¶ Introduction
Iran offers its own proposal to end the war. It demands reparations for war damages. And ending attacks on Iranian leaders and Iranian allies. Israel wants to keep fighting. How will the US respond? I'm Steve Inscape with A. Martinez, and this is up first from NPR News. President Trump considers whether to try to take control of Karg Island. So close to Iran's shores.
How might Iran retaliate against American boots on the ground? And a jury found Google and Meta responsible for making addictive products, fueling anxiety and depression. Just because of the features alone. Drive addiction. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start day. This message comes from Babel. Babel's conversation based language technique.
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¶ Iran Rejects US Peace Proposal
Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner and get fifty percent off your first coaching session at strawberry.me slash npr. Iran has responded to a US peace plan with a proposal of its own. The US offered sanctions relief if Iran ended its nuclear program. Iran says it does not plan to negotiate at all.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt warned of further attacks if Iran does not accept a deal. President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again. Israel wants to keep fighting. Officials there say attacks on Iran will increase in the coming days. MPR's Daniel Estran joins us now from Tel Aviv. Uh Daniel, what do we know about uh the U.S. proposal for a ceasefire?
This is a fifteen point proposal given to Iran via Pakistan, according to the Associated Press. Uh Iran, according to this proposal, would need to end its nuclear program. It would have to stop supporting proxy militias in the Middle East. It would have to reopen completely the Strait of Hormuz and it would have to limit its missile program and in exchange Iran would get relief from sanctions. Essentially the terms the US came to Iran with before this war started.
Iran has officially rejected this and said it does not even plan on negotiations, and it countered with its own terms. And what are those terms? It has uh countered the US fifteen point proposal with an Iranian five point proposal, and here are the five points. Iran wants no more war or killing its leaders. It wants guarantees there would be no further war or other new war against Iran. It is demanding reparations for war damages.
It is asking for an end to the war on all fronts, so not just in Iran, but also against what it calls all resistance groups in the region, referencing Iran's proxies in Lebanon and Iraq. And it's also uh asking for international guarantees of Iran's sovereign right to control the Strait of Hormuz. So the question now is uh if the US and Iran will actually hold talks in the coming days. Maybe it will happen in Pakistan. Pakistan has emerged as a potential mediator Four talks.
and an official in Islamabad who was not authorized to speak about this publicly Told NPR that the Pakistani Interior Minister actually held a secret meeting today with the Iranian ambassador in Pakistan. China has also said that it's involved in a flurry of diplomatic efforts. And at the very same time, A, the US is sending paratroopers to the Middle East.
From the 82nd Airborne Division. These are soldiers trained in parachuting into territory to take control. The speculation is that they could try to take control of land near the Strait of Hormuz, which would be very dangerous. Iran could ambush them. So we've talked about what the U.S. wants and what uh Iran is counter-demanding, but there is a third party here, and that's Israel. What does Israel want?
Israel wants to keep fighting in Iran. Two military officials told me they're hoping for weeks more of war in Iran. And I spoke to another person today briefed on the operation, not authorized to speak publicly, who said the Israeli military is actually speeding up its targeting in Iran. over the next forty eight hours. They're trying to hit as many Iranian arms factories as they can.
in case a ceasefire is declared. That person told me that Israeli leadership knew the US was trying to negotiate an end of the war, but actually the Israeli military was caught by surprise about that. And there is one ceasefire condition that Iran has laid out, which is that Israel should stop attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel wants the very opposite. It is preparing as soon as the war ends, according to the person I spoke with.
¶ Troop Deployment
To send more ground troops to southern Lebanon to take over more of that part of the country. That's MPR's Daniel Estran in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thank you. You're welcome. President Trump is weighing whether to seize the home of Iran's main oil processing facility. Yeah, the Pentagon has ordered thousands of paratroopers and marines to the Middle East. We do not know if they have an objective.
But as we heard from Daniel, analysts ask if they could be told to seize territory in the Persian Gulf region. One objective could be Karg Island. Analysts say a takeover of that island would be risky for US service personnel to say the least. MPR's international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam is with us now. So uh Jackie, why is this island so important?
Well, Karg Island is uh considered the crown jewel of the Iranian economy. You know, it's just a small island about eight square miles in size. in the Persian Gulf, not far off the coast of Iran, but more than ninety percent of Iran's oil exports are funneled through the islands. So it's an economic lifeline for Iran. But It's also a symbol of the country's status as a major oil exporter, at least before all the Western sanctions were placed on Iran.
As you mentioned, with this build up of troops heading to the Middle East, it's looking increasingly likely as though the US will try to seize and hold Carga Island. Now earlier this month the US uh did bomb military installations on that island. They left though the oil processing facilities alone. Why would the Pentagon want to seize it now, if that's in fact what they're planning to do?
Well one thought is this build up of US service personnel could be a negotiating tactic to put pressure on Iran to make concessions as a way to end the war. Although I spoke with uh Caitlin Talmudge and she's a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and she focuses on US military strategy and operations, including in the Persian Gulf.
And Thomas says it's unclear w why Iran would buckle to pressure over Carg Island when it's already withstood a large scale bombing campaign for the past month. She also said seizing and holding Karg Island, you know, less than twenty miles from Iran's heavily defended coastline would be militarily challenging. Here she is. so close to Iran's shores would be risky and carry the potential for casualties. And then there's the question of sustaining that US military presence.
on the island, which I don't think would be simple, again, because US forces would be within range of Iranian weapons, very close to Iran's shores. And Tomarch says, you know, this is really about a military mission that's in search of a strategic rationale. You know, what will the US get in exchange for taking Carg Island? Well how about getting ships to move through the Strait of Hormuz again?
Well the Strait of Hormuz is about three hundred miles south of Carg Island, so it's hard to see what impact that would have. You know, the fact of the matter is Iran has military assets all along its coastline and on many of the smaller islands. And of course it can put mines in the water, uh it's still got drones and missiles.
And as Professor Talmud says, you know, any US troops trying to hold Karg Island could face bombardment daily by Iran. And if the US did try to move to take the island, how could I Well it's warned that it would launch retaliatory strikes against energy infrastructures in other countries, you know, in the Gulf region and that could include
Abcake, which is a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia. You know, that could send world energy prices soaring. Iran could also instruct proxies such as the Houthis to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea. And then there's also the thought that Iran could apply scorched earth tactics, in other words, setting their own oil fields on fire out of desperation, again affecting world markets. That's MPR's Jackie Northam. Jackie, thank you. Thank you.
¶ Social Media Trial
Google and Meta are to blame for a woman's anxiety and depression and should pay six million dollars because of it. That's what a Los Angeles jury found on Wednesday in a verdict that connected Silicon Valley companies to damage in young people's mental health. The plaintiff in this case said she became addicted to social media as a child. The damages are tiny compared with the company's net worth of trillions of dollars, but the case could have huge consequences.
For the future of social media. MPR correspondent Bobby Allen was in the courtroom. Bobby, why is this trial so important? So it's been hard to sue tech companies for decades because of this federal law known as section two thirty that protects their content. So
This trial did something different. It focused on features baked into the design of Google's, YouTube and Meta's Instagram and Facebook. Things like The algorithm, the infinite scroll, autoplay, beauty filters which can smooth out people's skin and make them appear thinner. The woman at the center of this case, known as Kaylee, told jurors that these features made it nearly impossible to put down her phone and let her down some dark path. She
told the jury that social media worsened her depression, anxiety, she developed body image issues. Her lawyers argue that social media companies designed the apps this way deliberately that the app Basically, should be seen as defective products that contributed to her mental health struggles. Here's Mark Lanier, who was the main lawyer representing K.
We've sent a message with this that you will be held accountable just because of the features alone that drive addiction. That's a huge message for these companies. Okay, so those companies, uh Meta and Google, how have they responded to the verdict? Yeah, they're vowing to appeal. Here's Meta's Ashley Nicole Davis after the verdict. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, as every case is different.
And we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online. So Bobby, this case was about one person, Kaylee. How could the verdict though affect the entire social media industry? Yeah, well this case is actually one of two thousand consolidated cases brought by parents, school districts and state officials. Alleging that tech companies intentionally built social media apps to operate like a digital slot machine.
The Los Angeles trial that I was here for was the first test case of this huge group of lawsuits. There will now be additional test cases brought to trial and eventually a Social media companies are expected to settle this huge litigation when lawyers suing the companies. have been asked, you know, what changes could be in store. They've pointed to what this trial has been about. All of the design features that keep people sucked into their social media feeds.
So it's possible social media companies will be wholly refigured. You know, the way that we see social media now may be totally different than what it looks like. Some years from now, this is already being compared, A, to the huge litigation against big tobacco in the nineteen nineties that forced the industry to stop targeting minors in advertising. Many see this verdict in Los Angeles.
as the start of a massive reckoning. Now this is just uh what the second big verdict against Medadis for you, right? That's right. So in New Mexico there is a separate jury that ordered Meta to pay three hundred and seventy five million dollars, so much more, for failing to protect kids from predators online.
Again, for a company worth one point five trillion dollars, this won't exactly make them crumble, but it has been a punishing week for Silicon Valley and its critics say the floodgates are only about to be unleashed. MPRs Bobby Allen, Bobby Thing. Thanks, eh. And we should note Google is a financial supporter of MPR.
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That's up first for Thursday, March twenty-sixth, Demi Martinez. And I'm Steve Inskib. Today's up first was It was produced by Ziad Bach, Nia Damas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Haines and our technical director. Deputy executive. is Kelly Dickens. Join us again tomorrow.
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