Good morning. This is your Up First digest. Subscribe to get the newsletter in your inbox and listen to the Up First podcast for a quick start to the day.
Top stories
Iran is reviewing a recent U.S. proposal to end the war, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said yesterday. President Trump has declared the U.S. is close to a deal and suggested Iran is eager to reach one, but Tehran has not issued a final response.
A container ship sits at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran. Photo: Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP
NPR’s Mara Liasson tells Up First that while Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. ‘‘won’’ the conflict, many of his public goals remain unfulfilled. U.S. forces have not withdrawn from the region, and Trump’s insistence that Iran must not obtain a nuclear weapon has met with limited Iranian concession. Allies and rivals alike see the administration’s messaging as improvised and note political pressure from midterm elections may be pushing for a quicker exit.
Major oil companies are reporting quarterly results that reflect the war’s effect on global energy prices, alongside U.S. actions in Venezuela. ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Chevron have already posted results, with additional reports expected.
NPR business reporter Camila Domonoske explains an accounting quirk that makes short-term profits look muted: fuel sales tied to higher spot prices often aren’t booked until physical deliveries occur. Exxon said including those shipments would substantially raise its reported earnings. Firms warn that even if shipping lanes like the Strait of Hormuz reopen, prices could remain elevated because rebuilding output and stockpiles takes time — a stretch of higher pump prices that could curb demand and slow the economy.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican today, following a period of public attacks from President Trump on the pontiff. The pope has criticized the U.S. and Israel’s conduct in the conflict with Iran, urged diplomatic solutions and warned against military action. Trump has derided the pope as “weak” on foreign policy and said his stance could put Catholics at risk.
Reporter Megan Williams says Rubio will need to show deference to the pope while representing an administration whose leader has repeatedly criticized him. Rubio also plans talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who defended the pope and has since clashed with Trump; discussions are expected to include Iran.
Campaign insiders have been making thousands by wagering on their own candidates in prediction markets using private polling they helped produce. An anonymous campaign staffer told NPR they suspected an unreleased poll showing their candidate ahead didn’t match internal data, so they and others placed bets before the poll went public. NPR reviewed market data confirming the trades. The platform Kalshi has recently banned and fined some candidates for similar bets. These actions raise ethics and legal questions about operatives profiting from confidential information.
Today’s listen
Three young mariachi musicians — brothers Antonio, Caleb and Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar — are performing professionally while waiting for immigration court dates. Federal authorities detained the brothers and their parents earlier this year after a routine ICE check-in; public pressure from Texas politicians led to their release. The family entered the U.S. from Mexico in 2023 through the CBP One program, which let them remain while asylum claims were processed. The brothers have since opened for eight-time Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves on the Texas leg of her Middle of Nowhere tour. Listen to excerpts of their set and read more about their journey. Photo and reporting: Brenda Bazán for NPR.
Deep dive
The U.S. Forest Service is entering this fire season having cleared far less flammable vegetation than in prior years. An NPR analysis found roughly 1.5 million fewer acres were treated in 2025 compared with 2024 — a sharp decline from more than 4 million acres managed in the last year of the Biden administration. As hotter conditions and dense fuels compound fire risk, the agency has also seen staffing shifts under the current administration; NPR reports a 16% workforce decline as of last summer.
Prescribed, low-intensity burns that reduce brush and dead material have fallen nearly in half in 2025. Key points:
– Controlled burns improve forest health and give firefighters a better chance in extreme conditions.
– The Forest Service set a 2022 goal to treat an additional 20 million acres over a decade.
– Prescribed burning fell to about 900,000 acres in 2025, down from over 1.6 million acres in 2023 and 2024.
– Forest Service chief Tom Schultz said the agency had hired about 9,700 firefighters by early March, a modest increase from the prior year; experts note hires don’t always replace lost support staff.
– With less preventative work and more extreme fire behavior, officials warn that crews will have less leeway for mitigation, increasing the risk of larger blazes.
3 things to know before you go
1. Media mogul Ted Turner died yesterday at 87. Before turning 80 he disclosed he had Lewy body dementia, a degenerative condition that affects cognition and motor function.
2. In this week’s Far-Flung Postcards, NPR’s Katerina Barton visits Torosiaje, a village in Indonesia accessible by water taxi, and describes a sunset over colorful stilt houses on the Molucca Sea.
3. A third sloth has died at the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens. The animal was among at least 61 imported for the canceled Sloth World attraction; state records indicate at least 34 of those sloths have died. Reporting via Central Florida Public Media.
This edition was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.