Russia Mulls Ceasefire, EPA Rollbacks, Iran Rebuffs Trump
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Russia is reviewing a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire with Ukraine. Trump's special envoy is headed to Moscow for talks. Will he seal the deal or will Russia press for more concessions? I'm Martin Martinez, that's Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News.

The Trump administration is gutting environmental rules, calling it a win for business. But critics say the EPA rollbacks could lead to more pollution and health risks. They're going to take our country back to a time when rivers caught on fire and kids couldn't go outside without seizing up from an asthma attack. And the president sent a letter to Iran proposing nuclear talks. Can't let them have a nuclear weapon.

But the Supreme Leader is not buying Trump's offer. He calls it a deception. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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Negotiators are still waiting for Russia's response to the offer the U.S. brokered with Ukraine earlier this week for a 30-day ceasefire. The U.S. promised to restore military and intelligence to support Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine promising to end air attacks on Russia. Now, American officials say the ball is now in Russia's court to reciprocate with Trump administration officials due in Moscow in the coming days or even hours.

And this morning, Russia claimed it had taken back the biggest town in the Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a surprise attack last year. Joining us to talk about all this is NPR Russia correspondent Charles Mainz. Charles, good morning. Good morning, Michelle. So first of all, what can you tell us about these talks and the Kremlin's position going into them?

Well, you know, yesterday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was closely studying public statements out of the U.S.-Ukrainian talks, but wanted to hear detailed information directly from the Americans. Now there are expectations that a White House representative is on his way to Moscow. That will likely be Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who negotiated that release of a detained American schoolteacher in Russia last month.

So clearly, Witkoff will be hoping to build on that success, you know, as is, frankly, Donald Trump, who says he hopes Putin will engage on this ceasefire proposal. In fact, Trump also says he plans to talk with Putin about it by telephone soon. So that's Putin's spokesman saying this, but has Putin weighed in directly?

Well, not explicitly on this offer, but Putin has previously said quite explicitly he would not accept a temporary ceasefire because he said he wanted a peace that addresses, in his words, the root of the conflict. That's Kremlin speak for Russia's larger national security concerns regarding NATO expansion into Europe and near Russia's borders, and of course in Ukraine. There's also this. I think we can go with that one.

So last night, Putin, dressed in military camouflage with state media cameras in tow, visited army headquarters in the Russian region of Kursk. This is where Russian troops have been trying to push out occupying Ukrainian forces for the past seven months. And here's what Putin had to say. So here Putin orders his generals to once and for all crush the enemy. He went on to say captured Ukrainian fighters should be treated as terrorists.

So if nothing else, a display by Putin that's far more hawk than dove. Now, the timing of Putin's visit was no accident. Ukraine's toehold in Kursk had been an embarrassment for the Kremlin for months. But Russia's forces have made major gains in recent days and, in fact, appear on the verge of forcing Ukraine to withdraw entirely. So how do we interpret this? I mean, should we take this as a signal from Putin that there is essentially no deal? I mean, why would he bother negotiating over something when they think they're winning anyway? Yeah.

Well, that's exactly the point made by more nationalist voices in Russian society. They say this proposal by Ukraine is an attempt to use diplomacy to stave off defeat militarily. And the catch is that, you know, that may be true in Kursk, where it seems as though Russian forces are genuinely making big gains. But it's a harder slog in actual occupied Ukraine. You know, polls also show a majority of Russians want an end to the conflict.

And given that, you know, does Putin risk alienating what, at least so far, has been a very favorable climate of negotiations with Trump? To that end, before we let you go, one of the criticisms of Trump until now is that he was cutting a deal almost exclusively on Moscow's terms. Has that changed?

Well, we'll have to see. Now, the Trump team has already gone on record saying no to Ukraine's membership in NATO, no to Ukraine regaining all its territory. And all of this has put the U.S.'s relationships with its traditional allies in Europe in turmoil. So you have to think, you know, even if Putin doesn't agree to this ceasefire deal as presented here, he'll be looking for ways to present counteroffers. That is NPR Russia correspondent Charles Mainz. Charles, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The Trump administration is moving to dismantle decades of key environmental and climate rules and policies. That announcement came yesterday in what Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin called the most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history, rolling back more than two dozen regulations.

Environmental groups predict this will lead to a future with more pollution. Jeff Brady from NPR's Climate Desk is here to tell us more about this. Good morning, Jeff. Good morning, Michelle. So which regulations are being targeted? You know, probably the most significant is something called the endangerment finding. In 2009, the EPA determined that human-caused greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are heating up the planet...

those in danger, public health and welfare. This decision was years in the making. Litigation that led to it went all the way to the Supreme Court. And now it's the basis for many of the country's climate regulations. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin put out a video statement that suggests he thinks it's not constitutional. I've been told the endangerment finding is considered the holy grail of the climate change religion.

For me, the U.S. Constitution and the laws of this nation will be strictly interpreted and followed. No exceptions. What are some of the other regulations the EPA is reconsidering?

Zelden said the agency will reconsider rules that limit climate pollution from power plants and from cars and trucks. Also regulations that limit soot and mercury in the air. Other rules that Zelden claims are hurting the economy and costing trillions of dollars. But that leaves out the fact that pollution also costs the country, you know, and health costs and cleanup.

It's not clear whether EPA plans to get rid of these rules or weaken them. Those details should come later. And what are environmental groups saying about this? You know, this is even more dramatic than what they expected and certainly more aggressive than the policies Trump pursued during his first administration. One group, the Environmental Integrity Project, said the EPA is driving, quote, a dagger straight into the heart of public health.

I talked with Matthew Tejada at the Natural Resources Defense Council. He called this an all-out assault on the law, science, and the administrative part of the government that keeps people safe. They're going to roll these things back, and they're going to take our country back to a time when rivers caught on fire and kids couldn't go outside without seizing up from an asthma attack.

Just as the country is making this big transition from fossil fuels that are heating the planet to cleaner energy, Tejada says the Trump administration is tying the country to oil and gas for another century. And what about the oil industry? How's the oil industry responding to this EPA announcement? Well, they're pretty happy. The American Petroleum Institute said voters picked Trump for cheaper energy, and now his administration is answering that call.

And much of this fits with API's policy priorities. And we've already seen some of the biggest oil and gas companies reorient themselves from climate change concerns and back to fossil fuels. And Jeff, before we let you go, what are the next steps here?

There just aren't many details in this announcement, but just that the EPA is going to reconsider these regulations. So assuming the typical process is followed, we should see some proposed rules, then comment periods before final rules. But, you know, environmental groups already say court challenges are coming. That's Jeff Brady with NPR's Climate Desk. Jeff, thank you. Thank you.

President Trump sent a letter to Iran about opening new talks over its nuclear program. But the president says he won't rule out military options either. We're down to the final moments. We're at final moments. Can't let them have a nuclear weapon.

Joining us now to explain Iran's response and what's at stake here is NPR international correspondent Aya Batraoui in Dubai. Aya, good morning to you. Good morning, Michelle. So let's start with this letter. Trump has said the letter to Iran would be proposing talks to avert, nuclear talks to avert military action. So what can you tell us about Iran's response so far?

So this letter was delivered by a senior Emirati official from Abu Dhabi who traveled to Tehran and met with Iran's foreign minister yesterday. But before it was even read by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had this to say. In the world, we have to remember the national identity.

So he's speaking to university students yesterday in televised remarks, saying the U.S. is trying to deceive global public opinion with this letter and that Iran is not ready to negotiate. And referring to Trump, he says this is the same person who tore up and threw out a signed agreement. Now, he's talking about Trump's decision in his first term as president to withdraw the U.S. from a nuclear deal that was reached under President Obama and included China, Russia and European countries. That deal put caps on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.

So Khamenei says, how could one possibly negotiate with such a person? And he warned Iran can defend itself against threats. Yeah, so he's referring here to what we call Trump's maximum pressure campaign on Iran in his first term. And it did ramp up tensions in the region where you are. So what can you tell us about how things are, where things stand right now?

Well, despite Khamenei's sharp words, Michelle, Iran's mission to the United Nations struck a different tone, saying in a post on X that if the objective of negotiations is to address concerns about the potential of nuclear weapons, these discussions may be subject to consideration, but that Iran would not dismantle its peaceful nuclear program. And it's important to note here, Iran's position has been that its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes and that it's not interested in building a nuclear weapon.

That said, since Trump scuttled the nuclear deal in 2018, Iran has been increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium, according to UN inspectors. But also, you know, the U.S. and Israel, which has hit nuclear targets in Iran before, they're not the only countries involved here. The U.K., France and Germany have continued talks with Iran about its nuclear program. And tomorrow,

China, Russia and Iran are meeting in Beijing to discuss Iran's nuclear program and the sanctions that are crippling its economy. And what is the view there from the Gulf Arab states like the UAE, which is where you are? Right. So the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, these Gulf Arab states are playing the role of mediator on many different files, whether that's on Iran or Ukraine, as we just heard from Charles, or in Gaza.

And so the reason they can do this, though, is because while they view the U.S. as the most important military superpower, it's not the only player on the block. They've kept warm relations with Russia, for example, and it was China, if you recall, that brokered the deal that repaired ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia a few years ago.

So they're balancing ties and they're super focused on their own economic growth right now. And so, yes, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, they want hard curbs on Iran's missile program and its nuclear ambitions. And they would like to see its Shia militias in the region wiped out. But they do not want a region on edge or the kind of attacks on oil targets in the Gulf that we saw under Trump's first term when tensions were soaring. That is Amprose Abitrawi in Dubai. Thank you. Thanks, Michelle.

And that's Up First for Thursday, March 13th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Ian Martinez. Thanks for listening to Up First. You can find more in-depth coverage of the stories we talked about today and a lot more on NPR's Morning Edition. That's the radio show that Michelle Martin, Steve Inskeep, Leila Fadal, and I host. You can find Morning Edition on your local NPR station at stations.com.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rylan Barton, Neela Banerjee, Kevin Drew, Alice Wolfley, and Mohamed El-Bardisi. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hynes, and our technical director is Carly Strange. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

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