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Skeptical Republicans demand details of US-Iran outline peace deal

Republicans have expressed tentative skepticism of the agreement Donald Trump has reached with Iran, and urged the White House to release more information. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) announced on Sunday to end the war in Iran, set for a ceremonial signing on Friday in Geneva, is centered around reopening the strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’s naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks. Both Trump and JD Vance, the US vice-president, have digitally signed the document, along with Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf on Tehran’s behalf, a senior US official confirmed. In an interview with CNN on Monday, Vance called it “a very general document” with specifics ⁠of the deal ‌to be ‌worked out during further ‌negotiations. “The MOU … is about a page,” Vance said. “On a number of issues, we are going to have ‌to figure this stuff out during the technical negotiation phase.” He also clarified in an interview with NBC News that the MOU is “about a page and a half” long – slightly longer than he had initially described – and confirmed that international nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would be allowed back into Iran under its terms. “One of the core parts of the agreement is that the IAEA and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile, and that’s something that’s spelled out very clearly,” Vance said. His comments came as many Senate Republicans who returned to Washington on Monday said there were still many unanswered questions about the deal and they need thorough briefings before it was finalized. “I just don’t know enough about it,” Republican John Thune told reporters in the Capitol. “Even the people who follow this stuff closely up here don’t know that much about it.” Congressional leaders and intelligence committees generally receive higher-level intelligence briefings before rank-and-file members, and they are notified of major developments before they are announced. But Thune, who is the Senate majority leader, said he had not been personally briefed on the deal. “I think that my understanding of what it entails – and, again, not having seen anything … I think the issues are going to be compliance, and how are you going to enforce that,” Thune said. Thune’s concerns were echoed by several other Republican senators. “If it’s a secret deal then how can I take it seriously?” asked Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Democrats have also joined the call for more information, with US Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer demanding Trump “release the details publicly, brief Congress immediately, and end this war for good”. Trump has not yet explained how his agreement will address Iran’s nuclear program, including who will be in charge of verifying that Iran is in compliance and who will destroy or remove highly enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were badly damaged by US strikes last summer. Vance said such questions would be addressed during a 60-day technical negotiation phase, adding that he expected IAEA access to happen “very quickly” given the “broad agreement” on the issue. The MOU also includes the possibility of releasing Iran’s frozen funds, sanctions relief and a $300bn fund to help rebuild Iran if Tehran meets certain benchmarks, US officials told reporters on Monday. But the document has not been released. Thune said he wants to know more about the conditions on the financial incentives for Iran. He said the deal would be a “good one” if the incentives are conditioned upon Iran winding down its nuclear program and getting rid of the enriched uranium, “preventing them from having a nuclear capability in the future”. Iran agreed to sharply curtail its nuclear program in a deal signed in 2015 with the Obama administration. Trump withdrew the US from that accord during his first term as president. That agreement allowed Iran to regain billions of dollars in frozen assets, which Trump has frequently derided as sending “pallets of cash” to Iran. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump and a longtime hawk on Iran, expressed scepticism over the emerging agreement, saying he wants to see the memorandum that the two countries have agreed on, and Congress will need to review and vote on it. “The way Iran describes it, it’s awful. The way we describe it, it makes sense to me,” Graham said. “Let’s look at it and see what it actually is.” But the current skepticism on Capitol Hill and among staunchly pro-Israel Republicans did not emerge overnight. When details of the framework first leaked in late May, senior Republicans launched a rare public rebuke of Trump, warning that the reported terms included major concessions that would strengthen Tehran and undermine Israel. “We are at a moment that will define President Trump’s legacy,” Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who chairs the Armed services committee, wrote in a letter. “His instincts have been to finish the job he started in Iran, but he is being ill-advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on. “Our commander-in-chief needs to allow America’s skilled armed forces to finish the destruction of Iran’s conventional military capabilities and reopen the strait.” The criticism was amplified by staunchly pro-Israel Mike Pompeo, who served as Trump’s secretary of state during his first term, and declared the emerging framework “not remotely America First,” saying it amounted to paying Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to build a weapons program and terrorize the world. The broadside prompted a profanity-laden response from the White House’s communications director, Steven Cheung, who told Pompeo to “shut his stupid mouth”. Graham warned at the time that a ceasefire deal on the reported terms would be a “nightmare for Israel” and risked shifting the regional balance of power in Tehran’s favour. Vance responded to Graham’s most recent diatribe on Monday, saying in an interview with ABC that he would “caution Lindsey Graham and anybody else not to believe the hardliner propaganda in Iran, but to believe what’s actually in the agreement.” The Associated Press contributed reporting

Trump says Iran ‘will never have a nuclear weapon’ under new deal and warns Israel over Lebanon – Middle East crisis live

Hezbollah believes Iran will not sign a nuclear ⁠deal with ⁠Washington unless Israel pulls its troops from southern ⁠Lebanon and told Reuters it understands that Tehran will ⁠push for Israel’s withdrawal in ‌its next ‌phase of talks with Washington. Hezbollah’s media ‌office said such a withdrawal would be the result of, and not a precondition for, the next ‌set of talks between Iran and the US, set to begin after the two formally sign their memorandum of understanding this ⁠coming Friday. The media office said the group has received Iranian assurances that any Israeli ‌breach of the Lebanon ceasefire would affect its upcoming negotiations with the US.

European parliament finally approves Trump tariff deal

The European parliament has given its final approval to implement last July’s tariff agreement with Donald Trump. Facing a threat of increased tariffs if the deal was not sanctioned by 4 July, MEPs agreed to approve the deal, with two main provisos. The first is a “sunset clause” which will mean the deal expires on 31 December 2029 unless it is renewed. The second sets out “clear conditions” for tariff reductions on products containing some steel and aluminium, tariffs that Trump has imposed under national security laws rather than the tariff regime he instituted on “liberation day” last April. Under the deal the US applies 15% on most EU exports, while the EU has cut import duties on some US goods, some agricultural products and a wide range of seafood to 0%. The deal is expected to be formally adopted by EU leaders when they meet in Brussels on Thursday. The European parliament’s approval came nearly a year after the original deal was agreed at Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland last July, having gone through a democratic process that has baffled the US administration, which put the deal in place stateside immediately last summer. However, relations with the EU soured when the US, under the guise of national security considerations, imposed tariffs on products with steel or aluminium content, something Brussels has frequently protested against. Under the text of the agreement voted on in the European parliament on Tuesday, the European Commission will be able to suspend tariff preferences for US goods by 31 December 2026 if the US continues to apply tariffs on steel derivatives. The commission will report to the parliament on the matter by 1 December. By 30 June 2029, six months after Trump’s presidency is due to end, the commission is now also required by the parliament to conduct an assessment of the impact on EU industry of the 0% tariffs on US goods for agriculture and small- to medium-sized businesses. MEPs suspended the ratification process twice this year through the international trade committee, first in protest against Trump’s threat to impose higher tariffs in January, and then over his threat take over Greenland. Although the supreme court in the US has already ruled the 15% tariff at the heart of the deal is illegal, the EU agreed to maintain the agreement in an attempt to achieve stability for businesses and industry.

Zelenskyy thanks G7 leaders for ‘strong ideas on how to force Russia into peace’ – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today! US president Donald Trump said Russia “should make a deal” to end the war (11:58), as G7 leaders met in Évian-les-Bains in France to discuss the latest in the fifth years of the Russian aggression on Ukraine. His call comes amid growing calls for a renewed push to the end the conflict, with the German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, suggesting they could take place before summer (14:26). Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked G7 leaders for “for the strong ideas on how to force Russia into peace” (13:24), saying they agreed that Russia was not winning the conflict (13:31) and calling for further sanctions (13:33). After meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy said the US president was also “very positive that they can help us with missiles,” as the Ukranian president keeps pushing for a licence to Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles locally (13:37). Trump remained the main star of the first day of the event (10:01, 11:16), after confusing delay to the proceedings in the morning (9:51), and he got a German football team shirt as a belated gift for his birthday (10:16). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

People in Albania: share your thoughts on the recent ‘not for sale’ protests

For the last two weeks, Albanians have been protesting against a planned luxury resort backed by a company linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald Trump, near Vlora. If it goes ahead, the development would occupy parts of an environmentally sensitive area which includes the uninhabited outcrop of Sazan and wetlands and coastal habitats in the surrounding marine national park – home to the Mediterranean monk seal and more than 200 bird species – including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans, according to BirdLife International. On Saturday, villagers from Rrjoll, located in an area of sandy beaches and pine forests in north-western Albania, protested against another development project, saying it was being built on their confiscated land. We would like to hear from Albanians about what they think about the development project. f you’re having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.

‘Everyone is angry for different reasons’: scepticism in Iran as peace deal nears

In the rural town of Sirik, in southern Iran, temperatures over the past week have climbed to 45C (113F), and residents were still queueing to fill buckets of water days after US strikes reportedly damaged two drinking water facilities serving nearby villages. Amid the water shortages and the looming fear of war came news of a possible deal between Washington and Tehran. But for those struggling to pick up the pieces in the aftermath, the announcement brought little relief. “I fear the uncertainty surrounding [the peace deal],” said Nahid*, a mother in Sirik, who described how villagers were queueing for water in the punishing heat, worried the water shortages could last far longer. Although the water supply was restored after 12 hours, the amount reaching households remained nowhere near enough for drinking and daily chores. “My four-year-old woke up crying from dehydration and pain between her legs caused by chafing and the lack of water for basic hygiene,” she said. As the sole earner of her family, Nahid, who works as a sewer, said she feared for her daughter’s health and future. Nahid’s reaction is one of many shared by Iranians across the country as the US and Iran move closer to formally signing a deal. Alborz, 36, a writer based in Tehran, said the situation had left many feeling as though the world was being run “by all the mad men”. “Yesterday, I woke my wife up to tell her that an agreement had been reached – and with very small amounts of concessions. We were overjoyed. At least, we breathed a sigh of relief,” he said. He said the reactions around him fell into three broad groups: “The group whose hearts are tied to the regime, the second which is tied to [the former royal family] the Pahlavis and therefore looks for foreign military intervention, and then there’s a third, which despises both of the above.” He added that, over time, the third group appeared to be growing. For hardliners, who have been rallying almost nightly to celebrate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ “victory” and attending training sessions to learn how to use Kalashnikovs, the prospect of a deal with the “enemy” has caused anger, said Mina, a screenwriter based in Tehran. “Everyone is angry right now, but we are all angry for different things. The mullahs have told their followers to chant ‘Death to America’ for decades now, so any deal with the enemy weakens their standing among the followers. And then there are people like me; I hate the regime, and I hate that [Donald] Trump betrayed us,” she said. “Even though [Barack] Obama wasn’t on the side of the Iranian people and chose to deal with the ayatollahs, at least he acted like a true politician rather than a businessman. We got what we saw with him. But with Trump, we really have been stabbed in the back,” she said. Mina supports the return of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former shah, as a “transitional leader” and said she did not believe there would ever be a peace deal with the Iranian regime. She also expressed anger at what she described as an international double standard over Iranian deaths. “The US hitting the school [in which 120 children were killed] was horrific and must be condemned, and my heart goes out to the innocent families killed by the strikes. But why are you all ignoring the children killed just weeks ahead of it on the streets by the regime? Why should we trust your human rights advocacy when you choose to fight only for those that politically match your agenda?” she asked. Although many Iranians had been anxiously awaiting the diplomatic developments, for others, the announcement brought little reaction at all. Shaghayegh, 24, who took part in the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in Tehran and was injured by pellets to the head, said bluntly: “Everything stopped making sense since 2022. “I doubt the war is anywhere close to the end. The only thing that’s changed is we are more aware of who our allies really are. And it’s getting increasingly clear Trump isn’t one of them.” As scepticism deepens and opinions remain divided, a shared sense of exhaustion – and anger that nothing has really changed – ran through many of the conversations. “I am relieved more innocent people won’t be killed by the US bombs, but can you all now agree that you will go back to your happy European summers – and we can go back to being killed by the regime?” asked Shaghayegh. Alborz said the agreement remained fragile and uncertain. “Everyone is talking about how Trump is just buying time until the end of the World Cup,” he said, predicting that “anything could happen in the next month”. * Names have been changed

European leaders urge Trump to host Zelenskyy-Putin talks

European leaders at the G7 summit have urged Donald Trump to try to break the deadlock over ending the Ukraine war by taking up the proposal for him to host talks in the US between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin. The US president lamented “the great antipathy” between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders that made it difficult to reach a settlement, and vowed to do what he could. He said Moscow “should make a deal”, noting that it had “lost a great many people, just like Ukraine”. Zelenskyy, attending the summit in the spa town of Évian-les-Bains at the invitation of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, is attempting to re-engage Trump in the hope that the US administration will be less distracted now it has agreed a 60-day ceasefire in Iran. Macron, caught on a hot mic at the summit, was heard admitting to Zelenskyy he had had difficult discussions with Trump on Monday concerning Ukraine. Speaking at a morning session of G7 leaders and Zelenskyy, Trump said he would do what he could, and German sources claimed Trump recognised that Russia was in a weaker position than previously. The leaders of the G7, which comprises the US, Japan, France, Canada, the UK, Italy and Germany, also agreed to step up sanctions on Russian energy. The European Union is already preparing its 21st sanctions package, including restrictions on the sale of LNG tankers to Russia. Zelenskyy – who did not initially have a bilateral meeting with Trump scheduled – eventually met the US president alongside Macron for his first face-to-face meeting in four months. Zelenskyy tried to convince Trump that Ukraine was no longer losing on the battlefield, and the US role should not be that of a messenger between the two sides but of a mediator supportive of Ukraine. The meeting delayed the start of the full summit. Giving his readout of the meeting via video link to a Reuters conference in London, Zelenskyy said the G7 leaders unanimously agreed: “Russia is not winning and is losing a lot people; it must therefore reach an agreement as quickly as possible. They do not have the initiative in their hands.” He said it was important to try to organise talks with Russia before the winter, while acknowledging that Moscow had not responded to his proposal that Putin attended the G7 meeting. Zelensky also stated that he had discussed with G7 leaders several proposals aimed at strengthening sanctions and “political pressure” against Russia, particularly regarding confiscation of its shadow oil fleet, but said he believed it would need the US president to bring Putin to the negotiating table. “I think Donald Trump can do it, mainly only him,” he said. Trump spoke to Zelenskyy and Putin on Sunday before travelling to the G7 and claimed both men were open to a meeting. He described the death toll in the war as “ridiculous”. Trump – who lost patience with his inability to force home a deal in which Ukraine gave up territory it had not lost on the battlefield – still seems to regard the US as neutral in the conflict, and above all eager to see economic sanctions on Russia lifted so projects such as an Alaska-Siberia tunnel can be considered. Zelenskyy and his main European partners – the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and Macron – realise talks with Russia in the short term may be unlikely, but hope Trump’s engagement could make them possible in the autumn. The E3 – UK, Germany and France – also want to be directly represented at the talks, since they are providing almost all the financial and military support to Ukraine. Putin’s special representative, Kirill Dmitriev, kept up a steady flow of social media posts denigrating the Europeans during the G7 talks, including welcoming Starmer’s political demise. “EU/UK warmongering ‘poison pills’ to derail peace discussions are too obvious and delay peace by pushing tired, unrealistic solutions,” he wrote. “Hypocrisy does not work well when exposed.” In his remarks at the G7, Zelenskyy told the leaders he was making changes to army pay to make frontline recruitment levels sustainable. The US vice-president, JD Vance, the most consistent critic of Ukraine in the US administration, has repeatedly claimed that Ukraine is bound to lose the war because of Russia’s superior ability to recruit soldiers. Zelenskyy also confirmed Ukrainian drones had set on fire Moscow’s largest oil refinery, which is about 9 miles (15km) from the Kremlin and 300 miles (500km) from Ukraine. “Russia must be forced to end its war against our people. And Ukraine’s long-range weapons are one of the important components of such pressure,” he said. “This is a just response to Russian strikes – and to the dragging out of a war that must be ended.” European leaders are pushing to be involved in any talks. “The right negotiation is one in which Ukraine and Russia are at the table, but with Europeans and Americans present as well,” Macron said on Monday. German government sources said that the most realistic format would pair Ukraine and Russia with the US and Europe but the hardest question was who speaks for Europe. They argued Kyiv now negotiated from a position of strength, because Russia cannot win on the battlefield and its economy is straining. Internal European discussions about appointing a special representative to lead Europe at the talks suffered a setback when the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, rejected taking up the possible post. “Personally, I do not see myself as a representative in this matter,” he said. “I believe this should be led by the major players, namely France, Germany and the UK.” Diplomats are looking for a heavyweight figure such as a former prime minister. But he backed the idea of talks, saying: “We are currently in a situation where Ukraine holds strong positions militarily, politically and economically. Therefore, I believe the time has come for Europe to establish contact with Russia’s leadership, specifically President Putin, in order to conduct diplomatic negotiations.”

Hundreds of dogs to be sent to rescue as US beagle research facility shuts down

A beagle breeding and research facility in Wisconsin that has been the focus of animal rights protests is shutting down, and a rescue group in Florida is taking in the remaining dogs. “Not one dog will remain,” Lauree Simmons, founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Florida, said in a press conference announcing the news on Monday. “No more breeding, no more testing, no more anything.” Groups such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) celebrated Monday’s news as a substantial step toward ending the practice of using animals for research. “This victory is the culmination of years of pressure from Peta and other animal protection organizations … who challenged a system that breeds dogs and other animals only to be confined, mutilated, poisoned, and killed in laboratories,” said a statement from Peta. “Peta will build on this momentum by continuing to work to end the use of dogs, primates, and other animals in experiments altogether and replace these cruel, scientifically flawed practices with cutting-edge, superior methods that offer real promise for treatments and cures.” Protesters descended on the Ridglan Farms breeding and research facility in March and April in an attempt to free the beagles there. An estimated 1,000 activists clashed with police in April in another open rescue attempt for the dogs, resulting in 29 arrests, according to the Dane county sheriff’s department. “Before the open rescue, activists called upon law enforcement, prosecutors, the governor [of Wisconsin, Tony Evers], humane officers, licensing boards, and judges to protect the dogs from Ridglan’s established, lengthy record of cruelty – without success,” said a statement from Chris Carraway, staff attorney at the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. After the April protests, Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy announced they reached an agreement with Ridglan Farms to buy 1,500 of the 2,000 beagles at the facility for an undisclosed price. Animal rights attorneys then sought a court order to protect the remaining 500 beagles at the facility. Ridglan Farms in October had reached an agreement with a special prosecutor to resolve criminal animal abuse allegations against the facility. That settlement required the facility to surrender its license to sell and breed dogs – but did not require any changes for the dogs remaining at the facility. The facility denied mistreating animals. On Monday, Big Dog Ranch Rescue announced another agreement with Ridglan Farms for the permanent closure of the facility. That set the stage for the beagles remaining at the site to be transferred to Big Dog Ranch Rescue. The Big Dog organization said some of the beagles are bound for other rescue groups. Some of the beagles, though, are destined for the organization’s Florida and Alabama campuses, where the dogs are going to be spayed or neutered and then prepared for adoption. A statement from Ridglan Farms said all the dogs being transferred are “happy, healthy animals” with “extensive” state and federal inspection documentation. “We hope these dogs will continue to flourish in their new homes,” Ridglan Farms said. The statement said that the company hopes the “years-long harassment campaign targeting the research facility’s owners, staff and neighbors comes to an end”. The Associated Press contributed reporting