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After a meeting due on Friday in Switzerland between the US and Iran to hammer out details of a peace plan was cancelled because of renewed violence in Lebanon, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to renew their ceasefire.
The diplomatic back-and-forth between Washington and Tehran about a Middle East peace deal has sent energy prices soaring and threatened global economic chaos. Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon have threatened to damage Donald Trump’s efforts to extricate the US from the Middle East war.
Trump has defended the deal with Iran in the face of criticism at home, including from some of his Republican allies in Congress, about whether the US president has conceded too much to end a war unpopular with most Americans before November’s midterm elections.
“The War has diminished Iran!” he wrote in social media posts on Friday. “We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did. They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!”
Israel and Hezbollah agree to renew ceasefire after flareup of violence
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to renew a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon after 24 hours of intense violence that posed an early challenge to the new agreement between the US and Iran to end their conflict.
A meeting that was scheduled to take place on Friday between Washington and Tehran in Switzerland to discuss implementation of the new deal was cancelled when Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers and Israel carried out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley that killed at least 47 people.
US-Iran talks called off after Israel and Hezbollah trade deadly attacks
JD Vance’s staff were at an airbase ready to fly to the Middle East peace summit in Switzerland when their trip was suddenly cancelled after the Hezbollah-Israel exchanges.
The White House then announced that the vice-president, who is leading the peace negotiations for the US, would not be flying to Switzerland.
The talks were due to begin two days after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran that opened a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent understanding about Iran’s nuclear programme, and getting shipping moving in the strait of Hormuz.
Trump unveils new Air Force One, a converted Qatari 747
Donald Trump has unveiled the new, temporary Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Designated VC-25B, it was given to Trump by the Gulf emirate of Qatar, provoking strong political protest because the $400m jet exceeds the limit on unsolicited gifts of $50 in value in a single calendar year from the same source.
Bill Pulte assumes role of US acting director of national intelligence
Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency director, became the acting director of national intelligence on Friday, after a tug-of-war between Donald Trump and Washington lawmakers about the short-term future of the cabinet intelligence post.
Tulsi Gabbard, the outgoing DNI, initially planned to leave her post on 30 June, but Trump shortened her tenure to Friday.
Barack Obama says US is ‘worse off’ than before war with Iran
Barack Obama has said that after 15 weeks of war with Iran, the US is now “worse off” than before the conflict started in February.
“We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off,” the former US president told NBC News in an interview that aired on Friday.
DoJ says it will investigate MLB amid Pride hats controversy
The US justice department has launched a civil rights investigation into Major League Baseball after the league criticized three San Francisco Giants players who wrote Bible verses on their hats during the team’s Pride Night.
Comparison to Hitler, Mao, Stalin? Trump says: ‘Sounds good to me!’
Donald Trump has enthusiastically agreed with a public assessment by a man he met while golfing that the “overwhelming difference” between the current US president and historical figures who incited fear – such as Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao and Hitler – is that Trump is more powerful.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 18 June 2026.
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