Month: June 2025

President Donald Trump held a news conference in The Hague after the conclusion of the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, stating that U.S. and Iranian officials would meet next week on how to move forward following U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites. Leaders at NATO announced that they have agreed to increase their defense spending target to 5% of their gross domestic product by 2035.

Speaking at the conference, Trump, who appeared alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said, “It was a tough 12 days, but we believe it’s come to a close. I don’t think either side is looking to restart things anytime soon. I spoke to leaders on both sides — they’re worn out. It was brutal, but I think they’re ready to pull back. Could it flare up again? Sure, anything’s possible, maybe even soon. But for now, they’re stepping back.”

Trump continued to claim the strikes decimated Iran’s nuclear program, contrary to a U.S. intelligence assessment that the damage set the program back only by several months. He also suggested that a formal agreement with Iran might be possible in the future. However, he downplayed its importance, claiming Iran’s nuclear infrastructure had already been decimated. Trump told reporters: “We’ll be sitting down with Iran next week. Whether we have a signed agreement or not doesn’t really matter to me. Our stance hasn’t changed — we don’t want them to have nuclear weapons. But those nuclear sites? We took care of that. They’ve been destroyed. Completely.”

The president’s comments came amid cautious optimism following a 12-day flare-up between Iran and Israel, which ended with a ceasefire reportedly brokered by the Trump administration. The brief conflict resulted in 28 fatalities in Israel and several hundred casualties in Iran.

Per AP News, Iran has not acknowledged any talks taking place next week; however, U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has said there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries. A sixth round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran had been scheduled for earlier this month in Oman but was cancelled when Israel attacked Iran.

Per CBS News, Pres. Trump also met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who complimented the president on his efforts to boost other countries’ defense spending and on his efforts in the Middle East. Rutte said: “You are a man of strength and also a man of peace.”

In addition, Trump also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with Zelenskyy writing on X that they discussed “how to achieve a ceasefire and a real peace deal. We appreciate the attention and the readiness to help bring peace close Details will follow.”  The president alson said of his conversation with Zelenskyy, “I took from the meeting that he’d like to see it end. I think it’s a great time to end it. I’m going to speak to Vladimir Putin and see if we can get it ended.”

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President Donald Trump departed early Tuesday for the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, coming just one day after Iran carried out retaliatory strikes at a U.S. base in Qatar, and hours after he announced a ceasefire in the Israel-Iran conflict. The NATO summit will be the first time Trump will face European U.S. allies since returning to the White House in January.

Per CNN, Israel accused Iran of firing several missiles and vowed to respond “with force,” while Tehran denied violating the truce. A visibly agitated Trump told reporters as he left for the summit that both Israel and Iran had violated the ceasefire, several hours after it was to take effect. Trump said:  “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing,” however the President indicated he did not believe the ceasefire was broken. Trump said he is “not happy” and that “Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and dropped a boat load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before. The biggest load that we’ve seen, I’m not happy with Israel. OK, when I say now you have 12 hours, you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So, I’m not happy with him [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu]. I’m not happy with Iran either.”

Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire with Iran, in coordination with Trump, after the country achieved all of its war goals, including removing the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. In a televised statement late Tuesday, Netanyahu said that Israel took out top generals and nuclear scientists and destroyed nuclear facilities in Natanz, Isfahan and the Arak heavy water reactor.

Trump later posted on Truth Social stating the ceasefire was saved: “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly “Plane Wave” to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!”

Upon his arrival in the Netherlands on Tuesday night, Trump attended a formal dinner at the Netherlands Royal Palace alongside the King and Queen of the Netherlands. On Wednesday, Trump will attend the NATO summit where he will participate the first plenary session with NATO leaders. The president will then spend a few hours engaged in bilateral meetings with several world leaders, a senior U.S. official told reporters on a conference call, and will later hold a news conference before leaving the Netherlands to return to the U.S.

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Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., will be the House Democratic Party’s top member on the House Oversight Committee, after beating Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch in a 150-63 caucus vote made on Tuesday.  Lynch, 70, is one of the most senior members of the Oversight Committee who had been serving as acting ranking member after the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. took a leave of absence in April.

Politico reported that Garcia, 47, won a first-ballot majority after winning the backing of the caucus’ powerful Steering and Policy Committee.  Garcia said following the vote: “We’ll get immediately to work,” adding that first on the agenda was meeting with the Oversight Committee staff “to let them know that we’re ready for consistent leadership. It is an opportunity for us to continue holding the corruption of Donald Trump accountable and also doing incredible work on government reform. Efficiency is not DOGE. Efficiency is actually making government work better for our constituents across the country, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee oversees federal government activities and has the power of subpoena to compel witnesses to appear before the committee during investigations. Garcia would be in line to chair the powerful Oversight and Government Reform Committee if Democrats win control of the House in next year’s midterm elections. If that were to happen, Garcia would work to hold President Donald Trump accountable for “corruption” while working to reform the federal government, he told media after the caucus vote.

Garcia is in his third term in the House; before coming to Washington, he made history as the first Latino and first openly gay mayor of Long Beach, California. Garcia served as Long Beach mayor from 2014 until 2022, when he won election to succeed Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., who did not seek re-election.

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Just hours after a cease-fire between Israel and Iran went into effect, Israel ordered fresh attacks on Tehran, stating that Israeli military detected missiles launched from the Islamic regime.

Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in a statement: “In light of the severe violation of the cease-fire carried out by the Iranian regime, we will respond with force.” The order from Zamir follows Defense Minister Israel Katz responding that he had instructed the IDF to “respond forcefully to Iran’s violation of the cease-fire.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had accepted President Trump’s cease-fire proposal in a statement early Tuesday, saying they had achieved their goal in going to war with Iran on June 13, while retaining the right to respond “forcefully” to any Iranian violations of the agreement: “In light of the operation’s objectives having been achieved, and in full coordination with President Trump, Israel has agreed to the President’s proposal for a mutual cease-fire. This is a tremendous success for the people of Israel and its fighters, who have removed two existential threats to our nation and secured the eternity of Israel.”
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Trump announced that the cease-fire had gone into effect early Tuesday on his Truth Social platform, urging both sides not to violate it. Trump originally revealed on Monday evening that Israel and Iran have agreed to a ‘complete and total ceasefire’. The agreement involves two 12-hour ceasefire periods: Iran will initiate the first 12-hour ceasefire; with Israel following with the second 12-hour ceasefire. After 24 hours, the war will be officially declared ended.

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On Monday, Iran launched an attack on US forces at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, with the Qatari Defense Ministry later stating that Qatari air defenses “successfully intercepted” a missile attack targeting the air base.  The move was in retaliation for the United States’ bombing of its nuclear sites over the weekend, and came shortly after Qatar closed its airspace as a precaution amid threats from Iran. Explosions were heard in Qatar on Monday as witnesses said they saw what appeared to be missiles over the country, The Associated Press reported.

Iranian state television network IRIB reported that “Operation Besharat al-Fath” was launched, with Iranian outlet Tasnim confirming (according to an NBC translation of its Telegram post): “Iran has initiated a missile operation targeting American bases in Qatar and Iraq under the name “Besharat al-Fath” (Glad Tidings of Victory), with the operation code phrase: “Ya Aba Abdillah ” (a reference to Imam Hussein.)

A spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement shared to social media: “The State of Qatar strongly condemns the attack that targeted Al-Udeid Air Base by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. We consider this a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the State of Qatar, its airspace, international law, and the United Nations Charter. We affirm that Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner equivalent with the nature and scale of this brazen aggression, in line with international law.”

The U.S. Embassy in Qatar had earlier issued a security alert Monday urging American citizens to shelter in place due to the conflict between Israel and Iran: “Out of an abundance of caution we recommend American citizens shelter in place until further notice.”

Senior White House official said the White House and the Department of Defense were closely monitoring the potential threats to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which serves as the forward headquarters for CENTCOM with about 10,000 U.S. troops based there. President Trump wrote on Truth Social that no Americans were hurt and “hardly any damage was done” by Iran’s “very weak” and “expected” missile attack, adding that the attack was “very effectively countered.” Trump also said no Qataris were killed or hurt.  The President added that Iran fired 14 missiles, of which “13 were knocked down, and 1 was ‘set free,’ because it was headed in a nonthreatening direction.”  Trump said Iran has “gotten it all out of their ‘system,’ and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE …I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured. Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same.”

For up-to-date information on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, head to your preferred news outlet of choice:

ABCNEWS.COM
CNN.COM
NBCNEWS.COM
CBSNEWS.COM

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Six people are confirmed dead and two are missing after a boat capsized in Lake Tahoe in California on Saturday during a powerful thunderstorm.

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for the missing victims after searching more than 390 square miles for a combined 12 hours at the massive lake that straddles the California/Nevada border in the Sierra Nevada. Coast Guard Cmdr. David Herndon said in a statement: “Suspending a search is always a difficult decision to make and weighs heavily on each Coast Guard member involved. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those involved in the boat capsize.”

The 27-foot Chris-Craft boat sank after a storm caused 6- to 8-foot swells, NBC Bay Area reported, and was carrying 10 people. The U.S. Coast Guard and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office responded Saturday afternoon to D.L. Bliss State Park following reports of 10 people in the water, around 3 p.m. that day. Temperatures dropped dramatically from the high 50s to near freezing between 2 and 5 p.m.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that they “received multiple reports of a capsized boat in South Lake Tahoe. Callers indicated that approximately 10 individuals were in the water near the vessel, with reported wave heights reaching 8 feet.”

Of the 10 passengers, six were found dead, two were rescued and taken to the hospital, and two others are still missing, the Reno Gazette Journal.  The ages and names of the victims have not been made public, but officials said that all six of the deceased were adults.

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