WTF Just Happened This Week

Curated by Matt Kiser, WTF Just Happened Today

6.22.26/ Today in One Sentence
The Treasury Department gave Iran a 60-day waiver to sell oil, including to U.S. buyers, before negotiators reached a final deal over Iran’s nuclear program; ¶ a federal judge blocked six grand jury subpoenas from Trump’s Justice Department targeting Tim Walz and other Minnesota officials; ¶ the Trump administration plans to withhold 20% of homeland security grants from states unless they move to hand-marked paper ballots and run voter rolls through a DHS citizenship database; ¶ a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from building a database that combines millions of Americans’ Social Security numbers and citizenship status; ¶ at least five people have been arrested and five others cited for alleged vandalism at Trump’s newly renovated Reflecting Pool; ¶ and 78% of Americans say the Iran war should end now, and 69% say the conflict wasn’t worth the costs.

Today's Top Top Story
The Treasury Department gave Iran a 60-day waiver to sell oil, including to U.S. buyers, before negotiators reached a final deal over Iran’s nuclear program. JD Vance said Iran had agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back “as soon as today,” though Iran’s foreign ministry said it’s made “no new commitments.” The talks, however, nearly collapsed after Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz again over Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Trump responded by warning the U.S. could “hit Iran very hard again.” Meanwhile, Qatar and Pakistan said the sides had agreed to keep technical talks going, set up a hotline to avoid incidents in the Strait of Hormuz, and create a mechanism to keep fighting in Lebanon from derailing the deal, even though Israel isn’t part of the U.S.-Iran agreement and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israeli forces would keep “full freedom of action” there. Vance also floated unfreezing Iranian assets only for purchases of U.S. soy, corn, and wheat under U.S. and Qatari oversight, calling it “a classic Trump deal,” while warning: “You can’t trust anybody’s words. You have to trust what they actually do.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Associated Press / Reuters / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / NBC News / ABC News / CBS News)

6.19.26/Today in One Sentence
Trump defended his interim Iran deal as “probably” Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and said the war taught him nothing about the limits of his power; ¶ Obama said the U.S. may be “worse off” after Trump’s 15-week war with Iran; ¶ the Pentagon said it needs $80 billion for the Iran war; ¶ the Trump administration redirected $352 million in Secret Service funding into “White House Security Measures” tied to his ballroom; ¶ Trump’s $14.7 million resurfacing and renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool failed to deliver the clean, “American flag blue” water he promised as algae has already turned the pool green days after it reopened with blue material peeling off from the bottom; ¶ the Trump administration reversed its plan to dismantle a $368 million ocean monitoring system; ¶ the Trump administration will phase out HIV/AIDS funding for South Africa; ¶ and Republicans now believe their redistricting efforts to redraw several state maps has created “structural dynamics [that] favor Republicans” in the midterms.

Today's Top Story
Trump defended his interim Iran deal as “probably” Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and said the war taught him nothing about the limits of his power: “I haven’t learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but there are no limits.” The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that ends the fighting, reopens the Strait of Hormuz, lifts U.S. blockade enforcement, and starts a 60-day negotiation window on a final nuclear deal, with major issues still unresolved. Trump claimed “we defeated them totally militarily,” bragged that “not one ship was able to get through” his blockade, and said bombing Iran for “another two or three weeks” would’ve kept the strait closed: “This is the kind of thing that could cause a worldwide depression.” After Republican criticized the sanctions relief and proposed $300 billion reconstruction fund, Trump called them “fools” who are “either jealous, bad people, or stupid.” (Politico / CNN / CNBC / Axios / Reuters / Associated Press / Washington Post / CBS News)

6.17.26/Today in One Sentence
The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and start 60 days of nuclear talks; ¶ Trump “canceled” the Senate’s plan to quickly confirm his director of national intelligence nominee, directing Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing hours before it was set to begin; ¶ Georgia Republicans rejected Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan to redraw congressional and legislative maps during a special session; ¶ the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady but moved closer to raising them this year; ¶ the Trump administration will pay $765 million to abandon four offshore wind leases; ¶ at least 776,000 children have lost SNAP benefits since Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill took effect; ¶ and 51% of Americans say they’re extremely or very proud of being American – down from 82% in 2013.

Today's Top Story
The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and start 60 days of nuclear talks. The 14-point framework ends military operations “on all fronts,” including Lebanon, requires Iran to restore commercial traffic through Hormuz with “no charge for 60 days only,” lifts the U.S. naval blockade, lets Iran resume oil exports, works toward releasing frozen Iranian assets, and develops a $300 billion reconstruction and economic development plan with regional partners. In exchange, Iran “reaffirms” that it will not procure or develop nuclear weapons and agrees, at minimum, to down-blend enriched uranium on site under IAEA supervision. The deal, however, doesn’t resolve enrichment, inspections, sanctions termination, ballistic missiles, or whether Iran’s stockpile leaves the country. Trump nevertheless defended the agreement as necessary to avoid an “economic catastrophe,” and denied that the U.S. would directly fund Iran’s reconstruction, saying “We’re not doing anything, we’re not putting up money.” He also attacked Obama’s 2015 deal, saying Iranians “laughed at Obama” and called him “a stupid son of a bitch.” Trump then threatened to restart the war if Tehran doesn’t “behave,” saying” “we go back to bombing.” Bill Cassidy called it a “tremendous foreign policy blunder,” Mike Pence warned that immediate sanctions waivers would be “a lifeline to the Iranian regime,” and Ted Cruz said “giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea.” Iran’s lead negotiator Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, meanwhile, called the MOU “a record of America’s failure” and said Tehran was negotiating “from a position of strength.” (Axios / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NBC News / New Republic / Reuters / The Hill / NPR / New York Times / CNN)

6.16.26/Today in One Sentence
Congress is demanding to see Trump’s still-secret U.S.-Iran agreement before it’s formally signed Friday, triggering a 60-day ceasefire and negotiating period; ¶ the Senate rejected a resolution to force Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran; ¶ Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to replenish weapon stockpiles that’ve been depleted by his war in Iran and other conflicts; ¶ Trump said “Russia should make a deal” with Ukraine; ¶ federal authorities arrested five people accused of planning to attack the UFC event on the White House lawn with explosive drones and gunfire; ¶ Trump claimed “no taxpayer” would put up “10 cents” for his White House ballroom project, but internal contractor records show taxpayers are expected to cover more than half of the $600 million cost; ¶ the Trump administration is moving special education and civil rights enforcement out of the Education Department as part of Trump’s effort to dismantle the agency without congressional approval; ¶ 47% of Americans consider themselves an independent; ¶ and 38% of Americans don’t think the U.S. will last as a single country for another 250 years.

Today's Top Story
Congress is demanding to see Trump’s still-secret U.S.-Iran agreement before it’s formally signed Friday, triggering a 60-day ceasefire and negotiating period. The draft agreement reportedly would give Iran immediate economic relief before a final nuclear deal is reached, including waivers allowing Iranian oil and petrochemical exports, while other sanctions relief and frozen assets would be tied to further negotiations. A proposed $300 billion reconstruction and development fund remains central to the deal, though Trump denied the U.S. would “invest” money in Iran and the fund would reportedly be private, not taxpayer-funded. The nuclear issue remains unresolved, with JD Vance saying inspectors would “absolutely” return and help destroy Iran’s highly enriched stockpile. The draft, however, leaves the future of Iran’s enriched material and future nuclear activity to a final agreement negotiated in the next 60 days. Trump, meanwhile, said he “never even thought about” sending the agreement to Congress, but “I like the idea.” (Reuters / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNBC / Politico / Reuters / CBS News)