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"Iran rejects U.S. peace plan, counters with its own demands."

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by Brittney Melton March 26, 2026 Good morning. Today is Equal Pay Day, the annual observance marking how far into the new year women must work to earn what men made the previous year. This year, it falls a day later than in 2025. Here’s the news we’re following today: The Iranian government rejected President Trump’s proposal to end the war. In the 15-point proposal, the U.S. offered sanctions relief in exchange for Iran ending its nuclear program. Iran vowed to continue fighting until a list of its own conditions are met. Iran's demands include war reparation payments and recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. Majid Saeedi/Getty Images 🎧 While the U.S. and Iran have made their demands known, Israel wants to keep fighting, NPR’s Daniel Estrin tells Up First. Two military officials informed Estrin that Israel hopes to continue fighting Iran for several more weeks. A person briefed on the operation informed NPR that the Israeli military is ramping up its targeting on Iran over the next 48 hours, focusing on hitting Iran’s arms factories. One of Iran’s ceasefire conditions is for Israel to stop attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, a demand that Israel doesn’t want to meet. 🎧 Trump is weighing whether to seize Kharg Island, which is considered essential to the Iranian economy due to more than 90% of the country’s oil exports funneling through it. The Pentagon ordered thousands of paratroopers and Marines to the Middle East, making a U.S. attempt to take the island increasingly likely, according to NPR's Jackie Northam. Northam spoke with Caitlin Talmadge, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who focuses on U.S. military strategy and operations in the Persian Gulf. Talmadge says it’s unclear why Iran would buckle to pressure over Kharg Island when it has already withstood a large-scale bombing campaign for the past month. A California jury yesterday found Meta and Google negligent in a social media case. The jury determined that the tech giants were responsible for a woman's depression and anxiety, stemming from her early compulsive social media use. The jurors concluded that the woman, known only as Kaley, should be awarded with $6 million , making for a rare verdict holding Silicon Valley accountable for its role in fueling a youth mental health crisis. The verdict included $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages, with Meta responsible for 70% of the total. 🎧 Suing tech companies has been challenging for decades due to Section 230, a federal law that protects their content. However, this trial took a different approach by focusing on features of Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, such as the algorithms, infinite scroll and beauty filters, NPR’s Bobby Allyn says. Kaley told jurors the features kept her glued to her phone and led her down some dark paths. Her lawyers argued that the apps should be seen as defective products that contributed to Kaley’s mental health struggles. In a separate case, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for failing to protect kids from online predators. While this amount won’t collapse the $1.5 trillion company, critics say it could signal a turning point for Silicon Valley, suggesting that more legal challenges may follow. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is again searching for a new leader, as yesterday marked 210 days since the last CDC director, Susan Monarez, was ousted. That time period is the limit for how long someone can serve as acting director under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. The rule is intended to prevent a president from bypassing the Senate confirmation process for positions that require it. The Trump administration plans to have Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who became acting director in February, continue managing the CDC without the official title. Newsletter continues after sponsor message Behind the story by Milton Guevara, Morning Edition producer Megan Varner/Getty Images I have never traveled with the goal of standing in airport security lines.  But with TSA officers working without pay for over a month, I packed my bags and recorder to visit seven major airports across the country to see for myself how the DHS shutdown was impacting travel.  Most of the standard security lines I entered had reasonable wait times.  Note: My flights took place before ICE deployed to airports and before the fatal LaGuardia collision.  In my first round of airport hopping, I flew from Washington, DC (IAD) to Atlanta (ATL) to New Orleans (MSY). Despite reports of hourslong lines at Hartsfield-Jackson and Lewis Armstrong, I somehow never stood in a standard security line longer than 30 minutes.   For round two, a week later, I increased the number of cities and airports to visit. I made stops at Washington, DC (IAD), Atlanta (ATL), Houston (both HOU and IAH), Orlando (MCO) and New York (JFK). Still, most of the security lines I joined were manageable. My longest wait time was at Bush Intercontinental, which took over 50 minutes to get through standard security. When I boarded my plane, I checked the airport’s website — and the wait time had climbed to 200 minutes. Along the way, I interviewed travelers and workers alike. Folks flying into Houston were wearing cowboy hats for the rodeo. Families flying out of Orlando had Mickey Mouse ears. All the while, TSA officers kept lines moving, despite working without pay.  Winding lines at airports are a reality of the partial DHS shutdown. But in my experience, lines were mostly fine. Hourslong lines exist, yet reasonable ones still do too. So if you’ve got a flight to catch soon, may your lines be quick and your travels safe.  Francois Durand/Getty Images Billy Idol has seen many lives in the entertainment industry. In the 1970s, he was punk, and in the 80s, he became a pop icon when he embraced music videos just as MTV launched. Now, his legendary rock 'n' roll excess takes center stage in the documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead . The film can be streamed on Hulu starting today. But ahead of its release, the 70-year-old star sat down with Morning Edition host A Martínez. The two talked about some of Billy’s close calls with death, his journey with music, his family and his identity. Listen to the interview, which includes snippets of his music, or read the transcript.  What does it mean to be an American? There’s no single answer. At NPR, we think of American identity as a story, one that’s constantly being rewritten by the people who live it. The American Storytelling collection brings together stories from local stations across the NPR Network, from small-town struggles to natural wonders to the layered histories that shape our nation. These are some of our biggest little-known shows, all in one place. Explore the American Storytelling channel on Apple Podcasts or find it in the NPR App. Listen Now ➔  Alastair Grant/AP The new archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, was installed as the leader yesterday in a historic ceremony. She is the 106th person to hold the job and the first woman. A new study of more than 140,000 infants finds that receiving a COVID vaccination during pregnancy protects babies in their first few months of life. In this week’s Far-Flung Postcards, NPR’s Emily Feng takes readers to a  lively underground Iranian disco in Turkey where attendees were able to escape hardship and war.  Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from HPR-1 News/Talk (edit station). This newsletter was edited by Treye Green. Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can  sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Politics, Health and more!