MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The U.S. and Israel have been bombing Iran for nearly a month. But President Trump now says there are constructive and in-depth conversations underway with the Iranians.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
He said this as he backed away from a 48-hour deadline he'd given Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to hundreds of oil tankers and ships. Trump says the U.S. is holding off on his deadline until the end of the week. Here he is talking to reporters on Monday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're doing a five-day period. We'll see how that goes. And if it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this. Otherwise, we'll just keep bombing our little hearts out.
MARTIN: NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy is here to give us the latest information. She's in Dubai. Good morning, Aya.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So, Aya, Iran is pushing back on Trump's comment. Iran says there is no dialogue with Washington. So what do we know about what's actually happening?
BATRAWY: So, Michel, there were real concerns that this war was going to escalate even further after Trump issued that 48-hour deadline to Iran. He said the U.S. would obliterate Iranian power plants if Iran did not allow those oil tankers and ships from Gulf Arab producers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. But we just heard Iran doubling down on its reasons for closing the strait after. They said that they would not allow any U.S. or Israeli vessels - or of their partners in the region, those Gulf Arab states - to transit because of this war imposed on Iran. And then Iran said it would strike at power plants here in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and other parts of the Gulf. And we saw people here starting to look for solar panels and inquiring about generators.
You know, this is something we haven't ever had to do in these cities before. But Trump then said there are conversations with Iran happening now and that Iran asked for these talks to happen. And an Israeli official told NPR the U.S. is planning talks in Pakistan with Iran in the coming days. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to discuss these talks. Now, Iran's foreign ministry was then quoted by Iranian state media saying, there have been no negotiations with the U.S. since the start of this war, and that it was actually the U.S. that sent messages to Iran seeking talks to end the war. The Iranian foreign ministry said last night that Iran responded to that request through friendly countries.
MARTIN: And tell us what NPR has learned about these back-channel efforts from countries in the region.
BATRAWY: So NPR has learned that Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan are among the countries involved in these efforts to de-escalate. We know there have been calls between these three countries and senior officials in Iran, and that's according to official readouts from those calls. And the three countries' foreign ministers had actually just met in Saudi Arabia last week for talks on containing the war. We also saw Egypt's president visit Gulf Arab capitals and meet with rulers here over the weekend.
You know, Egypt does have ties with Iran, as well. It's not a party to this war, and we've seen them mediate in other wars like Gaza. Now, the fear is that as this war drags on, Michel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are hardening their positions. And they could end up getting involved and hitting back at Iran. We heard Saudi Arabia's foreign minister speaking last week that his country's patience is not unlimited.
MARTIN: Could you lay out some of the reasons why or why not these efforts might be successful?
BATRAWY: So one of the reasons why we could see an effort and that this could lead to some kind of success is, you know, oil and gas prices are rising around the world. This is causing a lot of strain in countries all over the world. And also Gulf Arab countries, they continue to be hit hard. Their energy facilities continue to be set on fire. So there's a lot of reason for why there would be countries that would want this war to wind down.
But also, one of the reasons why it might not be successful is because there's just no trust. You know, Tehran and Washington were in talks last month when the U.S. and Israel launched this war. And with Iran's top leaders killed, including its top negotiator just last week, it's unclear who would be speaking right now on behalf of Iran. Now, Trump has laid out also stiff conditions for ending the war. He's talking about no nuclear enrichment by Iran and degrading its ability to produce and fire missiles.
And he's been clear about Iran needing to cut support to militias in Lebanon and Iraq. This is also a demand by the UAE, which has been targeted by missiles and drones the most in the region, even more than Israel. Now, there are also demands on Iran's side. And Iran had already rejected all of that that Trump is wanting now, even before this war. And now Iran is even saying it wants compensation for the war. So all of this is happening as we continue to see hits across the region. Iran hit the city of Tel Aviv this morning in Israel. And Iran says a gas supply to a power station in the southwest of the country was struck overnight.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Aya, thank you.
BATRAWY: Thanks, 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.
