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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
IRAN WAR – CEASEFIRE
A $300 billion private fund designed to trigger investment into Iran is outlined in the U.S.-Iran framework agreement, and more than half that sum has already been committed, a source told Reuters. The new fund is not part of a reconstruction or reparations program and will not include any U.S. government money or grants, the source said, adding that companies based in the United States, the Gulf Arab states, Asia, South America, and Africa have agreed to commit financing for energy, logistics, manufacturing, and transport. Andrew Mills, Maha El Dahan, and Parisa Hafezi report.
President Trump told reporters at the G7 summit, “We are not investing any money in Iran, by the way.” Trump said there was likely to be a need to invest in Iran in the future, given the devastation following the conflict, but that it was not his immediate focus. Asked by CBS News on Monday about the possibility of a $300 billion fund, Vice President JD Vance did not deny it. Cleve R. Wootson Jr and Dan Diamond report for the Washington Post.
The United States will allow Iran to immediately begin selling oil and fuel under the agreement, a senior U.S. official said yesterday. The provision for waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales will take effect once the agreement is signed on Friday, and also will cover services including banking, transportation, and insurance to facilitate the sales, the source said. Timothy Gardner reports for Reuters.
A Hezbollah spokesperson told Reuters the group believed Iran would not sign a final nuclear deal unless Israel withdraws troops from Lebanon. Fighting in Lebanon has eased significantly after the Iran-U.S. MOU, but has not stopped in full, and Israel has said troops would remain in the country’s south. Reuters reports.
In a statement today, G7 leaders called for “an immediate robust ceasefire” in Lebanon and the permanent disarmament of Hezbollah. The G7 leaders also said they had committed to “accelerate the diversification of energy supply routes to reduce global vulnerability to the Strait of Hormuz and to increase our energy stocks.” Steve Holland and Jana Choukeir report for Reuters.
“Too many people have been killed. You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah,” Trump said at the G7 summit about Israeli forces in Lebanon. Trump also said he has a “great relationship” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but at the same time added that he should be “more responsible” with Lebanon. “Without us, without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.” Humeyra Pamuk reports for Reuters.
The Senate yesterday rejected a resolution to block Trump from ordering further U.S. strikes on Iran, with the measure failing 48-47 despite support from four Republican senators. Theodoric Meyer reports for the Washington Post.
IRAN WAR – STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles have called for ideas to convince ship owners to take the risk of transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, two energy industry officials said. Discussions have centred on ways to convince insurance companies to offer coverage to travel through the Strait, the officials added. Another proposal included a fee-based “VIP” pass for a naval escort through the waterway, three sources said. Ben Lefebvre and Scott Waldman report for POLITICO.
French President Emmanuel Macron said this week he could be ready to quickly deploy fighter jets and frigates to the Strait of Hormuz in an effort to remove mines, but that a request must come from not only the United States, but also Iran and Oman. A U.K. official said Britain “stands ready” to send assets to the region but would not specify conditions or a timeline for deployment. Myah Ward, Clea Caulcutt, Esther Webber, and Giorgio Leali report for POLITICO.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
An Israeli strike yesterday killed at least two Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials said. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Ebrahim Hajjaj report for Reuters.
Witnesses in southern Gaza said Israeli forces have, in the past few days, expanded the “Yellow Zone” – the areas they control – in eastern Khan Younis and northern Rafah, where new markers and concrete blocks have been placed. On Sunday, Israeli forces sent tanks further into the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north, forcing several families to flee. Reuters footage, taken on Monday, showed two yellow blocks used as boundary markers that had been moved closer to houses. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Ebrahim Hajjaj report for Reuters.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
Israel has seized planning and construction powers at a Jewish and Muslim shrine in the occupied West Bank from Palestinian authorities, scrapping part of the 1997 Hebron Agreement, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said yesterday. Yosri Al-Jamal and Steven Scheer report for Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukrainian drones yesterday targeted an oil refinery in Moscow, about ten miles from the Kremlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address. Moscow’s mayor said no one was killed or injured in the strike, but did not discuss the extent of the damage. Marc Santora reports for the New York Times.
Russian attacks on cities in Ukraine’s east and southeast yesterday killed at least four people and set fire to a residence and a shopping center, officials and prosecutors said last night. Reuters reports.
The Russia-Ukraine war is not the United States’ fight, Trump told reporters at the G7 summit yesterday. “Look, we have nothing to do with it, we sell weapons to them,” Trump said. “It has no impact on us, other than we sell weapons. We’re thousands of miles away.” Erica L. Green and Zolan Kanno-Youngs report for the New York Times.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
A Russian Navy vessel travelling through the English Channel yesterday fired shots near a yacht registered in the United Kingdom, according to British military officials. The officials said that the Russian ship fired the shots to avoid a collision with the British ship. Officials said the shots fired were not aimed at the yacht and were single rounds, not fired from an automatic weapon. Michael D. Shear reports for the New York Times.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
U.S. diplomats are aware of fresh allegations that Islamic State group detainees, who were transferred from Syria to Iraq earlier this year, are facing torture and other harmful treatment, according to State Department emails. Most recently, a British Embassy official told a U.S. Embassy staffer that a detained British citizen had recently alleged he and others had been beaten in Iraqi custody, according to an email dated Thursday. Nahal Toosi and Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing report for POLITICO.
Brazil’s Supreme Court convicted former lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro yesterday for coercion related to the trial that last year sentenced his father and ex-President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for a coup attempt. The court sentenced him to four years and two months in prison. All five justices considering the case agreed that he had illegally interfered by lobbying the U.S. government to threaten Brazilian officials to stop the trial. Mauricio Savarese reports for AP News.
U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS
The U.S. military yesterday attacked a boat accused of drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one man and leaving two survivors. AP News reports.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
ICE agreed to revise federal standards that govern immigration detention centers when one of its top contractors privately asked for changes that could benefit its business, a source said. Geo Group asked that ICE remove lines saying contractors needed to follow state and local laws around treatment of detainees, and to amend language to support its position that paying some detainees $1 day to work did not violate minimum-wage laws, as they are not employees. The new national detention standards include some of Geo’s requested changes. The document says detainees are not employees and are not entitled to wages or benefits under applicable wage laws or labor regulations. Douglas MacMillan report for the Washington Post.
The Department of Homeland Security decided to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitians last June without obtaining input on the conditions in Haiti from the State Department, according to newly released internal emails and documents. The documents have prompted lawyers for Haitian migrants to ask the Supreme Court to send the case back to lower courts, arguing the justices may have been given incomplete information as they consider whether the Trump administration can immediately terminate these protections. Madeleine Ngo and Ann E. Marimow report for the New York Times.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Idaho cannot immediately enforce its new law criminalizing the use of certain restrooms that do not match an individual’s sex at birth, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The ruling provides a reprieve for transgender people in Idaho, who faced up to five years in prison for using restrooms that match their gender identity. The state’s law was set to go into effect on July 1. Amy Harmon reports for the New York Times.
Fifteen members of Minneapolis groups, which prosecutors said are composed of far-left antifa activists, were charged with conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation earlier this year, according to a federal indictment unsealed yesterday. Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports for the Washington Post.
New Mexico investigators have sent letters to JPMorgan Chase, Google, and more than two dozen companies ordering them to preserve records for a widening criminal probe into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The letters seek data for Epstein, Lesley Groff, Ghislaine Maxwell, and will expand to include Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn. Khadeeja Safdar reports for the Wall Street Journal.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) team is urging congressional Democrats to frame the Justice Department’s investigation into him as part of a campaign of political retribution, according to talking points obtained by Axios. “He ordered this investigation because the Governor is considering a run for President. Donald Trump is not investigating a crime. He is investigating a critic,” the two-page document says. Andrew Solender reports.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Trump announced this morning that he was canceling a planned Senate hearing to review his nomination for director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence,” Trump said. Trump tied the move to his push for the Save America Act, saying he would not support renewal of the FISA surveillance program unless Congress also advances his voting-restrictions bill. Dan Diamond and Victoria Crew report for the Washington Post.
Trump previously said no taxpayer money would be spent on his White House ballroom construction project, which he claimed would cost up to $400 million. However, a detailed summary prepared for the White House by the contractor more than three weeks before Trump’s March comments estimated that construction would cost $600 million, with more than half coming from taxpayers, according to a copy of the estimate seen by the Washington Post. By the time Trump made his comments, the federal government had approved more than a dozen payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars in public funds. Sarah Blaskey and Jonathan O’Connell report.
A top Secret Service official said the agency deliberately kept an investigation into an alleged plot to attack the June 14 UFC event at the White House secret because the case was still active. The agency criticized FBI Director Kash Patel for publicly announcing the thwarted plot on social media yesterday before investigators were ready, arguing that the Secret Service – not the FBI – led the operation. Josh Meyer reports for USA Today.
Federal prosecutors charged at least five people in connection with the alleged plot, in which the group hoped to detonate explosive-laden drones over the White House, causing the crowd to scramble, and then shoot into the crowd as people fled, according to court records. Sadie Gurman and C. Ryan Barbe report for the Wall Street Journal.
The Trump administration yesterday announced plans to move two major functions of the Education Department to other parts of the government. The changes move programs for disabled students into the Health and Human Services Department and the enforcement of civil rights laws in schools to the Justice Department. Michael C. Bender and Dana Goldstein report for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Justice Department yesterday joined a lawsuit challenging a city program offering reparations for civil rights violations to Black residents in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, arguing that the aid program amounted to racial discrimination. Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.
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ICYMI: Yesterday on Just Security
