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Jun 18, 2026 - World

Reacting to remarks Donald Trump made at a press conference in France on Wednesday that he could easily start bombing Iran again just before signing a peace deal with the war-torn country, left MS NOW’s Mika Brzezinski baffled and appalled.MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” began with a clip of the president standing between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, with Trump remarking, “It's a memorandum of understanding. If it doesn't get done in 60 days, that's all right. We go back to bombing. You know, I don't want to do that because it's so good, but we might have to because we're never going to let them have a nuclear weapon. But they've agreed not to and you'll see that very clearly in the agreement.”That led the “Morning Joe” co-host to ask incredulously, “What, what, what? It's like, I'm going to give you a gift and I'll bomb you if you don't take the gift that I'm giving you?”“President Trump yesterday repeatedly threatening to bomb Iran if the country violated the memorandum of understanding, which has finally been released,” she elaborated. “The president is defending the deal amid widespread criticism here at home, with one Republican senator calling it ‘the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.’”“The agreement appears to give Iran everything it wants in exchange for opening up the Strait of Hormuz, which was wide open before Trump started the war in late February,” she continued. “While Trump tries to spin the terms of a big win, here are the key items: Iran gets its sanctions lifted, gets access to hundreds of billions of dollars in reconstruction funds, and can now sell its oil across the world. Tehran's nuclear program also stays at its status quo while negotiations continue for the next 60 days.”Addressing co-host Joe Scarborough, she blurted, “Joe, I am aghast.” "Aghast, aghast, aghast,” Scarborough offered before teasing her with, “This is the first time you're going to be upset at what's been going on over the past decade.”“A couple of things really that bear repeating for the uninitiated, and certainly for some people that are listening to what Donald Trump is saying right now, that, ‘Oh, they've agreed not to have a nuclear weapon,’” he continued. “This is the same position they have had for 50 years as the Wall Street Journal editorial page and everybody else will tell you it is the same exact position that they've had for 50 years. Secondly, why would Iran not take this deal, this memorandum of understanding is as [MS NOW’s] David Rohde is reporting, and we'll talk to him about it in a second, everybody else is reporting, this is a dream. They [Iran] can't believe they got what they got from Donald Trump.” - YouTube youtu.be

Jun 18, 2026 - World

After a full day of criticism of his Iran peace deal, President Donald Trump finally had enough and went off on Truth Social in the wee hours of the morning.As Republicans and Democrats alike have lined up against him, with Nikki Haley, Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, writing on X, “If this is true, Iran wins,” after details were released, the president labeled his critics “fools.”According to NBC News, Trump’s deal will be a “tough sale,” with one DC insider confiding, “It’s an embarrassing way to get out of this, but I think everyone just wants to get out of it.”Nonetheless, the president snarled on Truth Social, “These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are 'tumbling' down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!! President DJT”

Jun 18, 2026 - World

Directive aimed at government workers, but reports of wider implementation spark warnings of future Afghanistan-wide prohibitionThe Taliban have ordered a sweeping ban on the use of smartphones by government officials – in what some analysts say could foreshadow broader, population-level restrictions.In a directive issued by the Taliban’s military courts and reviewed by the Guardian, the ban was to take effect this week and prohibits “high rank, low rank, general mujahideen, or service staff” from using mobile phones. Continue reading...

Jun 18, 2026 - World

A MAGA senator was walloped online after he parroted a head-spinning Trump defense of his dubious Iran deal.Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) was asked by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday about Trump's deal to end the war with Iran."Are you okay with Iran having missiles?" Collins asked.Marshall responded, "I prefer that they not, but they have to defend themselves," echoing Trump, who hours earlier defended letting Iran keep its ballistic missiles because "other people have some."Commentators online let Marshall have it for his overt effort to remain in lockstep with Trump."This guy will say whatever Trump says on any given day," Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of the MeidasTouch news network, said. "He has no core beliefs. His political philosophy is whatever position Trump takes today, which may be different from the position Trump had yesterday.""Trump/flunkie Republican senator says Iran has to be able to defend itself," summarized journalist John Harwood."Couldn't we have just come to this conclusion before 13 Americans and thousands of Iranians died for nothing?" asked American Saga writer Zaid Jilani."So America's adversaries need to be able to defend themselves against America for America's sake?" wondered Max Meizlish, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "Got it. Nothing to see here. Nothing weird going on at all."Spanish-language journalist León Krauze described the comments as "surreal." Meanwhile, Pradheep J. Shanker, a doctor and contributor for the National Review, simply wrote, "JFC" to express his frustration.

Jun 18, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump's administration admitted to Congress that Iran was still directly involved in financing terrorist activity, at exactly the same time the president was planning to give them money, Punchbowl News reported on Wednesday.According to the report, the State Department "told Congress that Iran’s oil exports are a primary revenue source for the regime’s funding of terrorist activities — just hours after the United States and Iran electronically signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to lift oil sanctions."This 515-page report, which detailed U.S. efforts against international drug trafficking, indicated that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “controls significant portions of the domestic economy.” The report continued that “Iran’s oil and petroleum exports are a primary source of revenue for its armed forces, terrorist partners and proxies. The majority of Iran’s oil transactions are conducted by illicit networks.”All of this follows reporting that a key obstacle to Trump's Iran deal is the difficulty of delisting IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), which is in theory required for the full-scale sanctions relief the administration is promising.Legislation passed by Congress in 2022 about the Ukraine war contained a provision requiring that any U.S. intelligence that Iranian drones were attacking Americans would prohibit the IRGC from being delisted as an FTO for four years. Per Punchbowl's Andrew Desiderio, "Last April, the State Dept formally told Congress that the IRGC had indeed attacked Americans with drones."The memorandum with Iran "also sets up a $300 billion 'reconstruction fund' that many Republicans believe will inevitably be used for terror financing," noted the report, as well as allowing "the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran to direct where much of that funding goes."