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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 – NEGOTIATIONS
President Trump has weighed a return to all-out war with Iran, holding multiple conversations in recent days with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, but has decided to stick with diplomatic talks for now, U.S. officials said. Trump has also told aides that he is fine if negotiations with Tehran blow past an Aug. 18 deadline for a nuclear deal, the officials said, adding that he is satisfied with ordering one-off strikes on Iran when it violates the current agreement. Alexander Ward and Lara Seligman report for the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha yesterday for what the ?White House described as “high-level” talks, but Iran and host Qatar said they would meet with mediators, rather than the Iranians themselves. Andrew Mills and Elwely Elwelly report for Reuters.
IRAN WAR – STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Oman recently delivered a formal proposal to the United States and other Western allies that outlined a plan in which shipping companies would pay Iran and Oman service fees to use the Strait of Hormuz, according to an Iranian official and four diplomats. A regional diplomat said the proposal mentions voluntary fees, rather than a mandatory toll. However, the Iranian official said the payments would be obligatory. Vivian Nereim, Farnaz Fassihi, and Erika Solomon report for the New York Times.
Saudi Arabia blocked U.S. military access for Project Freedom, a May operation to open the Strait of Hormuz, forcing Washington to end the operation, U.S. officials said. In response, the White House threatened to hold back delivery of missile interceptors if Saudi Arabia did not reverse course. Saudi Arabia ultimately backed down, but officials said that the United States is still considering reducing its military footprint in Saudi Arabia, focusing forces on more supportive countries like Israel and Jordan. Shelby Holliday, Summer Said, and Robbie Gramer report for the Wall Street Journal.
IRAN WAR – LEBANON
Some 400,000 Lebanese, around 40% of those displaced by the war, have returned to southern Lebanon, Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Hanine El Sayed said yesterday. The number ?of people staying in collective shelters has fallen to about 13,000 from 37,000, El Sayed said. Jana Choukeir reports for Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday visited territory in southern Lebanon occupied by the Israeli military. “Our insistence is ?that we will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat is removed,” Netanyahu told troops, according to a statement ?released by his office, referring to Hezbollah. Under the U.S.-backed security agreement, Israeli forces are meant to withdraw from two “pilot zones” ?and allow the Lebanese armed forces to take control of the areas. Few details have been made public on how the project will work in practice. Reuters reports.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
The House of Representatives voted 235–189 to defeat a second Lebanon war powers resolution that would have restricted U.S. support for Israeli military operations in Lebanon, with 22 Democrats joining Republicans to oppose it despite Democratic leadership backing the measure this time. Andrew Solender reports for Axios.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukraine has asked the EU to allocate €6.6 billion from the European Peace Facility for military aid, arguing there is a six-to-nine-month window in which additional support could have a significant impact on the battlefield despite existing EU funding. Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Ukraine still faces a major defence funding shortfall this year and is also seeking an additional $20 billion in military assistance from the 50-nation Ukraine Defence Contact Group. Reuters reports.
Polish special services are preparing for possible Russian sabotage operations aimed at inflaming tensions between Poles and Ukrainians, Tomasz Siemoniak, minister in charge of special services, said today. More broadly, Siemoniak said Western intelligence agencies are concerned about the risk of Russian hybrid, or even ?kinetic attacks, ?against Poland and the Baltic states. Reuters reports.
VENEZUELA QUAKE
The U.S. military currently has more than 900 personnel in Venezuela to support relief operations, with another 800 in Puerto Rico and Curaçao, General Francis Donovan, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, told Reuters. Donovan declined to speculate how long the U.S. military’s mission in Venezuela would last, deferring to the U.S. State Department. But he said the U.S. military was not preparing for any enduring mission on the ground, with the troops only sent in to aid relief efforts. Phil Stewart reports.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Thousands of demonstrators gathered yesterday in parts of South Africa to rally against illegal immigration. The demonstrations come after some protest groups set their own June 30 deadline for the departure of all migrants who are in the country illegally. While South Africa’s government has rejected the deadline, thousands of migrants, primarily from neighboring Zimbabwe and Malawi, gathered at their embassies and consulates to request transport back to their countries. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome report for AP News.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio ?Guterres yesterday urged countries to cover a $100 million gap in funding for the U.N. Palestinian ?refugee agency UNRWA, saying the body was nearing a breaking point after deep cost-cutting and austerity measures. Andrea Shalal reports for Reuters.
China’s covert military training of Russian forces last year was personally approved by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and directly involved at least four Russian and Chinese generals, according to two European officials and documents reviewed by Reuters. The officials said the involvement of such high-ranking individuals in training linked ?to the Ukraine war signalled the importance for Russia and China of such cooperation, which has caused alarm in Europe even as Beijing has denied it took place. Reuters reports.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Talks between Cuba and the United States are at a standstill, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said yesterday. Rodríguez made his comments during a press conference in which he announced a July 7 debate at the U.N. General Assembly on the energy embargo imposed by Trump in late January. Andrea Rodríguez reports for AP News.
Five plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court accusing former President Nicolás Maduro of authorizing extrajudicial killings carried out by elite police forces in Venezuela between 2017 and 2020, seeking accountability under the Torture Victim Protection Act. The case, brought while Maduro is in U.S. custody, alleges he oversaw a campaign in which security forces killed at least 1,300 people. Frances Robles reports for the New York Times.
Vice President JD Vance said yesterday that he disagreed with the Vatican’s views on immigration, describing them as “troubling.” Vance’s remarks followed repeated comments from Pope Leo XIV in recent months expressing disapproval of Trump’s immigration crackdown. Kanishka Singh reports for Reuters.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
Google’s electricity, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions all climbed to record levels last year as the company raced to build more AI infrastructure, according to its environmental report released yesterday. Amy Harder reports for Axios.
The Trump administration removed export restrictions on Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models last night. Anthropic said in a blog post that it would restore access to Fable on Wednesday to users “globally” on several of its platforms, adding “we’re also strengthening our level of collaboration with the U.S. government on new pre-release testing, information sharing, and research collaboration.” Sophia Cai, Cheyenne Haslett, Brendan Bordelon, and John Hewitt Jones report for POLITICO.
U.S. SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld two state laws barring the participation of transgender female athletes in girls’ and women’s sports teams. The court’s 6-to-3 ruling addresses laws in West Virginia and Idaho, but it has implications for the 25 other states with similar restrictions and for athletes who compete in school and collegiate sports nationwide. Ann E. Marimow reports for the New York Times.
The Supreme Court yesterday struck down federal limits on how much political parties may spend in coordination with candidates. In a 6-3 decision, the court held that the coordinated party expenditure limits violate the First Amendment. The decision overturns a 25-year-old precedent that had upheld the same limits. Andrew Pantazi reports for Axios.
BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
The Supreme Court yesterday struck down Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the 6-to-3 majority, explained that Trump’s order violated a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution: children born in the United States to undocumented parents or to parents temporarily in the country, he wrote, are citizens at birth. Abbie VanSickle reports for the New York Times.
Hours later, Trump called on Congress to start work immediately on ending birthright citizenship, calling the Supreme Court’s ruling “too bad” for the nation. Dan Diamond and Mariana Alfaro report for the Washington Post.
Also following the ruling, the Justice Department directed federal prosecutors to prioritize investigations of the so-called birth tourism scheme. A senior ?DOJ official told employees in a memo that people who ?come to the United States under “false pretenses” to give birth and secure ?citizenship for their child could be criminally charged under laws barring visa fraud, money ?laundering, identity theft and wire fraud. Andrew Goudsward reports for Reuters.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
CIA Director John Ratcliffe yesterday announced that the agency was reorganizing to use technology more aggressively, adding that it will take “smart risks,” even as it prioritizes human decision-making and oversight of AI. Julian E. Barnes reports for the New York Times.
The House of Representatives is heading into its July 4 recess early after a Republican internal revolt blocked a key procedural vote tied to Trump’s elections bill, stalling that measure, a defense package, and other legislation until lawmakers return in mid-July. Darrell Dillard and Mariana Alfaro report for the Washington Post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
A White House task force has been collecting thousands of pages of intelligence and law enforcement documents, mainly related to the 2020 election, with plans to declassify some material that could be used to support Trump’s claims about election irregularities and fraud, according to multiple sources. Katherine Doyle, Courtney Kube, Ryan J. Reilly, and Dan De Luce report for NBC News.
Trump has pulled in at least $2 billion since returning to the White House, including about $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses, a mandatory financial disclosure for 2025 shows. Ben Protess, Andrea Fuller, Eric Lipton, and David Yaffe-Bellany report for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday became the fourth federal appeals court to reject ICE’s policy of mandatory detention for people targeted for deportation. Kyle Cheney reports for POLITICO.
A federal judge yesterday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Defense Department from requiring journalists to be accompanied by an official escort in the Pentagon. The judge said that by “singling out journalists, the escort policy ‘undercut[s] the basic assumption of our political system that the press will often serve as an important restraint on government.’” Gregory Svirnovskiy reports for POLITICO.
Two federal courts struck down a Trump administration rule that would have allowed the Education Department to disqualify employers from participating in a student loan forgiveness program for public servants. Tara Siegel Bernard reports for the New York Times.
More than two dozen states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration this week over a regulation on new Medicaid work requirements, arguing that the guidelines will result in many sick and poor Americans losing coverage. Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-Katz report 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
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FEATURED IMAGE: WASHINGTON – JANUARY 23: Clouds move as the sun sets against the west front of the United States Capitol building January 23, 2007 in Washington, DC. U.S. President George W. Bush is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union speech before a joint meeting of Congress at 9:00 PM Eastern. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)