlemen, with a call to action, Layla Fottle. Good morning, up first listeners. In a world that changes fast, staying informed really matters. Follow up first on your podcast app so the day's top stories are waiting for you when you wake up. The U.S. and Iran negotiate in Geneva today over Iran's nuclear program and possibly much more. The Trump administration keeps building up military assets in the region. what happens if talks fall apart. I'm Stevenskeep with Leila Faddle, and this is up first from NPR News.

Nine people go to trial today over a non-fatal shooting outside an ICE detention center in Texas. Defendants say a protest got out of control while prosecutors label it terrorism. The administration is going to go to great lengths to paint a picture of any far-left-per-sea violence as being Antifa-oriented. And Reverend Jesse Jackson has died. at 84. His significant legacy carried the message of the civil rights movement from the streets to the national political stage. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. Representatives from the U.S. and Iran negotiated for more than three hours in Geneva today. This is the second time in as many weeks that the two sides discussed limiting Iran's nuclear program.

The U.S. has wanted concessions from Iran beyond that nuclear program and its ally Israel wants a lot more. Americans have paired the talks with a threat positioning military force in the region. NPR's International Affairs correspondent Jackie Northam is following these developments, and she joins me now. Good morning. Morning, Leila. So Jackie, this is another round of talks today between the U.S. and Iran. Can we expect any sort of breakthrough? Well, it's a good sign that both sides are still open to negotiations.

As with the last run of indirect talks in Oman, it would be U.S. Special Envoy's Steve Wickoff and the President Sunilah, Jared Kushner, meeting with Iran's foreign minister Abbas Arachi. Although President Trump said Monday that he would be involved in the talks indirectly, both the U.S. and Iran are still firm in their demands. President Trump doesn't want Iran to possess nuclear weapons, and so wants zero enrichment. But Iran assists it has the right to enrich uranium for research and civilian uses. There are other important issues to address, such as Iran's ballistic missile arsenal, its use of proxies in the region, and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Okay, so it sounds as though both sides are dug in on key issues. Is there any sense of compromise?

Well, Iran has indicated it could be open to curbing, not eliminating its nuclear program, and it brought a large technical team with it to Geneva as a gesture that it's serious. I spoke with Sonam Vakil, and she's an Iran specialist at Chatham House, which is a London-based think tank. and she says Iran is in a weaker bargaining position than the U.S. because it's in dire economic straits. Here she is. The Islamic Republic needs sanctions relief. The country just saw massive protests spread across Iran really precipitated by collapsing currency and high inflation. But, you know, Lela, thousands of Iranians were killed by security forces during those protests,

according to human rights groups. So any concessions by the U.S. could be seen as rewarding the authoritarian. regime. And in fact, Trump recently said regime change in Iran would be, quote, the best that could happen. And this, of course, as a second aircraft carrier heads towards the region. Yeah, so Trump continuing to signal that military intervention is possible. And Iran is not the only thing Whitkoff and Kushner are dealing with, right? They're also holding discussions on the war in Ukraine. Just as we are about to mark the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, what's going on with those negotiations? Well, you're right. Yeah, Whitkoff and Kushner are addressing

these two major crises on the very same day. And there are even lower expectations of a breakthrough with the Ukraine talks and the Iran ones. This is only recently Ukraine and Russia have done face-to-face meetings and that could indicate some pressure by Trump. You recall during his presidential campaign, he said he'd stop the war on one day.

Now he says he wants to deal by June, but there is no real end to the war in the site. And it's set to enter its fifth year next week. That's NPR's Jackie Northam. Thank you, Jackie. Thank you. Nine people are set to go on trial today in a federal court in Fort Worth, Texas. They're standing trial in connection to a non-fatal shooting outside an ICE detention facility last July 4th.

On that date, about a dozen people protested outside the Prairaland Detention Center, which is in Alvaredo, Texas. They objected to President Trump's immigration crackdown and deportation efforts. Police and prosecutors say shots were fired and a local police officer was injured. Penelope Rivera with member station KERA in Dallas joins me to talk more about how the federal government is prosecuting this case. Good morning. Good morning. So tell us more about the shooting. What happened? So the people that gathered there that night said that it was meant to be a noise demonstration with fireworks to show solidarity with those inside the facility. According to the affidavit, 11 people showed up around 10.30 p.m., and some people started setting off fireworks while others graffitied cars in the parking lot.

Then 20 minutes later, when a local police officer arrived, someone from a nearby woods began shooting. Those 11 protesters were arrested for being there that night, but there's now 19 people total charged for having an alleged connection to the incident. But different defendants face different charges. Okay, so people at protests get arrested often, but this is different. What's unusual about the charges the federal government is bringing in this case? So what's unique about it in this case is the type of charges that the federal government has filed. Eight people are facing providing material to support terrorist charges. One of the nine is accused of attempted murder of a federal officer.

The U.S. Attorney's Office called the indictment against the nine defendants, the first in the country against a group of violent Antifa cell members. Jason Blasakis, executive director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism. so there's no doubt that something bad happened the 9th of July 4th. But he says it's a stretch to connect this case to prosecute protesters as members of Antifa. I think we see the blueprint with the charges from July 4th that the administration is going to go to great lengths and really act as a contortionist to try to paint a picture of any far-left-per-seve violence as being Antifa-oriented. Last September, the Trump administration declared Antifa a domestic terrorist organization,

and it's the first of its kind in history. What are the defendants saying about the charges? Well, prosecutors called the shooting an ambush and a coordinated attack against law enforcement, and I've communicated with six of the individuals and arrested in connection to the protest. That includes Megan Morris. She told me that she attended to show support for those detained

at the Prairie Land Detention Center and had no indication that anything violent was meant to occur that night. This whole narrative that the government wants to spin about a pre-planned ambush, That's ridiculous. That's a suicide mission, right? I have a family. I have friends. I have all these things that I would not give up just to roll up and commit some senseless act of violence against a random police officer. She pled not guilty and maintains her innocence. So what could the repercussions of this case be? So there's no federal criminal statute to charge people for domestic terrorism like there is for foreign terrorism. And it's still unclear whether the president has the authority to designate people or group. as domestic terrorists.

According to former federal prosecutors I've talked to, if the government succeeds in getting these individuals convicted, it could have nationwide implications for how alleged left-wing movements are prosecuted. That was Penelope Rivera from KERA in Texas. Thank you, Penelope. Thank you. We're following the news of the death of Jesse Jackson,

the Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson of Chicago, A family statement says he died at age 84, surrounded by family, some years after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. NPR's Cheryl Corley covered him and is on the line. Cheryl, good morning. Good morning, Steve. Remarkable life stretches across a good part of the 20th century and a bit of the 21st. Can you work us through some of the details? Yeah. First, I'm going to say that although he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, He was later, it was confirmed that he had this rare brain disorder called progressive supernuclear palsy,

which affects the ability to move and to speak. But even so, Jesse Jackson really just continued throughout his life to protest against racial injustice, even appearing at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It was held a couple of years ago. And so just continued his activism. You know, he began that activism early on in his life. life when he was actually in college, went to college at North Carolina, A&T, and became a leader in the lunch counter sit-ins that were protesting whites-only policies at restaurants at the time. And he'd go on to

join Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC. And was present for the assassination of Martin Luther King? Yeah, he was present for that. He actually split with SCLC after King's death and founded the organization that he's known for Operation Push, which later merged with his National Rainbow Coalition, became Rainbow Push. And so he really crisscrossed the country, pushing for a greater share of political and economic power for African Americans and the poor. And he also did a lot of work around the globe, spotlighting a kind of plethora of domestic and international problems. What was it like when he ran for president in 1984 and 88? You know, I wasn't there for 84, but that was such a map for what was to come later. In 1988, when he ran for president,

you know, there were all these people pushing saying run, Jesse run, and all of that. You know, it began with voter registration drives, which were on the push agenda. And in 1983, he had launched this national voter registration drive and with those crowds chanting, run, Jesse Run, urging him to run for president. And that November, he actually told supporters that he would seek the Democratic nomination. Our time from the State House

to the courthouse to the White House. Our time has come. Give us a couple of thoughts of what it was like to cover him in 1988, Cheryl. Oh, man, it was amazing. He was so charismatic and he drew so many people to him. He won more than 7 million votes during that run

and became the first African-American candidate to win major primaries. And his convention speech just electrified Democrats who were waving their red-white flags and their red-white Jesse signs as well. Actually, let's listen to that clip as we go out. More Jesse Jackson here. America will get better and better. Keep hope alive.

Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive. Jesse Jackson. Cheryl Corley, thank you so much. You're welcome. And that's up first for Tuesday, February 17th. I'm Leila Fawden. And I'm Steve Inskeep.

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I don't know. Today's episode of Up First was edited by James Heider, Alfredo Carbajal, Carabal, Kara Plotoni, Mohammed Abaradisi, and Alice Wolfely. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Neo Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines, and our technical director is Simon Lassel Janssen. Our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson.

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