A. Martinez

Is this an escalation or a pressure tactic to force Iran to negotiate?

And Congress is inching toward a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but Democrats say President Trump's input is complicating negotiations.

How much longer will TSA agents work without pay?

Stay with us.

We've got the news you need to start your day.

President Trump is sending thousands more American soldiers to the Middle East.

NPR has confirmed at least 2,000 paratroopers have gotten orders to mobilize.

So is this deployment a way to pressure Iranian negotiators or a signal of the imminent use of American troops?

We have Quill Lawrence from NPR's national security team to explain.

Quill, what do we know about the troops?

So President Trump has said he won't rule out putting boots on the ground.

That's what we're talking about here, right?

Yeah.

So I want to go back a bit because on Monday, President Trump said these are high level negotiations and it could be heading toward a diplomatic resolution.

But now he's sending thousands of ground troops to the region, which sounds like the opposite quill of de-escalation.

That's NPR's Quill Lawrence.

Quill, thanks.

Thank you.

For nearly a month, the world has been focused on U.S.

and Israeli attacks on Iran, retaliation across the Gulf, and skyrocketing energy prices.