Transcript of Trump Issues Profane Threats, Trump's War Politics, Artemis II Lunar Flyby

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In an obscene post online, Trump said Tuesday would be, quote, power plant and bridge day in Iran, once again threatening to bomb civilian infrastructure there if Iran didn't open the Strait of Hormuz.

Doing that could be considered a war crime. I'm Leila Fawden.

That's A Martinez.

And this is Up First from NPR. From NPR News. The U.S. rescued an Air Force colonel whose fighter jet was shot down deep inside Iran over a month into this war that the U.S. and Israel started. Global markets are still taking a hit, with Iran continuing to block access to the Strait of Hormuz. Mara Liasson breaks down the politics of this moment for the president.

And the crew of Artemis II makes its closest approach to the moon today, sending humans farther into space than ever before.

In all of this emptiness, you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist Together.

Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. New rounds of missile fire and airstrikes this morning have struck all over the Middle East as President Trump imposed an 8 PM Eastern deadline on Tuesday for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on Sunday that included the F-word, the president demanded Iran open the key waterway or he'd bomb the country's power plants and bridges. Civilian infrastructure is protected by international law. He also told ABC that if no deal was made, he would blow up the whole country. Those statements drew sharp rebukes from Iranian officials as people continue to be killed from Iran to Lebanon to Israel in this regional war.

For more, we go now to NPR's Carrie Khan in Tel Aviv. Carrie, President Trump set that new deadline for Iran to make a deal. Tell us how Iran has responded.

Iranian officials said Trump has, quote, "resorted to obscenities and nonsense out of sheer desperation and anger." Iran's mission to the U.N. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani posted that Trump, quote, seeks to drag the region into an endless war, and that Trump's threats to bomb bridges and power shows intent to commit a war crime and urged immediate international intervention. An Iranian president spokesman said opening the strait, which was of course open before the US and Israel attacked Iran, will only happen when Iran is compensated for the cost of this war.

Okay. What about Israel? What are they saying about, uh, this deadline?

Well, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu effusively praised Trump for the rescue of the U.S. airman yesterday who had ejected from his plane when he was shot down in Iran. Israel did provide intelligence for that risky mission but did not participate in it directly, and that came from an Israeli military official speaking to NPR on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. Another person tells NPR, and speaking under the same conditions, that Israel is waiting for Trump's decision on the Strait and will take part in any military action alongside the U.S. if asked.

All right. Now, Iran's, uh, missile capacity, however, still in force today. It was an intense morning there in Israel. What can you tell us about that?

It has been a very intense day here since midnight. Multiple missiles are coming from Iran, and a strike last night killed 4 Israelis in Haifa. The airspace not as secure as we've been hearing from the U.S. and Israel. Today, Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, says forces struck another Iranian petrochemical facility there. He said together with other strikes, Israel has taken out of operation 85% of the industry, which is one of the country's largest revenue sources. Also, Israel says it killed a leading military leader and also the intelligence chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran confirmed that. Defense Minister Katz said Israel would continue to, quote, hunt down Iran's leaders.

And what about in the Gulf? Iranian missiles, uh, reach multiple countries there too.

Yes, Kuwait has been hit hard this morning, as well as the UAE. Both countries report intercepting multiple missiles from Iran, and there's much concern in the Gulf that if Iran does escalate attacks there, its air defense systems may be unable to handle that increased fire. And in terms of any diplomatic actions on the horizon, officials across the region, from Oman, Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt, say they are exploring all avenues.

That's NPR's Carrie Khan in Tel Aviv. Carrie, thanks.

You're welcome.

President Trump is celebrating the rescue of a U.S. weapons officer whose plane was shot down in Iran.

Yeah, and as we mentioned, he's also set a new deadline for Iran to release its control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Here to discuss this is NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Mara, Trump said Sunday this colonel was rescued from the mountains of Iran and was seriously wounded. What are the politics of this moment for the president?

I think the politics couldn't be simpler. When a soldier or a sailor or an airman is in danger in an unpopular war, that's bad for the president. When that person is rescued, that's good for the president politically. But it doesn't change the overall box that Donald Trump finds himself in. Certainly, this would have been worse if it had devolved into a hostage situation. But remember, this all happened because Iran shot down a U.S. fighter jet for the first time in the war so far, even though the president says the U.S. has totally destroyed and obliterated Iran's military capabilities. So the circumstances are a reminder of how Trump has not been able to figure out how to credibly declare victory and get out of Iran.

Now, Trump says there will be a press conference with members of the military in the Oval Office later today. What do you expect to hear from that?

Donald Trump has really ramped up his messaging around the war. It took days after the war began before he started trying to build support for the action with Congress or the American people. But last week, we saw him give a primetime address on Wednesday Wednesday night. Over the weekend, he had multiple calls with individual reporters to talk about the war and this rescue. And today he'll be surrounded by generals in the White House, and they represent the most successful part of this war. The military goals have been met. The military has been successful in degrading Iran's missile capacity, its navy, and then there was the dramatic rescue. But the big question is, what about the political objectives which have not been met?

Which is what I was about to ask you, because have those political objectives been met so far?

No, and it's not clear what they are because they change from day to day. The latest moving of the goalposts is opening the Strait of Hormuz. Donald Trump now says the strait must be open by Tuesday or else. But that's a big difference from what he was saying last week, that the US didn't need to open the strait, the US allies in Europe should deal with it themselves, or that the strait would open naturally when the war ended. And the fact that he goes back and forth so many times gives the impression that Trump is making it up as he goes along and that there isn't a clear strategy, even when the military strategy may largely be working.

Yeah. Now, on that deadline, tell us about what he has mentioned about it, because he's used some pretty strong language.

He posted a profane post on Truth Social. He said Tuesday would be, quote, power plant day and bridge day. He added, open the expletive straight, you crazy bastards. Praise be to Allah. And many Muslims took that last phrase as an intention to insult their religion. But aside from the shock of how he conveyed that message, it's important to note that he's talking about bombing civilian infrastructure like power plants and desalination plants, which are protected by the Geneva Convention. But we know Trump has said in the past he doesn't need international law. His own morality is the only constraint on his power. He also talked to ABC's Rachel Scott on Sunday. He said if there's no deal made, he's, quote, blowing up the whole country. He was asked if anything was off limits. He said very little. That deadline is only operative until it's not operative.

Yeah. How important do you think it is for Donald Trump, the president, to get out of this kind of box that he's put himself in?

I think it's very important. It's hard to see how he can declare victory in Iran if Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz. He could send in ground troops, but that would make an unpopular war even more unpopular. And he's in a tough spot. It's a midterm year.

His—

some of his polls are in the 30s, and he ran on a promise not to start foreign wars.

NPR's Mara Liasson. Mara, thanks.

You're welcome.

The crew of Artemis II will make its closest approach to the moon later today.

The astronauts launch from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday as the Orion capsule loops around the moon. It will send the astronauts on a path that will take humans farther into space than ever before.

Central Florida Public Media's Brendan Byrne has been following the mission. So Brendan, walk us through the flyby. What's happening?

Well, early this morning, the Orion space capsule entered the lunar sphere of influence. That means the moon's gravity has more pull on the spacecraft than the Earth does. Um, just before 2 PM Eastern, the mission will surpass the record for farthest distance traveled by humans, which was set by the Apollo 13 mission. That was 248,000 statute miles. Then by 7 PM, the crew will reach its farthest point of the mission, very specifically 252,760 miles from home. And 2 hours later, the flyby concludes as they finish swinging around the Moon and head back home.

So what will the crew be doing during that time?

Simply put, they'll be looking at the Moon.

So would I.

Traveling something around 4,000 miles above the lunar surface is going to give them a vantage point that no other human eyes have ever seen before. A team of lunar scientists here on Earth have identified about 35 targets on the surface for the astronauts to observe and take pictures of, and they'll be describing what they see and relaying it back to the scientists at Mission Control. You know, even though robots circle and photograph the Moon now, the human eye can see things that these cameras simply can't. NASA's Kelsey Young leads the lunar science team and said Sunday during a news conference that they can't wait to start getting that data back in real time.

You're going to see some very excited scientists. They're going to be absolutely buzzing up there. And what they're going to be doing is monitoring the crew, of course. The crew will be giving several descriptions an hour, roughly 3 to 4 lunar descriptions an hour.

So it sounds like a lot of data coming back. What are scientists going to do with that information?

Yeah, it's a lot. Young expects thousands of photos to be taken by the astronauts as they peer through the windows at the far side of the moon. These observations are not only going to give scientists a better understanding of it, but help pick landing sites for future robotic missions that will head to the lunar surface. And they'll eventually get a tiny glimpse at the lunar south pole, which NASA wants to land astronauts as early as 2028.

I am so hoping they see some flying saucers or something like that, but that's just me. That's what I'm rooting for. All right, now Artemis II is more than halfway through its overall trip. So how's the mission been going so far?

Well, the mission is a test flight. The Artemis crew's been doing just that, testing the spacecraft. That includes the life support system, like the carbon dioxide scrubbers, manually piloting the spacecraft, testing their spacesuits in case of emergency. They've even removed panels inside the vehicle in case a future mission requires that to do repairs in flight. and they're getting views of the Earth that humans haven't seen in more than 50 years. Here's mission pilot Victor Glover describing just that over the weekend.

In all of this emptiness, this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe. You have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together.

And the crew's been sending back incredible images of Earth getting gradually smaller and smaller as their spacecraft moves farther and farther from home. And then they'll test one final key system of the spacecraft. The heat shield that protects them as they punch through the atmosphere on Friday, traveling at a record 25,000 miles per hour, splashing down off the Pacific Ocean off San Diego.

Brendan Byrne is with Central Florida Public Media and is also the host of the space podcast "Are We There Yet?" Brendan, thanks a lot.

Anytime, eh?

Please help us out today by telling us what you like and how we can improve our podcast. All you gotta do is complete a short survey. You can find it right now at npr.org/springsurvey. One more time, that's npr.org/springsurvey. And that's Up First for Monday, April 6th. I'm Emilio Martinez.

And I'm Leila Faldin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Jerry Holmes, Dana Farrington, Russell Lewis, Mohammed Abrahmadi, and Taylor Haney. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Ava Pukac. Our director is Katie Klein. We get engineering support from Nisha Hynes, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow.