Donald Trump

June 18 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday welcomed members of the Italian Juventus Club World Cup team to the Oval Office as he spoke about a range of topics, including transgender athletes.

The team, which includes Americans Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie, appeared in the White House before playing Al Ain of the United Arab Emrites at Washington, D.C.’s, Audi Field on Wednesday night. Thirty-two teams are competing from last Saturday to July 13 in the United States.

Also on hand were FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Juventus club executives, former player Giorgio Chiellini and head coach Igor Tudor.

They stood behind the president.

Trump turned around and asked them: “Could a woman make your team, fellas.”

They smiled nervously and didn’t respond.

Juventus’ general manager Damien Comolli finally said: “We have a very good women’s team.” They are the reigning Serie A champions.

“But they should be playing with women,” Trump said as Comolli looked at the floor and chose not to answer.

“But they should be playing with women,” Trump replied. “He’s being very diplomatic.”

Transgender athletes have been allowed to compete in the Olympics, including soccer, since 2004 if they meet the eligibility criteria set by their sport’s International Federation. It wasn’t until 2021 that the first openly transgender athletes competed in the Games.

Trump’s executive order that bans transgender participants from women’s sports directs the Secretary of State’s office to pressure the International Olympic to amend standards governing Olympic sporting events “to promote fairness, safety and the best interests of female athletes by ensuring that eligibility for participation in women’s sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction.”

During the signing ceremony in February, Trump said he wants the International Olympic Committee to “change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject” ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Of the more than 500,000 NCAA athletes, only about 40 are known to be transgender, according to Anna Baeth, director of research at research at Athlete Ally, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ equality in sports.

The NCAA later adhered to Trump’s executive order.

Trans people appear to have no advantage in sports, according to an October 2023 review of 2017 research published in the journal Sports Medicine.

Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Tennessee state law banning gender-affirming care for minors can stand.

June 18 (UPI) — Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wants to unseat incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., during the 2026 mid-term election.

Brink, 55, announced her candidacy on Wednesday after serving as a career diplomat under Democrat and Republican presidents, the Detroit Free Press reported.

A video announcement of Brink’s candidacy largely focuses on the Ukraine War, but she also mentions “unaccountable, unelected billionaires trying to slash and burn our government and our democracy.”

Brink is a native Michigander who lives in the state’s capital and said Trump administration policies are raising the cost of living for U.S. taxpayers.

“Extremists in Washington [D.C.] are sticking up with reckless tariffs that are raising the cost of living for working families, cutting critical services, including funding for our schools, veterans’ care and healthcare and taking away our freedoms [by] restricting reproductive rights and women’s healthcare,” Brink says.

Brink began her career in the State Department in 1996 and was the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia from 2019 to 2022 and ambassador to Ukraine from 2022 until resigning earlier this year.

In an op-ed published in May by the Detroit Free Press, Brink said she resigned her ambassadorship due to President Donald Trump‘s policy toward Ukraine.

“The policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than the aggressor, Russia,” Brink said.

“As such, I could no longer in good faith carry out the administration’s policy and felt it was my duty to step down,” she wrote.

“I cannot stand by while a country is invaded, a democracy bombarded and children killed with impunity.”

She called the Trump administration’s policy “appeasement” that “leads to more war and suffering.”

Brink is the first Democrat to announce her candidacy for the House seat that formerly was held by current Democratic Party Senator Elise Slotnik.

Other potential Democratic Party candidates include former Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski and retired Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, the Michigan Advance reported.

UN chief Antonio Guterres, in a statement read by spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, warned against escalating the Iran-Israel conflict. He urged restraint and diplomacy, and warned against any ‘additional military interventions.”

June 18 (UPI) — Japan-based Nippon Steel on Wednesday completed its buyout of U.S. Steel, changing its name to Nippon Steel North America, as the former U.S. industrial giant ended trading on Wall Street under its former iconic industrial brand.

Last week, President Donald Trump officially signed off on the deal, paving the way for a finalized acquisition after the president for weeks spoke of a “partnership” between the two steel companies that would allow U.S. Steel to stay an American-owned business entity.

However, the U.S.-based steel giant became a wholly owned subsidiary company of Nippon Steel North America on Wednesday after the New York Stock Exchange issued a notice to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that U.S. Steel’s listing would be removed.

U.S. Steel ended trading in the morning hours as Nippon’s massive American investment became final with a June 30 effective date for its NYSE delisting.

Former President Joe Biden blocked the Nippon buyout in January prior to exiting the White House, citing national security as the U.S. government’s primary concern over the acquisition.

Trump originally opposed Nippon’s takeover during the 2024 presidential election but flip-flopped upon taking office and in April ordered an official review of the deal.

In May, Trump stirred confusion among investors and union leaders on the agreed-upon terms of the sale when he announced in a social media post a “planned partnership” between Nippon and U.S. Steel.

Nippon Steel never balked from the initial December 2023 merger agreement terms in its SEC filing but did adopt Trump’s style of language, insinuating a preconceived “partnership.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Steel will continue to operate under its name.

Trump did, however, manage to compel both steel companies to sign a U.S. national security pact as a condition to his approval in clearing the transaction.

According to the terms of the national security agreement, Nippon will invest $11 billion by 2028 in U.S. Steel, which includes an initial $1 billion for a Greenfield project post-2028. In addition, U.S. Steel’s CEO and a majority of its board members must be American citizens with U.S. Steel to remain a U.S.-incorporated entity.

Trump was given a “golden share” under the agreement that grants him veto power over a number of decision, such as U.S. Steel’s name change or future exit from its Pittsburgh headquarters in Pennsylvania to outside of the United States.

In addition, the White House will hold sway of the moving production of steels jobs, some authority in the closure of domestic plants, sourcing and other business-related acts.

June 18 (UPI) — The U.S. Federal Reserve held key interest rates steady Wednesday but said it still sees the possibility of two cuts later this year, with expectations that President Donald Trump‘s tariff policies will spike inflation and slow economic growth.

The Federal Open Market Committee kept its borrowing rate in the 4.25%-4.5% range where it’s been since December.

Earlier Wednesday it had been highly expected that the Fed would leave interest rates unaltered. However, the committee indicated that two cuts by the end of the year were not out of the question, with a chance of four future interest rate cuts being a possibility by 2027.

“The Fed’s main message at the June meeting will be that it remains comfortably in wait-and-see mode,” Bank of America economist Aditya Bhave said in a statement earlier in the day.

The Fed reported on inflation trends and other data in the midst of economic uncertainty.

Economic experts pointed to future so-called “stagflationary” economic pressures with the likelihood of the nation’s GDP pushing at a pace of more than 1% and inflation as high as 3%.

“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has diminished but remains elevated,” according to the FOMC, adding how it was being “attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate.”

The uncertainty stems not only from the unpredictable application of tariffs and ongoing trade volatility caused by them, but also from world events likely to have an effect on U.S. financial markets such as the Iran-Israel war.

“Investors should focus on [Fed Chair Jerome] Powell’s take on the softening labor data, the recent benign inflation prints and the risks of persistent tariff-driven inflation,” Bhave added.

Earlier, Wall Street economists had believed the Fed would keep interest rates in the 4.25% to 4.5% range.

The Fed has not cut interest rates so far during the Trump administration. Despite President Donald Trump aggressively pushing Powell to cut interest rates, he has declined, saying there is too much uncertainty in financial markets, largely because of tariffs that have been imposed and threatened.

Published on 18/06/2025 – 18:37 GMT+2•Updated
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The conflict in the Middle East will further worsen the global economic outlook, already strained by ongoing trade disputes, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (FMI) has told Euronews in an interview.

“Being hit by a trade war has consequences. We have projected a decline in global growth by half a percentage point,” Kristalina Georgieva said, adding: “What we witness now is more turbulence in the Middle East, which adds to uncertainty and therefore is bad for business.”

Since Donald Trump’s return to power as leader of the world’s largest economy, international trade has been disrupted by a wave of tariffs imposed by the US administration on its global partners.

Mexico and Canada were the initial targets, followed by a prolonged standoff between the US and China, which saw reciprocal tariffs between the pair soar to more than 100%.

On 2 April— a day he dubbed “Liberation Day”—Trump imposed tariffs on a wide range of countries, including the EU. He then declared a 90-day truce, set to expire on 9 July.

Negotiations are currently underway with the EU, which currently faces tariffs of 50% on steel and aluminum, 25% on cars, and 10% on all its exports to the US.

However, the director of the IMF, which is responsible for financial stability across the world and facilitate global trade, admitted that “the global economy has proven to be remarkably resilient to shocks, and that resilience continues.”

In her view, economic uncertainty is becoming the new normal.

“We live in a more shock-prone world, a world of higher uncertainty,” Georgieva said, adding: “For this world, countries need to work hard to be more resilient. Do reforms at home that would make your economies stronger.”

Georgieva, a former vice-president of the European Commission, also expressed optimism with the economic outlook despite the bleak growth figures.

She considered that the recent trade agreement between China and the US and the deal Trump has brokered with the UK to be good signs, saying: “We are in a better place.”

In an uncertain context, she also sees opportunities to be seized—an outlook shared by the European Commission, which is pursuing a strategy of diversifying its trading partners by expanding the number of trade agreements worldwide.

“In Europe, we see an increase in bilateral and plurilateral agreements, which I expect to be a big feature of the future of trade globally,” she told Euronews, adding that it is a great moment for Europe, “a defender of rules-based” global trade exchanges.

Elon Musk has emerged as one of the most powerful figures in American politics. After contributing more than $250m to President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, Musk joined his administration as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. From that post, he launched an aggressive effort to slash the federal workforce—targeting entire agencies, some of which regulate his own companies. His position also gave him access to vast troves of government data, potentially fuelling the growth of his artificial intelligence ventures.

Fault Lines traces Musk’s transformation from Trump critic to top donor and political ally. Through interviews with historians, insiders and journalists, Citizen Musk investigates whether one billionaire bought his way into power—and whether the United States is sliding into oligarchy.

June 18 (UPI) — President Donald Trump extended a pause on legislation banning TikTok from operating in the United States a third time, extending it for a further 90 days to allow time for a deal to split the firm’s U.S. business from its Chinese parent company.

The White House said Tuesday that Trump would sign a fresh executive order this week instructing the Justice Department not to take measures or impose fines on TikTok or tech providers such as Google and Apple for allowing the video-sharing app to remain on their platforms.

“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark. This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure,” said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

The previous 75-day extension from April, which was due to expire on Thursday, came after his administration agreed a deal, according to CBS News, to spin off TikTok’s American operation into a majority U.S.-owned entity.

However, that deal was derailed by Trump’s imposition of severe tariffs on China with parent ByteDance saying Beijing would not authorize the sale while the dispute over tariffs and trade was ongoing — although TikTok maintained the deal was not finalized and approval from Beijing was a given.

Trump said Tuesday that he was confident that Beijing would give its blessing.

“I think President Xi [Jinping] will ultimately approve it.”

A convert to TikTok after trying to ban it in his first 2017- 2021 term, Trump acknowledges security concerns over the personal data of American users ending up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party that prompted Democrats to join in passing a Republican bill requiring TikTok to sell by Jan. 19 this year, or be shutdown.

The latest extension takes that deadline to mid-September, almost 18 months after the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden in April 2024.

June 18 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump was weighing overnight whether to take the country to war with Iran after an emergency meeting of his national security team in the White House.

The 80-minute Situation Room meeting of Trump’s key Cabinet officials Tuesday evening concluded without a clear consensus, CBS News reported, but one option on the table was sending U.S. bombers to destroy underground nuclear sites that are impenetrable to Israeli warplanes.

The network said senior intelligence and Defense Department officials had told it that Iran’s heavily fortified Fordow uranium enrichment plant, 300 feet under a mountain near Qom and 85 miles south of Tehran, was one possible target.

Fordow was believed to be the facility most likely to reach a critical threshold where Iran’s nuclear development program — which it has always insisted is for civilian purposes only — crosses into a program capable of producing a nuclear warhead.

However, there was disagreement at the meeting attended by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and CIA Director John Ratcliffe over exactly what the United States’ next step should be.

Israeli airstrikes on the facility with bunker-busting bombs have thus far failed to penetrate the facility, with the International Atomic Energy Agency saying it had sustained no damage as of Monday.

“No damage has been seen at the site of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant or at the Khondab heavy water reactor, which is under construction. Bushehr nuclear power plant has not been targeted nor affected by the recent attacks, and neither has the Tehran Research Reactor,” IAEA Secretary General Rafael Grossi told the agency’s board.

However, he said Israeli strikes had caused considerable damage to above-ground facilities at Esfahan and Natanz, with one of the plants having produced U-235 uranium enriched up to 60%.

Naturally occurring U-235 uranium contains only a tiny proportion of chain-reacting U-235 isotope and must be “enriched” 3% to 5% for nuclear power purposes. To become weapons-grade, U-235 needs to be enriched to above 90%, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, although the super-enriched uranium is also used to produce isotopes used for nuclear medicine scans and radiotherapy.

The United States has powerful weapons that could, with repeated hits, penetrate a facility such as Fordow.

The BBC reported that would require deployment of America’s so-called Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound bomb delivered by the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 stealth bomber, which can carry two of the monster munitions.

As the conflict entered its sixth day, Israel said it launched airstrikes involving 50 fighter jets overnight against a uranium centrifuge production site and multiple weapons facilities critical to Iran’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.

In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces said the centrifuges made at the plant were for enriching uranium beyond civilian levels. Other sites hit included a facility making parts for surface-to-surface missiles used against Israel and another plant making surface-to-air missile components used to target aircraft.

The IDF said the strikes “directly degraded” Iran’s ability to threaten Israel and the wider region.

“We have delivered significant blows to the Iranian regime, and as such, they have been pushed back into central Iran. They are now focusing their efforts on conducting missile fire from the area of Isfahan. We are aiming at military targets; they are attacking civilian homes,” IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said.

Air raid sirens sounded across large swathes of central and northern Israel just before midnight local time after Iran launched a salvo of missiles at the country, including so-called “Fattah-1” hypersonic missiles.

Warnings sounded again across a smaller area in the north-east about 4.30 a.m. due to what the IDF called “hostile aircraft infiltration.”

Trump and Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei embarked on a war of words Tuesday with the Trump saying Khamenei would be an “easy target” if the United States and Israel chose to take him out. Trump also called for Tehran’s “unconditional surrender.”

“The battle begins,” Khamenei threatened in a social media post invoking Shia Islam’s Haider, the first Shia Imam and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, accompanied by an image of fire raining down on a city.

We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy.”

As the conflict between Iran and Israel escalates, United States President Donald Trump’s administration is offering mixed signals about whether it still backs a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear programme.

Publicly, it has backed a negotiated agreement, and US and Iranian negotiators had planned to meet again this week. As recently as Thursday, Trump insisted in a Truth Social post: “We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution.”

But 14 hours later as Israel began its attacks on Iran, Trump posted that he had given Iran a 60-day deadline to reach an agreement – and that the deadline had passed. By Sunday, Trump was insisting that “Israel and Iran should make a deal” and they would with his help.

On Monday as Trump prepared to leave the Group of Seven summit in Canada early, his warnings grew more ominous: He posted that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” The US president later denied speculation that he had returned to Washington, DC, early to negotiate a ceasefire, noting that it was for something “much bigger than that”.

Trump’s ambiguous statements have fuelled debate among analysts about the true extent of US involvement and intentions in the Israel-Iran conflict.

Debating Trump’s wink and a nod

Trump has denied any US involvement in the strikes. “The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight,” he wrote on Sunday.

Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the US-based Arms Control Association, said Trump’s messaging had been clear. “I think that President Trump has been very clear in his opposition to the use of military force against Iran while diplomacy was playing out. And reporting suggests that he pushed back against [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” she said.

What’s more likely, Davenport said, is that “Israel was worried that diplomacy would succeed, that it would mean a deal” and “that it did not view [this as] matching its interests and objectives regarding Iran”.

Richard Nephew, a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, agreed, saying it was Trump’s consistent march towards a deal that troubled Israel.

“I think it is that consistency that’s actually been the thing that’s the problem,” said Nephew, who served as director for Iran at the US National Security Council from 2011 to 2013 under then-President Barack Obama.

But Ali Ansari, a professor of Iranian history at St Andrews University in Scotland, disagreed.

“The US was aware. … Even if the specific timing did surprise them, they must have been aware, so a wink is about right,” he told Al Jazeera.

“At the same time, the US view is that Israel must take the lead and should really do this on their own,” he said.

Could Trump get sucked into the conflict?

Israel is believed to have destroyed the above-ground section of Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. The facility has enriched uranium to 60 percent purity – far above the 3.67 percent needed for nuclear power but below the 90 percent purity needed for an atomic bomb. Power loss at Natanz as a result of the Israeli strike may have also damaged the underground enrichment section at Natanz, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

But in the IAEA’s assessment, Israel did not damage Iran’s other uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, which is buried inside a mountain and also enriches uranium to 60 percent purity.

“It’s likely that Israel would need US support if it actually wanted to penetrate some of these underground facilities,” Davenport said, pointing to the largest US conventional bomb, the 13,600kg (30,000lb) Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

“[With] repeated strikes with that munition, you could likely damage or destroy some of these facilities,” Davenport said, noting that Washington “has not transferred that bomb to Israel”.

Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center, a US-based think tank, also told Al Jazeera that Israel would need US weapons to complete its stated mission of destroying Iran’s nuclear programme.

Nephew, for one, did not discount the chances of that happening.

“We know that [Trump] likes to be on the side of winners. To the extent that he perceives the Israelis as winners right now, that is the reason why he is maintaining his position and why I think we have a wink [to Israel],” he said.

On Friday, the US flew a large number of midair-refuelling planes to the Middle East and ordered the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz to sail there. On Tuesday, it announced it was sending more warplanes to the region.

Ansari agreed that the initial success of Israel’s attacks could mean that “Trump is tempted to join in just to get some of the glory,” but he thinks this could force Iran to stand down.

“It may well be that the US does join in on an attack on Fordow although I think even the genuine threat of an American attack will bring the Iranians to the table,” Ansari said. “They can concede – with honour – to the United States; they can’t to Israel, though they may have no choice.”

Wary of American involvement, US Senator Tim Kaine introduced a war powers resolution on Monday that would require the US Congress to authorise any military action against Iran.

“It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States,” Kaine said.

Diplomacy vs force

Obama did not believe a military solution was attractive or feasible for Iran’s nuclear programme, and he opted for a diplomatic process that resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. That agreement called for the IAEA to monitor all of Iran’s nuclear activities to ensure that uranium enrichment only reached the levels required for energy production.

According to Nephew and Davenport, Trump indirectly fanned the flames of the military option when he pulled the US out of the JCPOA as president in 2018 at Israel’s behest.

Two years later, Iran said it would enrich uranium to 4.5 percent purity, and in 2021, it refined it to 20 percent purity. In 2023, the IAEA said it had found uranium particles at Fordow enriched to 83.7 percent purity.

Trump offered no alternative to the JCPOA during his first presidential term, nor did President Joe Biden after him.

“Setting [the JCPOA] on fire was a direct contribution to where we are today,” Nephew said. Seeking a military path instead of a diplomatic one to curtail a nuclear programme “contributes to a proliferation path”, he said, “because countries say, ‘The only way I can protect myself is if I go down this path.’”

Davenport, an expert on the nuclear and missile programmes of Iran and North Korea, said even the regime change in Tehran that Netanyahu has called for wouldn’t solve the problem.

“Regime change is not an assured nonproliferation strategy,” she said. “We don’t know what would come next in Iran if this regime were to fall. If it were the military seizing control, nuclear weapons might be more likely. But even if it were a more open democratic government, democracies choose to build nuclear weapons too.”

June 17 (UPI) — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday expanded an order against the State Department’s passport policy to include all applicants who are transgender or nonbinary, saying the “passport policy violates their constitutional right to equal protection of the laws.”

Judge Julia Kobick granted a first preliminary injunction in April, which blocked the State Department’s policy for only six of seven people who originally sued. On Tuesday, the judge expanded it to plaintiffs who were added to the suit, and nearly all trans and nonbinary Americans seeking new passports or changes.

Kobick, an appointee of former President Biden, wrote that the six named plaintiffs and the new class of plaintiffs “face the same injury: they cannot obtain a passport with a sex designation that aligns with their gender identity.”

“The plaintiffs have demonstrated that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims that the Passport Policy violates their constitutional right to equal protection of the laws and runs afoul of the safeguards of the APA,” Kobick wrote in Tuesday’s opinion, while referring to the Administrative Procedure Act which governs how policies are adopted.

After taking office earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, proclaiming the United States recognizes only two sexes — male and female — and that those sexes “are not changeable.” Trump then ordered government-issued identification documents, including U.S. passports, to reflect a person’s sex at birth.

“We will no longer issue U.S. passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad with an X marker,” according the State Department. “We will only issue passports with an M or F sex marker that match the customer’s biological sex at birth.”

Under the Biden administration, passport holders could self-select gender designation, including “unspecified” which was designated by the letter X.

The Trump administration appealed Kobick’s ruling in April. On Tuesday, Kobick wrote that forcing transgender and nonbinary people to choose between two sexes makes them more vulnerable to discrimination.

“Absent preliminary injunctive relief, these plaintiffs may effectively be forced to out themselves as transgender or non-binary every time they present their passport,” Kobick wrote.

The legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts celebrated Tuesday’s ruling and vowed to “continue to fight.”

“This decision acknowledges the immediate and profound negative impact that the Trump administration’s passport policy has on the ability of people across the country to travel for work, school and family,” Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement.

“The Trump administration’s passport policy attacks the foundations of the right to privacy and the freedom for all people to live their lives safely and with dignity,” Rossman added. “We will continue to fight to stop this unlawful policy once and for all.”

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both posted to social media hinting that the United States is considering involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, with Trump even raising the possibility of violence against Iran’s leadership.

The first of Tuesday’s posts came from Vance, who wrote a lengthy missive defending Trump’s handling of the conflict and blaming Iran for continuing its nuclear enrichment programme.

“The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways- the easy way or the ‘other’ way,” Vance wrote.

The vice president proceeded to explain what the “other way” might look like.

“The president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens,” Vance said. “He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president.”

Trump himself upped the ante less than an hour later. On his Truth Social platform, the president appeared to threaten Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and called for the country’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER”.

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote.

“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”

The two messages arrive as Iran and Israel continue to exchange missile fire, with experts fearing the outbreak of a wider regional war.

That prospect has raised questions about whether and how the US might become involved.

Already, Trump has indicated he had prior knowledge of Israel’s initial attack on June 13, and news reports indicate that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has petitioned Trump to join its military campaign against Iran.

Still, the Trump administration has put some distance between itself and Israel, a longtime ally.

On the night the first attacks were launched by Israel, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement calling Israel’s actions “unilateral” and stressing that the US was “not involved in [the] strikes against Iran”.

Shifting tone

Critics have speculated, however, that Trump may be gradually building a case for more direct US involvement in the conflict.

Prior to the last five days of bombing, the US and Iran had been engaged in months of negotiations to limit Iran’s nuclear programme. Another round of talks had been scheduled for last weekend, but was cancelled amid the escalating violence.

The US has since repositioned warships and military aircraft in the region, in the name of “protecting US forces”.

“These deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement.

Trump, meanwhile, has framed the conflict as a result of Iran’s unwillingness to curtail its nuclear programme. As he flew home from the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada overnight, he reemphasised that Iran had missed its opportunity to avoid conflict.

“They should have done the deal. I told them: ‘Do the deal’,” Trump told reporters. “So I don’t know. I’m not too much in the mood to negotiate.”

Iran has long denied seeking a nuclear weapon. But fears that it might develop one anyway have fuelled decades of tensions with the US, Israel and other countries.

In 2015, Iran inked a deal with the US, China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union to scale back its nuclear programme, in exchange for sanctions relief. But in 2018, during his first term in office, Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the pact, causing it to crumble.

He has since pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran and other US adversaries, a campaign he has continued during his second term.

In March, for instance, Trump blamed Iran for attacks from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, writing, “IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!”

A nuclear question

Those threats have raised concerns, even among Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base, that the US could once again become embroiled in a costly foreign war.

On Friday, for instance, the Tucker Carlson Network — led by the eponymous conservative commentator — sent out a morning newsletter lobbying against US involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict.

“If Israel wants to wage this war, it has every right to do so. It is a sovereign country, and it can do as it pleases. But not with America’s backing,” the newsletter read.

Lawmakers have likewise moved to curb any potential US involvement in the conflict.

On Tuesday, US Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican, joined his Democratic colleague Ro Khanna of California in announcing they would introduce a bill called the Iran War Powers Resolution, which would require the president to seek congressional approval before engaging in the conflict.

Just a day earlier, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine unveiled a similar bill. It would have directed the president to “terminate the use of US Armed Forces for hostilities against Iran”.

The Trump administration, however, has emphasised its position that Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon is a red line that cannot be crossed. On Tuesday, the White House issued a statement stressing that Trump “has never wavered” in his position, linking to dozens of past comments he has made.

Critics, however, have pointed out that Trump has contradicted some members of his own inner circle, who have cast doubt on the likelihood that Iran has a nuclear weapons arsenal.

In March, for instance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified to Congress that the US “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons programme he suspended in 2003”.

During his overnight flight back to the US, however, Trump dismissed Gabbard’s assessment. “I don’t care what she said. I think they’re very close to having it,” he told reporters.

Gabbard herself has since said her comments were in line with the president’s position.

But the Trump administration’s contradictory statements have raised questions about how its stance towards Iran — and military engagement in the Middle East — might shift in the coming weeks.

Yasmine Taeb, legislative and political director for the advocacy group MPower Change Action Fund, noted that Gabbard’s congressional testimony represented the findings of the entire US intelligence community.

“It’s just reprehensible and incredibly reckless that Trump is not even relying on guidance from his own intelligence,” she told Al Jazeera.

Jamal Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a think tank and political group, also told Al Jazeera that Trump’s comments raise questions about the sources he is relying on for information.

“This makes really clear that this is a war of choice,” he told Al Jazeera. “If he’s not listening to his own intelligence community, who is he listening to? Is it Netanyahu?”

“I mean, at least when [former US President] George W Bush started his endless war, he had the dignity to lie to us about WMDs [weapons of mass destruction],” Abdi continued, citing the claim that helped launch the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“Donald Trump is just saying: ‘I don’t care what the facts are. We’re just doing this anyway because I say so.’”

New York City’s Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander has been freed after being arrested by federal agents at an immigration court as he linked arms with a man authorities were attempting to detain. The incident was caught on camera.

June 17 (UPI) — Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is an “easy target,” and Iran should surrender unconditionally, President Donald Trump said Tuesday before Iran’s leader countered with his own warning, “the battle begins.”

As Iran fired two hypersonic missile barrages into Israel on Tuesday night, Khamenei wrote in a post on X, “In the name of the noble Haidar, the battle begins,” along with an image of fire raining down on an ancient city.

In a separate X account, he wrote in English, “We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy.”

There were no injuries reported in Iran’s attacks, as Israel Defense Forces issued an evacuation order before a new wave of airstrikes in Tehran.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump urged Khamenei to surrender.

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

“He is an easy target but is safe there — we are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump continued.

“But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians or American soldiers,” he said, adding, “Our patience is wearing thin.”

In a subsequent post, Trump simply stated, “Unconditional surrender!” in all capital letters.

Trump said he hasn’t reached out to Iranian leaders and isn’t “in the mood” to negotiate with them, ABC News reported.

He said Israel has “complete and total control of the skies over Iran” due to “American-made, conceived and manufactured” arms.

Trump posted his comments after Israeli and Iranian forces continued exchanging aerial assaults during the fifth day of the active war between the two nations.

The president met with military advisers shortly after returning early from the G7 conference in Canada on Tuesday due to the situation in the Middle East.

Israeli forces are targeting ballistic missile launch sites and command centers in central Iran.

“We’ve struck deep, hitting Iran’s nuclear ballistic capabilities,” Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

“We have delivered significant blows to the Iranian regime, and as such, they have been pushed back into central Iran,” the IDF statement says.

“They are now focusing their efforts on conducting missile fire from the area of Isfahan.”

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have issued warnings to civilians in Tel Aviv and Haifa to evacuate because they are targeted for a “punitive operation.”

“The operations carried out so far have merely been warnings for deterrence,” Iran’s commander-in-chief Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Tuesday. “A punitive operation will be executed soon.”

He referred to the Israeli cities as “occupied territories” and said residents should leave them “for their own safety and not to become victims of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s barbaric actions.”

The U.S. embassy in Israel announced it will close Wednesday for three days due to the escalating conflict.

“As a result of the current security situation and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, the U.S. Embassy has directed that all U.S. government employees and their family members continue to shelter in place and near their residences until further notice.”

The embassy, located in Jerusalem, said it had no information to assist private U.S. citizens who want to leave the country, adding that Israel’s largest airport, Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, is closed.

June 17 (UPI) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is warning President Donald Trump to “respect the Constitution” after the president ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to ramp up deportation efforts in Democratic-led sanctuary cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles.

In response, Johnson and city officials announced Tuesday they will relaunch a “Know Your Rights” ad campaign to educate Chicago residents.

“Even if the federal government doesn’t know or care about the Constitution, Chicagoans deserve to know their constitutional rights,” Johnson told reporters at a City Hall news conference.

The ads, which will educate residents about their rights if they are stopped or detained by ICE agents, will be displayed on more than 400 screens across the Chicago Transit Authority system.

The ads direct transit riders to the campaign website with a more in-depth resource guide, which is translated in multiple languages. The guide instructs residents how to react if stopped, but warned the information “should not be construed as legal advice.”

“We can’t tell people not to be afraid,” said Beatriz Ponce de León, Chicago’s deputy mayor of immigrant, migrant and refugee rights. “Folks are seeing what is happening here and in other cities. But what we can do is give people information. The best that people can do is be prepared.”

Earlier this month, Trump deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles to help protect ICE agents and federal buildings after protests in the downtown area turned violent. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom objected to the president’s actions, calling the deployment unjustified.

Other sanctuary cities, including Chicago, are now bracing for a similar crackdown. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has joined Johnson in opposing the president’s actions, while Trump denounced state leadership.

“I look at Chicago. You’ve got a really bad governor and a bad mayor. But the governor is probably the worst in history,” Trump said.

Pritzker responded by saying, “I think you can see that this has not gone well for him politically, and he’s all about the politics.”

Acting director of ICE, Tom Homan, told CNN in January that Chicago’s efforts to educated undocumented immigrants have made deportation efforts “very difficult.”

“For instance, Chicago is very well educated,” Homan said. “They call it ‘know your rights.’ I call it how to escape arrest … how to hide from ICE.”

June 17 (UPI) — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is resting in a Washington, D.C., hospital after suffering an allergic reaction on Tuesday.

Noem, 53, suffered an allergic reaction that required an ambulance ride and hospitalization.

“Secretary Noem … was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution,” DHS spokeswoman TriciaMcLaughlin told media.

Noem is “alert and recovering,” McLaughlin added without saying what caused the allergic reaction.

Secret Service agents were posted outside the hospital’s entrances.

Noem is the former governor of South Dakota and was nominated to President Donald Trump‘s cabinet after he took office in January. The Senate confirmed her in late January.

Noem has been instrumental in helping the Trump administration enforce federal immigration laws and last week was in Los Angeles during controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities there.

While speaking at a press event on ICE activities in Los Angeles on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., entered and began shouting a question for Noem, which prompted security to remove him from the press event.

Padilla afterward said he was not trying to upstage Noem, who met with him after the press event ended.

Trump had called up the California National Guard to protect federal buildings while ICE raids continue in Los Angeles, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth deployed 700 Marines to help.

Noem also is in charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which she has recommended be disbanded.

She says the agency is ineffective, and Trump has said he intends to dismantle FEMA following the current tropical storm season.

If passed, the bill will establish for the first time a regulatory regime for stablecoins, a fast rising financial product.

The United States Senate has passed a bill to create a regulatory framework for US-dollar-pegged cryptocurrency tokens known as stablecoins, in a watershed moment for the digital asset industry.

The bill, dubbed the GENIUS Act, received bipartisan support on Tuesday, with several Democrats joining most Republicans to back the proposed federal rules. It passed 68-30. The House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans, needs to pass its version of the bill before it heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for approval.

Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 dollar peg, are commonly used by crypto traders to move funds between tokens. Their use has grown rapidly in recent years, and proponents say that they could be used to send payments instantly.

If signed into law, the stablecoin bill would require tokens to be backed by liquid assets – such as US dollars and short-term Treasury bills – and for issuers to publicly disclose the composition of their reserves on a monthly basis.

“It is a major milestone,” said Andrew Olmem, a managing partner at law firm Mayer Brown and the former deputy director of the National Economic Council during Trump’s first term.

“It establishes, for the first time, a regulatory regime for stablecoins, a rapidly developing financial product and industry.”

The crypto industry has long pushed for lawmakers to pass legislation creating rules for digital assets, arguing that a clear framework could enable stablecoins to become more widely used. The sector spent more than $119m backing pro-crypto congressional candidates in last year’s elections and had tried to paint the issue as bipartisan.

The House passed a stablecoin bill last year but it died after the Senate, in which Democrats held the majority at the time, did not take it up.

Conflict of interest

Trump has sought to broadly overhaul US cryptocurrency policies after courting cash from the industry during his presidential campaign.

Bo Hines, who leads Trump’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, has said the White House wants a stablecoin bill passed before August.

Tensions on Capitol Hill over Trump’s various crypto ventures at one point threatened to derail the digital asset sector’s hope of legislation this year as Democrats have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump and his family members promoting their personal crypto projects.

“In advancing these bills, lawmakers forfeited their opportunity to confront Trump’s crypto grift – the largest, most flagrant corruption in presidential history,” said Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate for Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group.

Trump’s crypto ventures include a meme coin called $TRUMP, launched in January, and a crypto company he partly owns, called World Liberty Financial.

The White House has said there are no conflicts of interest present for Trump and that his assets are in a trust managed by his children.

Other Democrats have expressed concern that the bill would not prevent Big Tech companies from issuing their own private stablecoins, and argued that legislation needed stronger anti-money laundering protections and prohibitions on foreign stablecoin issuers.

“A bill that turbocharges the stablecoin market, while facilitating the president’s corruption and undermining national security, financial stability and consumer protection is worse than no bill at all,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, in remarks on the Senate floor in May.

The bill could face further changes in the House.

In a statement, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors called for “critical changes” to mitigate financial stability risks.

“CSBS remains concerned with the dramatic and unsupported expansion of the authority of uninsured banks to conduct money transmission or custody activities nationwide without the approval or oversight of host state supervisors,” said president and CEO Brandon Milhorn in a statement.

June 17 (UPI) — Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is an “easy target,” and Iran should surrender unconditionally, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

“He is an easy target but is safe there — we are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump continued.

“But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians or American soldiers,” he said, adding, “Our patience is wearing thin.”

In a subsequent post, Trump simply stated, “Unconditional surrender!” in all capital letters.

Trump said he hasn’t reached out to Iranian leaders and isn’t “in the mood” to negotiate with them, ABC News reported.

He said Israel has “complete and total control of the skies over Iran” due to “American-made, conceived and manufactured” arms.

Trump posted his comments after Israeli and Iranian forces continued exchanging aerial assaults during the fifth day of the active war between the two nations.

The president met with military advisers shortly after returning early from the G7 conference in Canada on Tuesday due to the situation in the Middle East.

Israeli forces are targeting ballistic missile launch sites and command centers in central Iran.

“We’ve struck deep, hitting Iran’s nuclear ballistic capabilities,” Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

“We have delivered significant blows to the Iranian regime, and as such, they have been pushed back into central Iran,” the IDF statement says.

“They are now focusing their efforts on conducting missile fire from the area of Isfahan.”

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have issued warnings to civilians in Tel Aviv and Haifa to evacuate because they are targeted for a “punitive operation.”

“The operations carried out so far have merely been warnings for deterrence,” Iran’s commander-in-chief Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Tuesday. “A punitive operation will be executed soon.”

He referred to the Israeli cities as “occupied territories” and said residents should leave them “for their own safety and not to become victims of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s barbaric actions.”