Live updates: Israel-Iran conflict, Trump on ceasefire announcement, NATO summit
Update:
Date: 11 min ago
Title: Trump pushes back on CNN report about intel assessment suggesting strikes on Iran didn't destroy nuclear sites
Content:
In a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump disputed CNN reporting that an early US intelligence assessment suggests strikes targeting Iran's nuclear facilities did not destroy core components of its nuclear program.
Trump, who's in the Netherlands attending this week's NATO summit, called the strikes 'ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY,' adding that 'THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!'
Earlier Tuesday, CNN reported that US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last weekend likely only set the country's nuclear program back by months, according to an early US intelligence assessment that was described by seven people briefed on it.
The president posted his original comments at approximately 3:30 a.m. local time, before deleting and reposting after correcting a spelling error in the original post, slamming CNN and The New York Times, for what he called 'AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN' the strikes.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against CNN's reporting earlier Tuesday as well, acknowledging its existence but calling it 'flat-out wrong.'
Update:
Date: 11 min ago
Title: Israel will "respond forcefully" to any ceasefire violations, UN ambassador says
Content:
Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, said his country would respond 'forcefully' to any violation of the ceasefire that has been struck with Iran.
Speaking to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Danon echoed other Israeli officials in thanking US President Donald Trump for his role in the ceasefire he announced on Monday.
He reiterated that Israel 'struck a severe blow' to Iran with its attacks on Iranian regime targets.
Update:
Date: 15 min ago
Title: Iran's UN ambassador thanks Qatar for its role in the ceasefire
Content:
Iran's United Nations envoy Amir-Saeid Iravani thanked Qatar for its role in the Iran-Israel ceasefire at a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday.
'I wish to sincerely thank our brotherly and friendly nation the state of Qatar for its sincere and diplomatic efforts to help end Israeli aggression, establish a ceasefire and prevent a further escalation of regional tensions that threaten peace and stability in the region,' the Iranian diplomat told the council.
Iravani's expression of gratitude to Qatar came a day after Iran launched an attack on a US airbase in the Gulf country.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani secured Iran's agreement on Monday, a diplomat briefed on the talks told CNN, finally allowing US President Donald Trump to announce the ceasefire on social media.
Update:
Date: 15 min ago
Title: Israel extends mobilization order for reservists until July 10
Content:
Israel has extended its order until July 10 for reservists to step into duty after approval from the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Israel has a relatively small standing military, but a much larger reserve corps upon which it relies during extended conflicts. Earlier this year, the military said it would mobilize tens of thousands of reservists in an expansion of its offensive in Gaza.
Israeli reservists have become increasingly vocal since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas earlier this year and resumed the war, questioning the government's commitment to negotiating a return of the remaining hostages in Gaza. In a sign of a growing protest movement, reservists have called for the immediate return of the hostages, even if it requires an immediate ceasefire.
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Politico
29 minutes ago
- Politico
GOP megabill takes aim at universities — except for this conservative Christian college
President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are angling to use their megabill to turn the screws on elite liberal colleges that take millions in taxpayer funds while sitting on endowments worth tens of billions of dollars. But a single college that's a paragon of conservative higher education has managed to secure a carveout after finding itself in the crossfire. Hillsdale College, a Christian liberal arts school of fewer than 2,000 students located in southern Michigan, is one of a slew of smaller institutions that had been working to avoid being swept up in the GOP effort to raise taxes on the seemingly bottomless endowments of household names like Harvard, Princeton and Yale. But Hillsdale stands apart from those schools: For one, it's a rare institution of higher learning that the modern Republican Party applauds. Just as uncommon, Hillsdale accepts no funding from the federal government: 'The founders of our nation chose independence. As do we,' the college boasts in advertisements. That formed the crux of its argument that, on principle, Hillsdale and schools like it should not be subject to a federal tax on endowments. Senate Republicans heeded that logic in their version of the reconciliation bill that the party hopes to send to Trump's desk next week by including an exemption for schools that fit Hillsdale's profile. The reprieve is by no means guaranteed, as Hillsdale found out eight years ago. Democrats that year seized on the university's unique position, branding the exemption as an earmark for a political ally and ultimately getting it stripped from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with the help of a handful of Republican senators. That's why Hillsdale turned earlier this year to professional advocates for help with the latest endowment tax proposal. In April, the college retained Williams and Jensen to lobby on 'specific threats to the institutional and financial independence of the college, primarily related to the higher education endowment tax,' according to a disclosure filing. The team of lobbyists working on the account includes Dan Ziegler, who served as House Speaker Mike Johnson's top policy aide before returning to the lobbying firm in March, and who previously served as executive director of the conservative Republican Study Committee. In its meetings with policymakers, Hillsdale has reiterated its general opposition to using the tax code as a blunt force object — reaching often for the declaration from former Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall that 'the power to tax involves the power to destroy.' Beyond that, it has stuck to its insistence that schools that have sworn off taxpayer money should be left out of the endowment tax scheme altogether. That could end up incentivizing more institutions to follow in Hillsdale's footsteps — especially with the Trump administration taking aim at colleges' federal funding — whereas a tax hike might throw up financial roadblocks for schools who might be eyeing a move toward independence. Hillsdale's message has landed favorably on the Hill, according to a person familiar with those discussions who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations. The person noted that the school hadn't encountered much opposition to its position on principle. Failing to exempt schools that don't accept federal funds 'penalizes most severely those institutions that have chosen the harder path of independence' from the federal government and the conditions of accepting that money, Hillsdale President Larry Arnn wrote in an op-ed in May. 'Worse still,' he added, 'this tax turns the incentives backward; it rewards dependence and punishes self-reliance. It encourages institutions to seek the shelter of government aid, where subsidies can offset tax burdens.' Hillsdale declined to comment on the record. Hillsdale has proudly touted its independence for refusing direct government funds since its founding by abolitionists in 1844. In the 1980s, Hillsdale was faced with a Supreme Court civil rights ruling that would've required universities to track admissions by race and bar sex-based discrimination in order to accept federal financial aid from students. In response, the school declared that it would no longer accept such assistance. Hillsdale's break from what it calls governmental overreach has made it at home with the right. Conservative luminary William Buckley donated much of his lifetime of writings to the school in the early 2000s. In 2016, Hillsdale hosted Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as its commencement speaker. More recently, Republican leaders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have sought to recreate versions of Hillsdale in their home states and to integrate its curriculum in K-12 classrooms. Hillsdale graduates are scattered throughout Washington, including in the offices of the top Republicans in Congress. Michael Anton, who joined Hillsdale's D.C. outpost after working in the first Trump administration (though he's not a Hillsdale grad himself), was tapped in April to lead the U.S. technical team in nuclear negotiations with Iran. The university regularly advertises its free online courses on subjects like ancient Christianity and the Biblical book of Genesis on Fox News, and rents various conservative email lists. Arnn, a co-founder of the conservative think tank the Claremont Institute, was even considered for Education secretary in Trump's first administration. Trump's eventual Education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has her own familial and financial ties to Hillsdale. In Trump 2.0, the universityhas partnered with the White House and the Education Department on an educational video series to promote the 250th anniversary of America's founding. The most recent installment, focused on the founding of the U.S. Army, featured Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Even with those credentials, as the GOP continues tinkering with the bill ahead of final passage, there's one hitch that could complicate things: At least right now, there aren't believed to be any other schools besides Hillsdale that don't accept federal cash and have large enough endowments that they're at risk of being hit by the endowment tax. Wealthy universities were first hit with a 1.4 percent excise on their endowments as part of the 2017 GOP tax bill. Given that the relationship between Republicans and higher education has only crumbled in the years since, colleges across the country had already been bracing for Republicans to take another swing at the excise tax in negotiations to renew expiring provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. There's a tranche of smaller colleges that would be hit hard by an endowment tax hike and are trying to distance themselves from the Ivies in conservatives' crosshairs. But even though Hillsdale would likely benefit from some of the endowment tax changes those schools have pitched lawmakers on, including sparing schools smaller student bodies, the college has thus far declined to take other schools up on overtures to join their coalitions as it leaned on its more unique messaging. Hillsdale isn't in the clear yet. There are questions about whether several of Republicans' changes to the endowment tax are allowed under the arcane procedural rules of the reconciliation process. The exclusion was not included in the House version of the bill, and not much is set in stone amid horsetrading within the conference. The specter of the last Republican tax debate also looms large given Hillsdale's distinctive position. Earlier versions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would have subjected schools with endowments of at least $250,000 per student to the excise tax. But during floor debate in the Senate, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — who received an honorary degree from Hillsdale in 2013 — and then-Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) introduced an amendment that would have exempted from the tax any otherwise-eligible schools that don't take federal funding. The amendment triggered an outcry from Senate Democrats, who pointed out that the only university that would apply to was Hillsdale. Four Republican senators ended up voting with all Democrats to sink the amendment. Hillsdale still managed to luck out, but only temporarily, thanks to language in the final bill that raised the threshold for the tax to $500,000. The House reconciliation bill retains that threshold for the 1.4 percent tax, but neither measure indexes it to inflation, effectively lowering the threshold as time goes on. Hillsdale's endowment finally reached eligibility a few years ago, and much further down the line, other schools that have sworn off federal funding may eventually join it. If the Senate version prevails, however, Hillsdale would pay nothing. In Arnn's May op-ed, he wrote that the House-passed reconciliation bill leaves 'untouched the vast web of colleges and universities sustained by taxpayer dollars, often bloated with bureaucracies committed to fashionable ideas, far removed from the purposes of education.' Ironically, some of the biggest winners out of the Senate's version of the endowment tax — aside from Hillsdale — were schools with the biggest endowments, like Harvard, that would have seen their tax rate soar to 21 percent under the House bill. Senate Republicans softened the tax hike to less than 10 percent for the wealthiest universities.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Oil prices rise despite fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel
Investors kept an eye on the Middle East on Wednesday as a fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel appeared to hold after initial shakiness. Both sides claimed victory; Iran's president said Israel had suffered a 'historic punishment', while Israel's prime minister argued the offensive had removed 'the Iranian nuclear threat'. A new US intelligence report nonetheless found that Tehran's nuclear programme had only been set back by a few months by US strikes. Washington denied the findings of the leaked report. Early in Europe, Brent crude had risen around 1.15% to $67.91 a barrel, while WTI was 1.21% higher at $65.15. The prices suggest the market has still not fully calmed after the conflict in the Middle East, with investors continuing to monitor the shaky ceasefire. US President Trump rebuked both countries for violating the announced ceasefire on Tuesday. Related Why the Strait of Hormuz remains critical for the global economy The dollar sees a rebound after US strikes Iran, but can it continue? 'Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I've never seen before, the biggest load that we've seen,' he said. On his social media platform, Truth Social, he wrote: 'Israel, do not drop those bombs. If you do, it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!' Trump claimed that neither Iran nor Israel "know what the f*** they're doing". Stocks, meanwhile, rose modestly on Wednesday. France's CAC 40 was up 0.4% at 7,647.07 in morning trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.08% to 23,660.55, the UK's FTSE 100 increased 0.35% to 8,790.03, and Italy's FTSE MIB rose 0.24% to 39,568.10. The STOXX 600 jumped 0.35% to 542.88, while the STOXX 50 rose 0.21% to 5,308.40. Looking to the US, Dow Jones futures were 0.06% higher at 43,452.00, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.05% to reach 6,149.25. In Asian trading, the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.44% to 3,435.60, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.31% to 38,910.93, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.78% to 24,364.79, while South Korea's Kospi was almost flat, rising 0.01% to 3,104.20. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 notched up 0.09% to 8,563.20. The US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at 97.98 although the currency has still failed to recover from losses seen earlier this year. The euro rose less than 1% against the dollar while the Japanese Yen dropped around 0.12% against its US safe-haven alternative. 'The situation in the Middle East is fluid. While the downside risks have subsided, the situation can change quickly and the balance of risks remains weighted toward higher oil prices,' said Ryan Sweet, Chief US Economist at Oxford Economics, on Tuesday. Sign in to access your portfolio
Washington Post
33 minutes ago
- Washington Post
UK says it will buy F-35 jets capable of carrying nuclear bombs
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Kingdom will buy 12 U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear bombs and will join NATO's shared airborne nuclear mission, in a major expansion of its nuclear deterrent, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Wednesday. The government called it 'the biggest strengthening of the U.K.'s nuclear posture in a generation.'
