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President Trump announced that he canceled planned strikes against Iran on Thursday and claimed Iran's leadership "approved" a draft agreement that would extend the ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and launch 60 days of negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. (snip)The sources said the gaps were narrowed on three key issues: The mechanism for releasing Iran's frozen assets — the most important issue for the Iranians.Arrangements for reopening the Strait of Hormuz during the 60-day ceasefire period.How negotiations over Iran's nuclear program would be conducted during the 60-day ceasefire period.

US President Donald Trump reportedly fumed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Monday call, calling the premier “fucking crazy” and telling him that everyone “hates Israel” as he demanded Israel agree to a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terror group. Axios’s Barak Ravid cited a US official who summarized Trump’s message to Netanyahu as follows: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.” A second source briefed on the call told the outlet that the US president was “pissed” at the prime...

President Trump lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's escalation in Lebanon in an expletive-laden call on Monday, two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call told Axios. Why it matters: Earlier on Monday, Iran threatened to abandon the negotiations with the U.S. over Israel's actions in Lebanon. On the call, Trump called Netanyahu "crazy" and accused him of ingratitude, according to two of the sources. He also put the brakes on Israel's plan to strike Beirut. Behind the scenes: One U.S. official said Trump told Netanyahu that following through on his threats to...

US President Donald Trump reportedly lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call earlier today, calling him “fucking crazy” as he demanded that Israel agree to a ceasefire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and claimed the premier owes him for keeping him out of jail. Axios cites a US official summarizing Trump’s message to Netanyahu as follows: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

The Trump administration plans to drop its controversial $1.8 billion "weaponization" fund the president sought to compensate alleged victims of prosecutorial conduct under his predecessor, two senior administration officials told Axios. "It's dead for now," one of the sources said. Why it matters: Bashed as a political slush fund that could be tapped by those convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Trump's proposal has drawn bipartisan pushback in the GOP-led House and Senate. Zoom in: The plan for the fund came about as part of a settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service. Trump and his business...

https://archive.ph/CHQ6i President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed a new effort to reach a deal with Iran in a difficult call on Tuesday, three sources said, with one source saying Netanyahu's "hair was on fire" after the call. Why it matters: A revised peace memo was drafted by Qatar and Pakistan with input from the other regional mediators to try to bridge the gaps between the U.S. and Iran, the sources said. It comes with Trump vacillating over ordering a massive strike on Iran and holding out for a deal. Netanyahu is highly skeptical about the negotiations and...

The U.S. and Iran are negotiating over a three-page plan to end the war, with one element under discussion being that the U.S. would release $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in return for Iran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium, according to two U.S. officials and two additional sources briefed on the talks.

Democratic strategists are reportedly pushing for the 2028 presidential candidate to be a "straight, White, Christian man" after recent losses, an Axios report alleged. "Some top Democrats are quietly debating a fraught question: whether the party's best bet for winning back the presidency in 2028 is to nominate a man — perhaps a straight, White, Christian man," Axios reported on Sunday. "Their fear, divulged with dismay in group chats, at cocktail parties and increasingly in public, is that parts of the electorate are too biased to support a woman or other diverse candidate for president," the report continued. The report...

'Third-grade level fake news'. Trump dismisses report of tensions with Israel: Third-grade level fake news. US President rejects reports of tensions between the United States and Israel over the ongoing war against Iran during an interview with Channel 14. US President Donald Trump gave a phone interview to Israel’s Channel 14 on Sunday, sharply rejecting a report in Axios claiming that tensions have emerged between Washington and Jerusalem over the continuation of the war against Iran. “Wrong. Fake news. Third-grade fake news. The relationship has never been better," Trump said, adding that the campaign against Iran is progressing at a...

The Trump administration and Israeli officials are reportedly discussing a high-stakes shift in the conflict: the direct seizure of Kharg Island, Iran’s primary economic artery. While special operations plans originally focused on securing Iran’s 450-kilogram stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the strategic conversation has expanded to physically capturing the terminal that handles roughly 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports, according to Axios. The ultimate goal, according to former Lockheed marketing executive Jarrod Agen, now the director of the National Energy Dominance Council, is to take control of Iran’s oil. “Ultimately, we’re not going to have to worry about these issues...

Intense waves of airstrikes have hit dozens of military positions, frontier posts and police stations along northern parts of Iran’s border with Iraq in what appears to be preparation by US and Israel for a new front in their war. A US official with knowledge of the discussions between Washington and Kurdish officials said the US was ready to provide air support if Kurdish peshmerga fighters crossed the border from northern Iraq. A spokesperson for Israel’s military said the air force had been “heavily operating in western Iran to degrade Iranian capabilities there and to open up a way to...

U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee holds a narrow lead over longtime Rep. Al Green in Tuesday's Democratic primary for Houston's 18th Congressional District, but possibly not avoiding a runoff, per preliminary votes. The big picture: If no candidate clears 50%, the race will head to a runoff — setting up a showdown between Menefee and Green. For Green, who was first elected in 2004, the stakes are steep after he decided to run in the 18th District when lawmakers redrew his old seat to tilt Republican. It also highlights the generational battles among older and younger members of the party. Menefee...

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggested in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson that, under a biblical interpretation, Israel could claim a right to territory spanning much of the Middle East. ''' Driving the news: In a "Tucker Carlson Show" interview released Friday, Carlson confronted Huckabee about his interpretation of biblical verse Genesis 15:18, which describes God promising Abram, later called Abraham, and his descendants land "from the Nile to the Euphrates." Supporting that verse, Carlson said, would suggest Israel could claim a right to land including "basically the entire Middle East," including countries like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, as...

On Monday night, while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, someone asked President Donald Trump about Cuba. "They'll make a deal," he said. "Cuba is right now a failed nation, and they don't even have jet fuel for airplanes to take off. They're clogging up their runway. We're talking to Cuba right now." But what he said next caught my attention: "I have Marco Rubio talking to Cuba right now." .@POTUS: "Cuba is, right now, a failed nation... We're talking to Cuba right now. I have @SecRubio talking to Cuba right now, and they should absolutely make a deal...

The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. It could begin very soon.Why it matters: A U.S. military operation in Iran would likely be a massive, weeks-long campaign that would look more like full-fledged war than last month's pinpoint operation in Venezuela, sources say.The sources noted it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that's much broader in scope — and more existential for the regime — than the Israeli-led 12-day war last June, which the U.S. eventually joined to take out Iran's underground nuclear facilities. Such a war would have...

House Democrats are facing increasingly frustrated demands from their left flank not to give the Trump administration another inch on ICE funding.

It’s safe to say should Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) run for president in 2028 he will not exactly be welcomed with open arms by the Trump Administration.According to recordings obtained by Axios, which were leaked to the outlet by a GOP source, Cruz spoke with donors for roughly 10 minutes and delivered some pointed criticisms of both President Trump and Vice-President JD Vance. the recordings were originally made in the first six months of 2025.Axios reveals that Cruz essentially called Vance a pawn of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in the recording. Cruz, of course, has a long-running feud...

President Trump has spent his first year in office treating Joe Biden's presidency as a historical aberration — not just undoing his policies, but casting his entire term as illegitimate. Why it matters: Presidencies usually fade. But in just one year, Biden's has been reduced to a footnote by a successor committed to dismantling every pillar of Washington's old liberal order. 1. Democracy: Biden built his presidency around the idea that American democracy had been assaulted by Trump 1.0 — that Jan. 6 was a defining national trauma requiring accountability and moral clarity. Trump has inverted that premise, pardoning thousands...

The relationship between President Trump and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene grew so poisonous that the White House told the Secret Service that Greene may have tipped off Code Pink protesters about his surprise visit last fall to a D.C. restaurant she recommended, two sources on Trump's team tell Axios. That episode — which involved a chaotic confrontation between anti-war activists and Trump — embarrassed the president and intensified concerns in the White House about his safety, a year after he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. Why it matters: Trump aides view the Joe's Seafood debacle as a point of...

Top Minnesota Democrats are condemning President Trump for amplifying false claims about the murder of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman. Driving the news: On Saturday, Trump shared a Truth Social post and video that promotes unsubstantiated conspiracy theories tying Hortman's June 14 slaying to Gov. Tim Walz and alleged fraud in state programs. What they're saying: Walz, who considered Hortman a friend and political ally, blasted the post as "dangerous, depraved behavior from the sitting president of the United States." "In covering for an actual serial killer, he is going to get more innocent people killed," the DFL governor wrote...