“US Israel Iran War”

The Iranian regime’s strategy is clear: survive the pressure of President Donald J. Trump’s second term by any means necessary, secure breathing room through negotiations, and position itself for a far more aggressive posture once his administration is over. Iran has long mastered the art of playing for time: it sees that American presidential terms are finite, while its own project is not. With Trump’s decisive military actions having inflicted significant damage on Iranian capabilities and proxies, the regime finds itself economically crippled and militarily weakened, yet determined to drag out talks, extract concessions, and wait.

JD Vance said on Friday that the US wins “either way” regarding negotiations with Iran, pointing to what he called the destruction of its nuclear program and diminishment as a country.

“If we make the final deal, then great,” the US vice-president told HBO’s Bill Maher. “If we don’t make the final deal, their nuclear program is still destroyed. They’re still much weaker as a country, so my attitude is America wins either way.”

.@JDVance gets pressed by Bill Maher on Iran. His response is excellent. Show this to your liberal friends. pic.twitter.com/li9bewN5y0

— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) June 27, 2026

When the Iranian missiles and drones came for the nerve center of America’s naval operations in the Middle East, some of them hit their mark.

The U.S. Navy base in Bahrain was repeatedly targeted between late February and June. Strikes that got through caused extensive damage, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of satellite imagery, social-media footage and interviews with current and former servicemembers—damage that the Pentagon hasn’t publicly acknowledged. Hit hard were the command headquarters and at least a dozen other buildings, along with two satellite communications terminals.

The military said no one was killed at the base, known as Naval Support Activity Bahrain, and that the strikes didn’t significantly impact operations. The U.S. evacuated most personnel but has kept a small staff on the ground.

🚨 JUST IN: Bahrain has just been STRUCK by Iran after President Trump showed them FAFO for attacking a ship in the Strait of Hormuz

If Iran keeps this up, expect them to find out the hard way with 47!

He will NOT play this game 🔥 pic.twitter.com/LcYMElIYoA

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 27, 2026

Iran‘s closure of the Strait of Hormuz energy chokepoint was the linchpin of its recent victory over the United States. There is no question that Iran is the victor as things stand. While suffering vast damage to its economy, military, and leadership, the Islamic Republic has held on. Not only that, but President Donald Trump is now allowing Iran free rein to sell tens of billions of dollars of oil. Iran will use some of the proceeds for terrorism. Major sanctions relief also beckons over the horizon as the two countries move to negotiate a final end to the war. And while this sanctions relief is dependent upon Iranian nuclear concessions, Trump’s desperation to end the war suggests that his terms will be lenient.

JD Vance has taken the greatest gamble of his vice-presidency by making himself the face of the Iran ceasefire deal – a shaky agreement that already seems to be unraveling at the seams.

But after months spent in limbo due to the war, it may be the best chance for him to find his feet again.

A funk had set over the US vice-president’s camp since the administration launched its war in Iran in February. Vance, a vocal opponent of the “forever wars” of the previous administrations (he had served as a combat correspondent in Iraq), was now being forced to defend the largest US military intervention in the Middle East in a generation. In public, he had been left out of the war room at Mar-a-Lago and appeared to be distanced from the Iran war planning. In private, journalists were being briefed on his opposition to the war.

There is only a deep bitterness to feel about the state of what the great writer Maurice Dantec called “Zeropa.” And as often happens, it is an Italian video that reminds us of it.

Italy’s so-called “head of diplomacy” Antonio Tajani writes:

“The Italian merchant ship ‘Grande Torino,’ of the Grimaldi group, just hours after the signing of the agreement between the USA and Iran, was among the first to cross the Strait of Hormuz. It is now sailing toward the East. A success for Italian diplomacy. Great news for the resumption of commercial traffic and especially for all the sailors on board and their families in Italy.”

The Republican-controlled US Senate has approved a measure demanding that President Donald Trump halt the war in Iran or seek congressional approval before continuing military action.

But the resolution is largely symbolic because, even after passing both chambers of Congress, it will not be sent to Trump for his consideration and does not carry the force of the law.

A handful of Republicans joined Democrats in Tuesday’s 50-48 vote. The same measure was passed by the US House of Representatives earlier this month.

Hardly has the ink on the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding that US President Donald J. Trump signed with Tehran had a chance to dry than it has become abundantly clear that Iran has no serious intention of abiding by the agreement’s demands — namely abandoning its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and re-establishing freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Whether congressional Republicans come around on the emerging deal to end the Iran war may hinge on whether the GOP base continues to trust President Donald Trump on the issue as his approach shifts from military force to diplomacy.

A split among rank-and-file Republican voters could embolden GOP lawmakers to stick to their own positions on the Iran talks, with many of them extremely wary of negotiating with the Iranian regime.

On June 17, President Donald J. Trump announced a framework agreement with Iran that extends a shaky ceasefire for another 60 days, lifts the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz, and lets oil exports resume.

The deal entails Iran starting to dilute some highly enriched uranium stockpiles. It also features limited sanctions waivers from Uncle Sam. Bigger disputes like the full Iranian nuclear program’s fate and the Islamist theocracy’s ballistic missiles were pushed into that two-month negotiating window.

It’s time to take a hard look at the memorandum of understanding (MOU) and to think about it objectively. On one hand, it is not the utter catastrophe that a lot of people – people who largely agree with my position that we should be actively destroying these goat-molesting, pagan semi-humans – think it is. On the other hand, it’s a crap sandwich, and there’s no need to take a bite and announce that it’s “Yummy.” It is not yummy, but it might be the best we can hope for today.

The prevailing narrative in much of the Western media is that opposition to US President Donald J. Trump’s new agreement with Iran comes primarily from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters.

This narrative is false.

Vice President JD Vance said Iran agreed to allow international inspections of its nuclear program, which would restore a safeguard from President Barack Obama’s deal with Tehran that President Donald Trump threw out.

“That is a major milestone for the American people, and the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran,” Vance said Monday at a news conference at the Bürgenstock resort in Switzerland. U.S. and Iranian officials are working with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan to turn last week’s fragile ceasefire into a more comprehensive peace agreement. Vance said he would return home soon as technical talks moved forward.

Vice President JD Vance backed President Donald Trump’s online response to Iranian “trash talk” as the United States participates in peace negotiations in Lucerne, Switzerland.

As U.S. negotiators, led by Vance, participated in the Swiss peace talks with the Iranian delegation through Pakistani and Qatari intermediaries over the weekend, Trump kept up his Truth Social postings. Trump blasted the Iranian regime, declaring Iran “FINISHED” on Friday and saying on Sunday that the U.S. would “hit Iran very hard again” if its proxies didn’t stop “causing trouble” in Lebanon. Vance defended Trump’s rhetoric as a response to Iranian “trash talk,” after the Iranians threatened to walk out on negotiations.

The first round of negotiations between the US and Iran to reach a final deal to end the war has ended with “encouraging progress”, mediators Qatar and Pakistan say.

In a joint statement early on Monday, Qatar and Pakistan said that the parties had agreed to “a roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days”.

Iran’s foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said there had been “major progress” towards ending the conflict in Lebanon.