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A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The U.S. and Iran are expected to sign a deal this Friday, but very few have actually seen what’s in it.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Big questions remain over billions in frozen Iranian funds and the continued Israeli occupation and attacks in Lebanon. Israel asked to see the agreement and was turned down.
MARTÍNEZ: I’m A Martínez. That’s Leila Fadel, and this is UP FIRST from NPR News.
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MARTÍNEZ: President Trump wraps up three days at the G7 summit in France today. He says Iran is in the rearview, but Israel is hurting his efforts for peace.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’ve had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.
MARTÍNEZ: He wants to focus on ending the war in Ukraine.
FADEL: And a candidate backed by President Trump won the Republican nomination for Georgia’s Senate seat, but his pick for governor lost to a billionaire who spent more than $100 million of his own money. Stay with us. We have the news you need to start your day.
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FADEL: Vice President JD Vance is headed to Switzerland this Friday to sign a tentative deal to end the war with Iran.
MARTÍNEZ: But the details are still unknown, even to Israel, America’s partner in this war. So while the two went into this war together, how to end it is driving a wedge between them.
FADEL: Joining us to discuss this and more is NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy, who is in Cairo. Good morning.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So this agreement is being signed on Friday. And, Aya, I feel like I’ve been asking this since we first reported on it at the beginning of the week. Is there any more clarity on what is actually being agreed to here?
BATRAWY: Yeah. I mean, well, Iran is giving some indications of what this really centers on, and it’s three main points. They say the first is ending the war. The second is that Iran would open the Strait of Hormuz again for commercial shipping. And the third is that the U.S. would end its blockade of Iranian ports. And Iran says that already this week, ships have been reaching Iranian ports ever since this deal was announced.
Now, Iran also says that this is a 1 1/2-page memorandum of understanding and that after it is signed on Friday, the two sides will sit down for talks on Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. sanctions. And for those talks, Vance will be sitting across from Iran’s chief negotiator, who is Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. He’s a senior politician and a former commander in the Revolutionary Guard.
FADEL: OK, beyond Iran opening the Strait of Hormuz – which, by the way, was fully open before this war to oil tankers and ships – what do you know about what each side gets here?
BATRAWY: So Vance has been on a media blitz, pitching this as a good deal. He says Iran will dilute its highly enriched uranium and never be able to build a nuclear weapon. And Trump continues to say that once the Strait of Hormuz is open, gas prices in the U.S. will plummet. But Iran says it is getting money – a lot – under this deal. Iranian media say $12 billion in frozen assets will be released in the initial phase of the coming 60-day period and that billions more will come as nuclear talks progress. But Vance says Iranians won’t see any money until they’ve changed their behavior, but he hasn’t denied that Iranian funds will be unlocked in this deal.
FADEL: You know, Israel and the United States started this war together. Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. told NPR on this show yesterday that Israel doesn’t even know what’s in this agreement. So how is that going to affect talks?
BATRAWY: It’s important to remember, Leila, that Trump and every country in this region – from Egypt to Pakistan to the Gulf Arab states to Turkey – they all want this war to end, except for Israel. This is hurting their economies. But Iran insists that any ceasefire agreement has to include Israel’s war in Lebanon against the Iran-backed Hezbollah. And last night, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard issued a warning saying that if Israel does not stop those attacks in Lebanon, it should expect a harsh response from Iran. And Iran also says that the first clause of that deal being signed on Friday says that attacks on Lebanon will be halted, but that hasn’t happened yet.
And look; this is a major wedge issue now between Israel and the U.S. Trump has admitted to cursing at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in calls, and you can hear his frustration yesterday in comments he made at the G7 summit in France.
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TRUMP: I’ll tell you what. Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long, and too many people are being killed. And you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah. That I can tell you.
BATRAWY: But these wars are popular in Israel, Leila, and Netanyahu faces elections this year, and it’s important that he demonstrates Israel’s policies are not being dictated by the White House. And he says Israel will remain in Lebanon for as long as necessary, but Iran says it views any continued occupation of Lebanon as a violation of this initial agreement.
FADEL: That’s NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy in Cairo. Thank you, Aya.
BATRAWY: Thanks, Leila.
FADEL: President Trump wraps up a three-day visit to France, where he’s meeting with world leaders at the G7 summit.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, this afternoon, he will hold a press conference, where he’s expected to field questions about his uncertain agreement to end the war with Iran.
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TRUMP: We have our deal done with Iran, and it should be successful. It goes to a second stage, which I think will be actually easier.
MARTÍNEZ: But before leaving, he will stop at the opulent Palace of Versailles for dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron.
FADEL: NPR’s White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez has been traveling with the president, and he joins us now from Evian. Hi, Franco.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hey, Leila.
FADEL: So President Trump has been touting his agreement all week, but he has yet to really release any details, any specific details. Why is that raising concerns?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, I mean, it’s because the details of the agreement are so crucial. I mean, most experts and former officials that I speak with largely support this. I mean, it’s a step toward the end of fighting, and putting something in writing helps hold the sides accountable.
Now, Trump may say the second stage is easier, but I was speaking with Katherine Thompson, who worked on Middle East policy in Trump’s Defense Department and is now at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, and she told me the next 60 days are crucial, and it’s where it really gets hard. And that’s because the thorniest issues are still on the table, like what happens to the nuclear material that Iran still has and what is the U.S. really prepared to do regarding sanctions relief.
KATHERINE THOMPSON: I am skeptical that we are going to achieve something in 60 days. I think that’s a really ambitious timeline.
FADEL: You know, the U.S. started with this war with Israel, and now Israel’s a potential spoiler, right? Their leadership has been really vocal about not wanting to comply with Iran’s demands in Lebanon. How do they fit in here?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I expect that’s going to be another big part of the press conference this afternoon, I mean, particularly Trump’s relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And that is because Israel really is another wild card that could blow up this deal. I mean, Israel has not signed on yet, and Trump has openly raised his concerns that Netanyahu can’t stop dropping bombs on Lebanon, which Trump has said has hurt his own efforts to reach peace with Iran.
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TRUMP: I’ve had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.
ORDOÑEZ: Let me just add, Leila, when talking to us reporters yesterday, Trump seemed to be sending a message straight to Netanyahu when he said that, quote, “Israel would have been blown off the face of the Earth” if not for him. And these tensions, though, are not new, but they are important. And it’s something to watch in the coming weeks because what happens in Israel and Lebanon could play a major role in whether this deal is a success.
FADEL: So a lot of eyes on another leader this week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. He was at the summit, and there were a lot of questions about whether Trump would meet with him. Did he?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, he did. Trump was part of the group of G7 leaders who met with Zelenskyy to talk about the war in Ukraine. Trump met with Zelenskyy again briefly, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump told us reporters after that it was a good meeting and that now with Iran in the rearview mirror – those are his words – that he plans to turn his focus to the war in Ukraine. He told us he would do whatever he could. And he added that he also spoke earlier with Russian President Vladimir Putin and noted that the U.S. would soon be able to reimpose sanctions on Russia, which were eased during the Iranian war.
FADEL: Well, we’ll have to see if Iran is really in the rearview mirror. That’s White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez in Evian, France. Thank you.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you, Leila.
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FADEL: Primary results in Georgia show a mixed record for President Trump’s endorsements. His pick for Senate won a primary runoff. His choice for governor did not.
MARTÍNEZ: There were also primaries on Tuesday in Oklahoma, Alabama and Washington, D.C.
FADEL: Rahul Bali with member station WABE in Atlanta is covering the primaries and joins me now. Good morning.
RAHUL BALI, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: All right, we have a lot to cover here. Georgia’s a purple state, and the race for governor is expected to be close. Who’s the Republican nominee?
BALI: So the winner there, according to AP race call, was a candidate most Georgians, even his supporters, didn’t know when the year started – billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson. He came flying into this race in February, spent more than 100 million of his own money, eventually defeating Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones in a runoff. Jones has had the longtime backing of President Donald Trump. As a state senator, Jones backed efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, where Trump lost. On the campaign trail, Jackson says he’s like Trump. In his victory speech, he focused on affordability and his personal rags-to-riches story, which has hit home with voters on the campaign trail.
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RICK JACKSON: When you grow up the way I did, you never forget where you came from. You never forget the families who are working harder than ever but still falling behind.
BALI: Jackson now faces Democratic nominee and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms this fall.
FADEL: OK. Let’s turn to the Senate race. Who’s the Republican nominee to challenge Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff?
BALI: So there, AP race call says it’s Congressman Mike Collins, who picked up the endorsement of President Donald Trump on Sunday. He’s very much like Trump. He’s controversial – at times, incendiary – on social media. He focuses on issues like anti-immigrant rhetoric. In his victory speech, he attacked Ossoff.
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MIKE COLLINS: He’s going to have millions and millions of dollars pouring in here from his New York and California donors, the political establishment, the mainstream media and the global elites. Oh, they’re going to be working overtime to get him reelected.
BALI: Now, on social media last night, Ossoff, who is Jewish, called Collins, quote, “a notorious bigot, antisemite and extremist.” Ossoff has been attacking Trump, and he’ll be trying to tie Collins to him.
FADEL: And what are the takeaways from the primaries in Oklahoma and Alabama?
BALI: In both states, Republicans will be the favorites heading into the November general election. In Alabama, Republican Congressman Barry Moore, who was endorsed by Trump, won the party primary for Senate, defeating a former Navy SEAL, according to AP race call. He’ll face Democratic lawyer Everett Wess.
In Oklahoma, you may remember Markwayne Mullin was in the Senate but got appointed Homeland Security secretary. He’s being replaced. AP race call says the Trump-endorsed congressman, Kevin Hern, won the Republican primary for that. The Democrats are headed to a runoff.
FADEL: OK. I’m here in D.C., where there’s another closely watched primary race where voters are really weighing what kind of leader they want with a president who hasn’t been hesitant to interfere in local politics. Is there a clear winner yet?
BALI: We don’t have final results there yet. Votes are still being counted. There’s been a lot of attention on this race because Mayor Muriel Bowser is leaving after 12 years in office. That Democratic primary includes a Democratic socialist, Janeese Lewis George, who’s on city council. President Trump has threatened to have the federal government take over control of the city if she becomes mayor. Another contender, Kenyan McDuffie, is a former council member. Right now, Lewis George is leading. It’s ranked choice voting there, and votes are still being counted.
FADEL: That’s Rahul Bali of WABE in Atlanta. Thank you so much for your reporting.
BALI: No problem.
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FADEL: And that’s UP FIRST for Wednesday, June 17. I’m Leila Fadel.
MARTÍNEZ: And I’m A Martínez. Today’s episode of UP FIRST was edited by Tina Kraja, Rebekah Metzler, Larry Kaplow, Mohamad ElBardicy and HJ Mai. It was produced by Chad Campbell, 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 producer is Michael Lipkin. Join us again tomorrow.
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