“They have to make a deal, and it’s painful for both parties, but I’d say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately, before it’s too late,” the president added.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran has interest in de-escalating its current conflict with Israel and called on Tehran to begin discussions immediately, warning that it needs to happen “before it’s too late.”
Speaking to reporters at the start of a G7 meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday, Trump confirmed he had received indications that Iranian officials are seeking to ease tensions.
“Yes… They’d like to talk,” Trump said when asked if he had heard that Iran was looking to reduce hostilities. “But they should have done that before. I had 60 days, and they had 60 days. On the 61st day, I said, we don’t have a deal.”
President Donald Trump reportedly in the last few days vetoed a proposal from Israel to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We communicated to the Israelis that President Trump is opposed to that,” an unnamed U.S. official told Axios. “The Iranians haven’t killed an American and discussion of killing political leaders should not be on the table.”
The president reportedly wanted to prevent further escalation of the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict and continue talks with Iran about a nuclear deal.
Some Jewish influencers were unhappy about this report:
Dear Donald Trump,
You don’t get to decide when or how Khamenei goes.
President Donald Trump said Sunday Iran and Israel should come to the negotiating table even as the two nations continued to carry out missile strikes against one another, and both nations report casualties.
“Iran and Israel should make a deal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that the two countries “will make a deal, just like I got India and Pakistan to make, in that case by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and stop!”
The U.S. helped to negotiate a deal between Pakistan and India in May after conflict erupted between the two nations after India blamed Pakistan for a terrorist attack in April that killed a group of mostly Indian tourists.
“President Trump has been clear since the inauguration that he prefers a diplomatic solution to war in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue,” Victoria Coates, vice president of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.
Trump gave Iran “every opportunity to come to the negotiating table and has been clear about American red lines,” Coates said. “Israel has allowed his timeline to play out and only acted when the President’s own 60-day deadline expired. President Trump continues to keep the opportunity to engage diplomatically open if the Iranians have the sense to take it.”
In an interview with ABC News’ Rachel Scott on Sunday, Trump said the United States is not involved in Israel‘s military strikes against Iran, but “it’s possible we could get involved,” after reports surfaced that the Jewish state had urged the U.S. to join the effort to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, with some experts suggesting that toppling the Islamist regime is also doable.
Trump told ABC he had a lengthy discussion with Putin on Saturday to discuss the conflict, also telling the outlet he would be “open” to Putin’s idea to serve as a mediator between Iran and Israel:
I would be open to it. [Putin] is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it. We talked about this more than his situation. This is something I believe is going to get resolved.
Not since Churchill has a leader defended a country at war with the brilliance, courage, and resoluteness shown by PM Netanyahu. Despite unrelenting attacks from a hostile Biden Administration, the Democrat Party, the EU, the UK, the UN, the mainstream media, the global Left, et al, PM Netanyahu has stood firm in his determination to defeat Iran and secure the future of the State of Israel. Today, PM Netanyahu is the co-leader (with President Trump) of the free world.
Take a look at how Prime Minister Netanyahu is welcomed in Bat Yam in Central Israel.
They are cheering and saying: “Bibi King of Israel”
Netanyahu is extremely popular among Israelis right now, I believe that left and right appreciate the leadership he is showing right now. pic.twitter.com/eCaQXEQJo1
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is considering significantly expanding its travel restrictions by potentially banning citizens of 36 additional countries from entering the United States, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters.
Earlier this month, the Republican president signed a proclamation that banned the entry of citizens from 12 countries, saying the move was needed to protect the United States against “foreign terrorists” and other national security threats.
The directive was part of an immigration crackdown Trump launched this year at the start of his second term, which has included the deportation to El Salvador of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members, as well as efforts to deny enrollments of some foreign students from U.S. universities and deport others.
In an internal diplomatic cable signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the State Department outlined a dozen concerns about the countries in question and sought corrective action.
“The Department has identified 36 countries of concern that might be recommended for full or partial suspension of entry if they do not meet established benchmarks and requirements within 60 days,” the cable sent out over the weekend said.
Over 230 people are reported dead across Israel and Iran since Israel launched its first strikes on Friday, leading to an ongoing exchange of attacks with no end in sight.
On Sunday night, emergency responders were still struggling to contain fires started by strikes on the northern port city of Haifa.
In Haifa, an oil refinery was damaged, the firm operating it said. Israel’s main international airport and airspace was closed for a third day.
Iran raised its death toll on Sunday to 224 people. Health authorities also reported that 1,277 were wounded, without distinguishing between military officials and civilians.
Claiming to operate almost freely in the skies over Iran, Israel said its attacks Sunday hit Iran’s Defence Ministry, missile launch sites and factories producing air defence components. Iran also acknowledged Israel had killed more of its top generals, including the Revolutionary Guard intelligence chief, Mohammad Kazemi.
A 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck off Peru’s central coast, rattling Lima and the port city of Callao, has left one person dead and five injured
LIMA, Peru — A 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck off Peru’s central coast Sunday, rattling Lima and the port city of Callao, has left one person dead and five injured, authorities said.
The earthquake happened at 11:35 a.m. local time in the Pacific Ocean, according to the United States Geological Survey. Its epicenter was located 23 kilometers (14 miles) southwest of Callao, west of the capital Lima.
A 36-year-old man died in northern Lima while “standing outside his vehicle waiting for a passenger” when a wall from the fourth floor of a building under construction detached and fell on his head, Police Col. Ramiro Clauco told RPP radio.
The five people injured are being treated in hospitals, the Emergency Operations Center said. The agency also reported damage to roads and educational centers.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Mullahs are looking for an off-ramp, burning up the backchannels to try to get the United States to bail them out.
Iran has been urgently signaling that it seeks an end to hostilities and resumption of talks over its nuclear programs, sending messages to Israel and the U.S. via Arab intermediaries, Middle Eastern and European officials said.
In the midst of a ferocious Israeli air campaign, Tehran has told Arab officials it would be open to returning to the negotiating table as long as the U.S. doesn’t join the attack, the officials said. Iran also passed messages to Israel saying it is in the interest of both sides to keep the violence contained.
I’m not sure if what’s left of the Iranian leadership doesn’t understand how negotiations work, but they probably should have taken them seriously before Israel began its military operation to destroy their nuclear program. It took only three days for the IDF to establish air superiority over Tehran, and they are now bombing regime targets with impunity. That includes the launchers being used to shoot missiles at Israel. Once that threat is minimized, the Mullahs will have nothing left to respond with.
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) bombed Iran’s state television station during a live broadcast Monday, prompting an anchor to flee the studio as the screen filled with debris and smoke.
Footage posted online shows the moment the Israeli Air Force struck the offices of the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN). As dark smoke enveloped the room, a male voice could be heard screaming “Allahu Akbar!”
The IRINN is part of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting corporation (IRIB), and is headquartered in the Jame Jam Park in Tehran, Iran.
Before the strike, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for the area in Tehran surrounding IRIB’s headquarters, and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that the “Iranian propaganda and incitement mouthpiece is on its way to disappearing.”
The IDF justified the strike Monday afternoon, saying the IRIB was being used for military purposes, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The building was used under the guise of civilian activity, covering up the military use of the center’s infrastructure and assets. The strike directly harmed the military capabilities of the Iranian Armed Forces, according to the IDF.
The military added that the “precise strike” was conducted based on intelligence, and prior to the strike, the IDF warned the surrounding civilian population, including through phone calls
Russia is pushing itself as a candidate to hold Iran’s enriched uranium in hypothetical peace arrangements with Israel.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered last week to provide “services” for the “export of excess nuclear material produced by Iran” to aid a larger “negotiation process” to de-escalate the region.
Peskov reiterated the offer on Monday as his country seeks to play a mediating role between the Middle East states.
“This proposal remains on the table, it remains relevant,” Peskov said. “But of course, with the outbreak of hostilities, the situation has become seriously complicated.”
It appears at least one side in the deadly Israel-Iran conflict is ready to tentatively wave the white flag.
And it’s not the side backed by the U.S. — though America’s looming presence apparently had something to do with it.
In a stunning report from The Wall Street Journal, it appears Tehran is ready to “de-escalate” tensions after Israel and Iran came into conflict late last week.
“A Battered Iran Signals It Wants to De-Escalate Hostilities With Israel and Negotiate,” the Journal titled its article, adding, “intermediaries seek a return to talks if the U.S. stays out of the fight.”
Of note, the specter of the United States’ might has always been on the fringes of this Middle East conflict.
As President Donald Trump personally noted on Truth, any Iranian attack on America would be met with unequivocal force:
Russia said Sunday it had evacuated several of its citizens from Iran and halted activity at its Tehran consulate after Israeli attacks on the country sparked retaliatory missile fire towards Israel.
“Due to the current situation, the consular service of the embassy is temporarily suspending its activities. The resumption of consular services will be announced later,” the Russian embassy in Tehran said on Telegram.
Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova said musicians from the Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra were evacuated from Iran.
“The musicians crossed the Azerbaijani border. Yesterday (Saturday), Fyodor Bondarchuk’s film crew left Iran via the same route,” she said on Telegram, referring to the Russian director and actor.
Russia’s civil aviation authority ordered airlines to suspend flights to Iran and Israel and avoid their airspace — along with the airspace of Jordan and Iraq — until at least June 26, following official travel warnings issued Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to Greenland to offer his support to the Arctic island, said on Sunday that Russia lacked the credibility to mediate the crisis between Israel and Iran, as U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Trump said he was open to Russian President Vladimir Putin — whose forces invaded Ukraine in 2022 and who has resisted Trump’s attempts to broker a ceasefire with Kyiv — mediating between Israel and Iran. Macron said he rejected such an idea.
“I do not believe that Russia, which is now engaged in a high-intensity conflict and has decided not to respect the UN Charter for several years now, can be a mediator,” he said.
Macron also said France did not take part in any of Israel’s attacks against Iran.
The French leader was visiting Greenland — a self-governing part of Denmark with the right to declare independence that Trump has threatened to take over — ahead of a trip to Canada for the G7 leaders’ summit.
Israel pummeled hundreds of targets across Iran on Sunday, hitting Tehran’s military leadership, government buildings, and weapons depots—significantly intensifying operations meant to cripple the Islamic Republic’s nuclear infrastructure and destroy its hardline regime. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said “it’s possible” the United States could enter the fray.
Israel bombed multiple Iranian energy sites overnight, settling ablaze fuel depots the regime uses to feed its military and lucrative commercial oil industry. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) hit Iran’s foreign ministry compound along with the Islamic Republic’s defense ministry and other operational outposts central to the regime’s planned retaliatory strikes.
Israel has demonstrated through these operations that it is willing to target the Iranian regime’s centralized ruling architecture, not just its contested nuclear sites.
The strikes on Tehran’s leadership outposts are likely aimed at destabilizing an Iranian regime that is already on the defensive following Israel’s successful opening salvo. That regime could soon face mass unrest if its fragile governing systems break down, and while the hardline government has for years quelled protests against it, the added pressure of a full-scale Israeli assault brings complications.
“It could certainly be the result because the Iranian regime is very weak,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday after Fox News’s Bret Baier asked whether “regime change” was part of Israel’s war effort. “They certainly don’t have the people. Eighty percent of the people would throw these theological thugs out. I mean, they murder them, they oppress them for 46 years, they yearn for freedom.”
President Trump opposed a recent Israeli plan to kill Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, three U.S. officials told CBS News on Sunday.
The Israelis had the opportunity to assassinate Khamenei and Mr. Trump conveyed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it wasn’t a good idea, one U.S. official told CBS News. They said the conversation between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump happened since Israel launched a massive attack on Iran last week.
Mr. Trump’s rejection of the proposal was first reported by Reuters.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
A senior U.S. official told CBS News on Saturday that there has been no direct contact between the U.S. and Iran. An Israeli official in Washington, D.C., told CBS News on Saturday that there is regular contact between the U.S. and Israel, with leaders having spoken Monday, Thursday and Friday.
During an interview with Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Sunday, Netanyahu did not directly confirm or deny Reuters’ reporting when asked about it.
“There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened and I’m not going to get into that,” he said. “But I can tell you I think we do what we need to do. We will do what we need to do and I think the United States knows what is good for the United States and I’m just not going to get into it.”
QUETTA, Pakistan: Pakistan has closed all its border crossings with neighbouring Iran for an indefinite period, provincial officials said on Monday (Jun 16), as Israel and Iran trade intense strikes and threaten further attacks.
“Border facilities in all five districts – Chaghi, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech and Gwadar – have been suspended,” Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani, a senior official in Balochistan province, which borders Iran, told AFP.
Crossing into Iran “has been suspended until further notice”, said Atta ul Munim, an official at one of the crossings in Chaghi district.
However, there was “no ban on trade” activities at the border and Pakistani nationals needing to return to their country from Iran can cross, he added.
“We’re expecting around 200 Pakistani students coming today,” Atta said.
The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv has sustained “minor damage” after an Iranian missile landed close to the building in the early hours of Monday, said the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Israel and Iran exchanged strikes for a fourth day into Monday after Israel launched its “preemptive” strikes on Iran’s nuclear, missile and military sites late on Thursday U.S. time.
An Iranian official said 78 people were killed and more than 300 injured in Tehran as Israel declared a state of emergency and prepared for Iran’s response.
Tehran has carried out several waves of retaliatory drone and missile strikes across Israel, as the Israeli military continues to target sites across Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for both sides to “make a deal,” but told reporters in separate remarks that “sometimes they have to fight it out.”
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said on Monday that “the residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon,” after renewed Iranian ballistic missile strikes across Israel.
The Austrian government is pushing more gun control this week after the myriad gun controls which already exist in the country failed to prevent Tuesday’s school shooting.
Breitbart News noted that ten innocents were killed in the shooting, which was carried out by a 21-year-old who had complied with all gun laws to acquire his firearms.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker indicated that “officials aimed to set stricter eligibility rules for possession and purchase of arms,” Reuters reported.
JURIST News pointed out that the gun law changes could include a an increased “minimum age for purchasing weapons and improving data sharing between officials to better identify warning signs.”
As part of the UK’s commitment to NATO’s defence, it has moved both aircraft and personnel to the enhanced air policing mission, including the fourth-generation jet.
The first aerial showdown took place on June 7 when RAF pilots were sent to identify an aircraft departing the Kaliningrad region, later confirmed to be an Antonov An-30, a Soviet-era reconnaissance craft used to map terrain via aerial photography.
At least two dozen Israelis were killed and hundreds injured in Iranian strikes over the weekend, in retaliation for Israel’s incredibly effective strikes on Iranian military targets.
The state of Israel posted on X Monday that 24 civilians, including children, had been killed in the country in the Iranian strikes over the weekend, and that 500 more civilians in Israel were also injured. The Islamic terror-sponsoring Iranian regime targets innocent lives, Israel emphasized.
Israel also posted Sunday, “A 6-day-old baby was pulled from the rubble after an Iranian missile strike on central Israel. This is what the fanatical regime targets: our children, our families. We will not stand by. We will continue to defend our people from the world’s most dangerous regime — whatever it takes.” The baby appears to have survived, as he moves his arms on video while emergency personnel hold him.
European Union officials say Canada is likely to sign a defence procurement agreement with the continent when Prime Minister Mark Carney goes to Brussels later this month.
Carney is set to visit Brussels on June 23 for the Canada-EU summit, where he will meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.
Attending the G7 summit in Alberta today, both EU leaders say Canada’s involvement in what they call Europe’s “rapidly evolving defence architecture” is set to deepen.
It seems quiet. If you just look around day to day in the United States, it would appear that life is moving along and the American people are tolerating the second presidency of Donald Trump.
There is no unrest in the streets of America’s cities and small towns. There is no violence. In fact, what we were told before the election could happen, that society would instantly disintegrate, hasn’t happened.
Many in the media who ran Biden off of the Democratic ticket and then bent the knee to Trump looked around at what must be disappointment.
The media, like Trump, were banking on chaos and fear to bring eyeballs back and revive their business after four years of struggle under Joe Biden.
Donald Trump needed chaos and fear to serve as a pretext for the consolidation of power within the executive branch. The media needed chaos and fear to get their audience back.
Hours after the shooting of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, prominent conservative influencers spun unsubstantiated theories that the suspect was a left-wing extremist who targeted the Democratic-aligned leaders for voting against party lines, and did so with the blessing of the state’s top Democrat, Gov. Tim Walz.
Authorities said a man posing as an officer shot state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette in their home early June 14, and then shot and killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a former Democratic speaker, and her husband Mark in their home a few miles away.
Authorities soon identified the shooting suspect as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter of Green Isle, Minn. And conservative influencers, including Benny Johnson, Rogan O’Handley and Mike Cernovich pounced — surfacing what they floated as an incriminating connection between Boelter and the governor.
Walz, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee, reappointed Boelter in 2019 to a state board focused on Minnesota’s workforce. But we found no evidence that Walz and Boelter were closely acquainted nor any evidence that Walz was in any way linked to the shootings, which he described as an “unspeakable tragedy” and “targeted political violence.”
After a decade of Donald Trump being on the national political stage, it is clear to all observers that Trump is incapable of being a decent or normal human being.
Any president after the horrific shootings of State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Democratic State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife would show empathy, compassion, and leadership by condemning political violence.
Donald Trump used the shooting to attack Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Trump told ABC’s Rachel Scott, who posted on X:
On Minnesota – I asked the president about the assassination and whether he plans to call the state’s democratic governor @Tim_Walz
“Well, it’s a terrible thing. I think he’s a terrible governor. I think he’s a grossly incompetent person. But I may, I may call him, I may call other people too,” the president said.
Nowhere in this 17-paragraph article is a single ideological label — liberal, leftist, progressive, socialist, not even “Democrat.” They’re just “opponents.” They certainly weren’t “extremists,” even though the PBS News website illustrated AP with a woman holding a sign that said “The Trump Fascist Regime MUST GO NOW!” That’s not how democracy works.
You can call Trump a “fascist” and be treated as non-ideological. Seattle-based “National Flex Reporter” Lisa Baumann began:
Opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration are set to rally in hundreds of cities on Saturday during the military parade in Washington to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincides with Trump’s birthday.
The “No Kings” protests are set to take place to counter what organizers say are Trump’s plans to feed his ego on his 79th birthday and Flag Day. “No Kings” will follow several days of nationwide protests against federal immigration raids including in Los Angeles, where Trump’s deployment of the National Guard further agitated his opponents.
“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart lashed out over ABC’s decision to fire longtime correspondent Terry Moran after a biased, anti-Trump outburst during a recent installment of his “Weekly Show” podcast.
Moran was fired earlier this week after referring to senior Trump advisor Stephen Miller as being “richly endowed with the capacity for hatred” in a since-deleted X post. The post was made in reference to President Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard personnel in order to combat multiple days of anarchy that had gripped Los Angeles.
“He’s a world-class hater. You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate,” the now former ABC correspondent ranted. “Trump is a world-class hater. But his hatred only a means to an end, and that end his his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment.”
Stewart was not happy with ABC’s decision to fire Moran, stating that the network is a “f***ing joke” for the move. “The entire thing is because ABC clings to this facade that they somehow exist in a bubble,” Stewart said Thursday on his podcast.
As President Donald Trump rallied the troops to Washington, DC on June 14—the date of the US Army’s 250th anniversary, Flag Day, and his birthday—millions of his constituents joined in the nationwide “No Kings” march.
It was a conflicting, polar day in America. In one city, a parade costing tens of millions of dollars was complete with robot military dogs walking down the street, the president being serenaded by a crowd singing Happy Birthday, and thousands of Army service members marching in rows. In a city just North of DC, at the flagship No Kings rally in Philadelphia, an estimated 80,000 people called out chants that have become familiar since 2016, like “Hey-hey! Ho-ho! Donald Trump has got to go!” and ones befitting the protest, like “Let freedom ring! We don’t want a king!”
Nearly 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles, police shot stun grenades and rubber bullets, and used tear gas, on a group of demonstrators protesting the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrant communities. The offensive from police who claimed they were attempting to disperse the crowd came hours before the 8 o’clock curfew that part of downtown was placed under by Mayor Karen Bass.
A North Carolina state representative faced extreme criticism and calls for her resignation after posting an image on social media depicting a beheaded President Trump.
“No Kings Protest in Raleigh. Amazing turnout all across the Triangle today, including this event at the Capitol hosted by @wakedems and @ncdemocrats,” the now-deleted post from state Rep. Julie von Haefen read.
Wow this is sick. North Carolina State Rep Julie von Haefen (D) posted a photo from the “no kings” protest which calls for Trump to be beheaded @FBIpic.twitter.com/ETn7O6e8cu
“Yesterday, I posted a video on social media containing crowd photos from the No Kings protest in Raleigh. One of the images of a protestor holding a sign was inappropriate, and I later edited the video to remove the photo,” von Haefen said on Facebook.
“Let me be clear: I condemn political violence in all forms. My focus remains on bringing people together and fighting for the values that matter to North Carolinians. Like so many, I was horrified by the violence in Minnesota. There is no place for that kind of extremism in our democracy, no matter the target, no matter the party,” she added.
