MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Trump continues to threaten military action against Iran and says he is receiving hourly reports on the violence against protesters as Iranian security forces try to quash growing unrest.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We do have many casualty estimates out of Iran, one of which comes from the Associated Press, which says at least 2,000 people have been killed in protests. Now, President Trump has continued to comment about the situation on his Truth Social account. This message went to protesters - quote, "help is on its way." The president also said he has canceled all meetings with Iranian officials. He had referred, in recent days, to such meetings. On Monday, the president also said he's imposing a 25% tariff on countries doing business with Iran.
MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez is with us now to bring us up to date. Good morning, Franco.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So what should we take away from President Trump's latest message to Iran?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, just this morning the president urged protesters to keep at it, and he said he cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the killings stop. Through social media, Trump appears to be continuing to put pressure on the regime and using his negotiating tactics ahead of making a decision on the next steps. Now, of course, Trump often employs this hot-and-cold approach to negotiations, and nothing is really definitive until it actually is.
MARTIN: How seriously is the U.S. taking threats from Tehran to retaliate against U.S. or Israeli military bases?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, Trump says, if they do, the U.S. will respond.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they've never been hit before. They won't even believe it. I have options that are so strong.
ORDOÑEZ: And Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, called Iran's threats laughable. She said on Fox News yesterday that the Iranians may be talking a big game publicly, but they're saying something very different privately.
MARTIN: So the president spoke of options. What are those options?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, Trump and Leavitt won't forecast what they're going to do. But Matthew Kroenig worked on the Iranian file at the Pentagon, and he told me the lowest-hanging fruit would be a strike on Iran's missile program. Another possibility, he said, would be strikes against the security services who are leading the crackdown on demonstrations. And Kroenig also pointed to the Venezuela operation.
MATTHEW KROENIG: And then finally, after the Maduro raid, you can't count out something more creative, some kind of special operations move by the United States or Israel, say, directly against the Iranian leadership.
ORDOÑEZ: Kroenig says it's not something you'd expect from a U.S. president, but Trump doesn't seem to be constrained by traditional norms.
MARTIN: Well, you know, to that end, though, the president hasn't made human rights a priority in his foreign policy, except under very rare circumstances. So tell us a little bit more about what kind of deal or what kind of negotiations the president seems to be pursuing.
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, he's definitely not put human rights first and foremost. But we should remember that during the first Trump administration, Trump did order military strikes on Syria in response to chemical attacks by the Assad regime. Trump said he was moved at the time by the images of choking children. That said, what Trump really wants in Iran is a deal that permanently prevents the government from getting a nuclear weapon. And Kroenig, who is now at the Atlantic Council, thinks the Iranian supreme leader may actually be willing to agree to a zero enrichment deal if he thinks it will help the regime survive. The next question, though, will be, of course, does the regime actually follow through with that going forward in the future?
MARTIN: That is White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Franco, thank you.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
