Tuesday Afternoon News Updates: Hidden Iran Deals, Trump’s Concessions, and a Bright Green Pool – 6/16/26
Here’s your midday update
Hi all, Ben here. It’s Tuesday, and we have a lot to get through. Here’s a quick rundown of the top stories we’re tracking today. Remember to like and re-stack to spread this far and wide.
Top Stories We Are Tracking:
Trump abandons his core justification for the Iran war at the G7
The Iran MOU text is still being hidden, even from Israel
Iran’s Foreign Minister is already warning of violations of the MOU
Trump’s approval rating in Israel cratered 46 points in three weeks
Trump threatens Lindsey Graham, praises Iran’s leaders, and can’t find Qatar on a map
The White House ballroom is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions, despite Trump’s promises
The FBI now says it thwarted a drone and sniper attack on the White House UFC event — Trump had no idea
ConocoPhillips is set to become the first major U.S. energy company to sign a deal with Syria
Workers dumped hydrogen peroxide into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool this morning
A Trump budget nominee refused to say the 2020 election wasn’t rigged (yes, again)
Republicans are openly defending Trump profiting from crypto while in office’
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Let’s get into it.
The Iran MOU That Nobody Has Actually Seen
I’ll start with the U.S.-Iran MOU that as of now, Trump refuses to show the public.
At the G7 in Évian, France, Trump was asked about the core premise of the entire war — getting Iran’s enriched nuclear material out of the country. His response was stunning. He essentially shrugged it off, suggesting you could make the argument it isn’t even worth pursuing because the material isn’t valuable enough to bother with. The enriched uranium that Trump used as the justification for bombing Iran is now, per Trump himself, not really a priority.
Trump said earlier that the only thing that matters in any deal is that Iran promises not to make a nuclear weapon. He said the rest of it is, in his word, “irrelevant.” If that is the case, why get rid of the Obama-era JCPOA deal (an actual deal, by the way), that did just that and more? Why enter into a war when Iran has already agreed to this before the war began?
Trump is trying to sell this deal to the American people before they see it and lower expectations, because as I mentioned and will reiterate again, nobody has actually seen the text of this deal. Not the press, not Congress, and not even Israel. According to Israel’s N12 News, Israeli officials specifically requested to see the text of the MOU and were denied by their U.S. counterparts, despite having previously received assurances from American officials that certain preconditions were definitely included. Trump promised he’d release the text eventually, saying he’d probably hold a press conference and read it word by word. I won’t be holding my breath in anticipation.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is already out here drawing his own red lines, stating publicly that any Israeli military action in Lebanon and the continuation of the occupation would constitute a violation of the MOU. Hezbollah’s media office separately announced that Iran has promised it won’t sign a final deal unless Israel withdraws from Lebanon entirely. So the deal that nobody has read, that Israel wasn’t allowed to see, already has conditions attached to that Israel has said it won’t agree to.
WSJ: Iran Gets Immediate Oil Sanctions Relief Under the Deal
The Wall Street Journal is reporting a major new detail about the MOU: the U.S. will allow Iran to immediately begin selling oil and fuel the moment the agreement is signed this week, giving Tehran an early financial incentive and a huge economic windfall to wind down the conflict. The sanctions waivers on oil sales take effect immediately upon signing and also cover the necessary services to facilitate those sales, including banking, transportation, and insurance. Iran is expected to receive this upfront sanctions relief with further relief tied to Iran’s future performance, meaning the financial spigot opens now, before Iran has done anything.
Trump at the G7
Beyond the Iran MOU substance, Trump’s performance at the G7 was, well, odd. His voice was extremely hoarse, he appeared exhausted, and the makeup was caked on his hand again. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looked like she was counting the minutes as Trump veered into an extended riff about UFC to a room full of world leaders.
In a meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Trump informed him that Qatar and Iran are so close you could walk across the border between them. There is no land border between Qatar and Iran. They are separated by the Persian Gulf.
In a meeting with UAE President MBZ, after MBZ spoke at length, Trump quipped that when you’re that rich you can speak that long.
Trump also claimed the U.S. is bringing in investment numbers that, if you add them up across all his tellings, would exceed the entire GDP of the United States, which is barely $30 trillion. The numbers keep growing every time he says them out loud.
Trump Threatens Lindsey Graham, Praises Iran’s Leaders
Two quotes from today worth emphasizing. First, when asked about Senator Lindsey Graham’s skepticism of the MOU, Trump said Graham would be “in big trouble” if he didn’t stand with Trump in regards to the so-called deal.
Second, Trump used his G7 platform to describe the current Iranian leadership as very rational, nice to deal with, strong and smart, and not radicalized. He also said he doesn’t believe in regime change because it never works and that it just has to happen on its own. To be clear, I don’t even disagree with that. But again, that was one of Trump’s main justifications for the war. He told the Iranian people to take to the streets and help the U.S. overthrow the Iranian regime. Now, Trump just wants to be buddies with the Iranian regime and make a business deal with them.
Trump, unable to resist bringing up Obama, called the 2015 Iran deal the dumbest deal he’s ever seen, right after calling NAFTA maybe even dumber, which raises the question of what his own deal is, given that it apparently doesn’t require Iran to give up its enriched uranium, hasn’t been shown to Israel, and is already being revealed to contain massive giveaways to Iran for little in return.
JD Vance was on Fox trying to clean all of this up, insisting the U.S. didn’t commit to anything in the deal so we win either way. When Fox and Friends asked him directly whether the $300 billion fund and $24 billion in unfrozen assets for Iran were real, Vance called it “basically Iranian propaganda.” He did not say it was false. That’s a telling non-denial from the Vice President of the United States on the terms of a deal his administration just made.
Trump’s Poll Numbers in Israel Have Collapsed
A new Israel Hayom/Kantar poll shows that Trump’s net approval in Israel has swung 46 points in just three weeks. Three weeks ago he was at plus 23, with 58% of Israelis viewing him favorably. Today he’s at minus 23, with 61% viewing him negatively. That is a historic collapse driven entirely by the Iran deal. The same Israeli outlet, Israel Hayom, is also reporting that Trump is weighing firing Defense Secretary Hegseth and CIA Director Ratcliffe for opposing the deal internally, while Secretary of State Rubio is reportedly safe for now. A senior U.S. official was quoted saying the argument has been settled and those who opposed it may pay a personal price. To be clear, this has not been confirmed by other publications as of now.
Yes, Taxpayers are Funding the Ballroom/Bunker
The Washington Post obtained internal contractor documents showing that Trump’s White House East Wing renovation, which includes a new ballroom, underground bunker, and security facilities, has ballooned from the $200 million Trump repeatedly promised to an estimated $600 million. More than half of that is expected to come from taxpayers, through the Secret Service, the White House Military Office, and the Executive Residence. It turns out Iens of millions in taxpayer funds had already been approved before Trump stood in front of cameras in March and said “We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents.” The White House’s response was essentially to say Trump and donors are paying for the ballroom itself. That conveniently ignores everything else in the documents.
The FBI Claims It Disrupted Another Plot Against Trump
Kash Patel and the FBI say they disrupted a plot targeting the UFC event at the White House that involved explosive-laden drones, snipers targeting the crowd, and a planned second wave attempting to storm the White House gate. When a reporter asked Trump at the G7 whether he had been briefed on the attack plans, he went silent, then said he hadn’t heard about it. His follow-up line was that the only attack he watched were the fighters. I’ll be doing more reporting on this soon on our YouTube channel.
ConocoPhillips Moves Into Syria
Per the Financial Times, ConocoPhillips is set to become the first major American energy company to sign a contract with Syria’s new government. The deal, expected this week, would partner ConocoPhillips with Syria’s state-owned petroleum company and Novaterra Energy to develop existing gas fields and explore new ones, with the goal of boosting output by 4 to 5 million cubic metres per day within a year. Syria’s gas production has fallen by two-thirds since 2011 and the country needs roughly 18 million cubic metres daily to meet electricity demand.
Quick Hits
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is still bright green after recent renovations caused an algae bloom, prompting National Park Service workers to dump bottles of hydrogen peroxide directly into the water this morning. Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst captured foam floating on the surface. Dr. Michael O’Brien pointed out on social media that you’d need at least 8,000 liters of 12% hydrogen peroxide just to reach the minimum concentration needed to kill algae, questioning whether anyone in this administration thought it through scientifically.
On Capitol Hill, Trump’s nominee for Deputy White House Budget Director, Hal Duncan, was asked twice by Senator Merkley whether he believed the 2020 election was rigged. Twice, Duncan responded only that Joe Biden was certified as the winner. He never answered the question. We keep seeing this same answer over and over during these hearings.
And on Fox Business this morning, Senator Kevin Cramer defended Trump’s crypto involvement by arguing that we shouldn’t stop pro-growth policies just because they might personally benefit the president’s family. This came as the CLARITY Act, crypto legislation that would effectively benefit Trump’s own holdings, remains stalled in the Senate. Maria Bartiromo helpfully noted that Democrats want to ban government officials including the president from crypto entirely. Cramer’s response was that Trump shouldn’t have to be exempt from being successful. That’s the Republican Party’s official position on presidential self-dealing now, and they’re saying it out loud on national television.
That’s your Tuesday midday update. As many of you know, Ron Filipkowski is in the process of moving and will be back with his daily bulletins later in the week, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading, liking, re-stacking, and subscribing!
"The FBI now says it thwarted a drone and sniper attack on the White House UFC event — Trump had no idea"
I call bullshit 🙄
What a cluster. The level of incompetence and criminality is astounding.