DUBAI/WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters)—U.S. and Iranian officials said on Sunday they have agreed on a peace framework for a deal to end their war, halt the U.S. blockade of Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, possibly leading to lower energy prices once oil shipments resume through the critical waterway.  “The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform around 5:30 p.m. ET local time in Washington on Sunday. His post came shortly after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has served as a mediator, announced a deal had been struck early on Monday local time. pic.twitter.com/oVeD5kOcrJ— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 14, 2026 The pact will be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland, Sharif wrote.  The precise terms were not immediately known. Sharif said in a post on X that the pact called for “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.” Lebanon has been a sticking point in negotiations, with Israel and Hezbollah ignoring calls from Trump and others to stop their attacks on each other in recent weeks. Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping lane for global energy supplies that Iran has effectively shut down for months, would open on Friday, and that he had ordered the end of the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” Trump wrote. Oil prices fell on the news. Brent crude futures fell 4% in early trading on Monday, while ​U.S. ⁠West Texas Intermediate slid more than 4.6%. Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said a more expansive agreement would be negotiated during a 60-day ceasefire period, including sanctions relief. The fate of Iran’s nuclear program will also be addressed in those later talks, sources previously told Reuters. Thousands of people have been killed, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, since U.S. and Israeli forces first attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Iran has struck Israel and Gulf states hosting U.S. bases and has effectively blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, pushing up global energy prices. U.S. forces have blocked Iranian ports in response. There was no immediate reaction to the announcement from Israel, which has said it was not party to the planned U.S.-Iran deal.  The Iran war has become a political liability at home for Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress, with public opinion polls showing Americans deeply frustrated by rising gas prices ahead of November’s midterm elections. But Trump has also faced pressure from members of his own party who insist that Iran’s nuclear program must be completely shut down. Israeli Attack The agreement was sealed despite an Israeli strike on Lebanon on Sunday that drew criticism from both Iran and Trump. Iranian negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf earlier said Israel’s latest attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which Israel said targeted Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants, showed the United States lacks “the will and ability to fulfill your commitments” in a post on X. Iran’s foreign ministry said it held the United States responsible for the attack. Iran warned of a “strong response”, and its top joint military command said the “finger (is) on the trigger” ready to fire at the “enemy’s heart”.  In a post earlier on Sunday, Trump said: “This morning’s attack on Beirut should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran.”  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has differed with Trump over American demands that Israel curb its military action in Lebanon to allow the United States to reach a deal with Iran.  Israel has said it will retain freedom of operations in Lebanon, while Iran has made a full ceasefire there an important component of its demands. Trump updated Netanyahu on the progress toward a peace deal during a phone call on Sunday, Israel’s N12 reported, citing a senior official. Deal Terms A senior Iranian official earlier told Reuters that, under the terms of the draft deal, the United States would agree to release $25 billion of frozen Iranian assets, while Iran would agree not to produce or acquire nuclear weapons. The official said Iran agreed to maintain the nuclear status quo, including no uranium enrichment or expanding nuclear facilities, until a final deal is reached. A U.S. official, speaking before the deal was announced, said the agreement would ultimately lead to the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, with its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to be destroyed and removed. A senior Iranian official said the draft deal would allow Iran, which denies seeking a nuclear bomb, to dilute its enriched uranium inside the country. Qatari negotiators flew to Tehran on Sunday morning as part of efforts to finalize the agreement, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters. At pro-government rallies across Iran on Saturday night, residents and news agencies reported that hardliners opposed to the framework agreement loudly voiced their dissatisfaction. A resident in the northeastern city of Mashhad told Reuters that some protesters chanted “Death to the compromiser,” in an apparent reference to Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. (Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Phil Stewart and Parisa Hafezi. Writing by Timothy Heritage and Joseph Ax; Editing by Sergio Non, William Mallard, Alex Richardson, Will Dunham and Barbara Lewis)

Senior officials in President Joe Biden’s Department of Education defied a federal court order in launching investigations of gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination in schools, according to a federal watchdog finding. The Office of Special Counsel released a report this week that confirmed the disclosure of Education Department whistleblower Timothy Mattson, who said the department’s Office of Civil Rights unlawfully processed complaints about gender identity discrimination after a federal judge halted an executive order from going into effect that was the basis for the investigations. According to Mattson’s disclosure, the Office for Civil Rights investigated a school that restricted athletic competition to biological sex. In another case, the department opened a probe of a school that declined to change a student’s name and pronouns in academic records and restricted bathroom use to biological sex. Some of those officials remain in positions of authority at the department under the Trump administration, according to a whistleblower advocacy group. “The substantiated allegations—that senior leadership directed or facilitated the circumvention of a binding federal injunction over multiple years and across multiple offices—raise serious concerns that demand accountability,” Charles N. Baldis, chief counsel for the Office of Special Counsel, wrote. “While ED has outlined some corrective steps, I believe that more robust action is required to ensure accountability and prevent recurrence,” Baldis wote. Department officials followed President Biden’s executive order in processing these complaints, but this was contrary to a federal court injunction. On his first day in office, Jan. 20, 2021, Biden signed an executive order expanding Title IX protections to cover gender identity and sexual orientation. Title IX is a law that says no person shall be excluded from participation or discriminated against on the basis of sex. In response to the order, 22 states sued in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. In July 2022, U.S. District Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. granted a preliminary injunction blocking the federal government from implementing guidance documents that expanded Title IX based on the January 2021 executive order. The judge also denied the federal government’s motion to dismiss. In June 2024, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the preliminary injunction. The report says that despite the court injunction, seven of the 12 regional Department of Education offices opened cases for investigation or mediated cases in violation of the injunction. Education Department officials also went against the advice of the department’s legal counsel and the Justice Department’s opinion, according to Empower Oversight, a whistleblower group that represented Mattson. The whistleblower disclosure says that leadership from the Office for Civil Rights repeatedly gave staff instructions to continue with cases and suggested other employment might be necessary for those not on board, according to Empower Oversight. “This report is a clear vindication for Tim and the rule of law,” Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt said in a public statement. “The Office of Civil Rights defied a direct federal court order and continued to target schools for lawful policies,” Leavitt continued. “Unfortunately, however, staff in senior supervisory positions who aided, abetted, or quietly complied with the illegal actions are still in positions of authority. The federal government needs to hold them accountable.” The office’s final report comes about two years after Mattson made his disclosure. Among the report’s recommendations were to “complete an internal investigation and impose appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including removal.” The Education Department did not respond to inquiries for this story. In April 2024, Empower Oversight filed a disclosure with the Office of Special Counsel on behalf of Mattson, which asserted the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights continued to process complaints under Title IX on issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation in states covered by the court’s injunction. The allegations were referred to then-Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona’s office. The Education Department’s first draft investigation report omitted certain information, causing the Office of Special Counsel to request a supplemental response from the agency. “ED’s subsequent investigation revealed significant shortcomings in the initial report and response to OSC, including a failure to accurately assess readily available materials, conduct additional relevant interviews, and to forthrightly respond to the whistleblower’s core allegation of whether OCR, under the leadership of Assistant Secretary Catherine Lhamon, failed to abide by the injunction,” the OSC report says.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The delivery marketplace company DoorDash has begun the process of allowing employees to donate to conservative nonprofits, even if they appear on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate map.” The conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, working with the Catholic financial advisory firm IWP Capital, urged DoorDash to reconsider its reliance on the SPLC, which critics accuse of putting mainstream conservative and Christian nonprofits on a “hate map” with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. DoorDash uses the impact platform Deed to facilitate employees’ charitable giving and volunteering. DoorDash has formally requested that Deed allow DoorDash employees to connect with nonprofits, even if they appear on the SPLC’s map. “ADF, IWP Capital, we believe this is a great win for shareholders and employees, and we’re very happy with the result,” Noah Nash, legal counsel for ADF’s Corporate Engagement Team, told the Daily Signal in an interview Thursday. “It sets an excellent example for other companies to follow.” A DoorDash spokesman confirmed that the company had asked Deed to make use of the SPLC filter optional, rather than the default. Outsourcing Charity Vetting to SPLC Deed describes itself as a “global workplace giving, volunteering and employee wellbeing platform,” and states that its “Fortune 500 partners support 2 million global nonprofits with ease.” On its frequently asked questions page, Deed notes that it “offers flexible and customizable screening options” for vetting nonprofits. The page explains that “many of our partners utilize common industry standards, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center hate list and a similar anti-hate list in Canada, for screening purposes.” Benevity, a similar platform that claims to connect “nearly 1,000 enterprise companies” to a network of 513,000 nonprofits after vetting 2.2 million of them, also uses the SPLC “hate map” to vet nonprofits. Benevity has claimed that the “hate map” filter is an “option” rather than a “default setting.” “Benevity’s denial that it defaults to the SPLC filter is hard to square with its own history,” Greg Scott, executive vice president at 1792 Exchange, previously told the Daily Signal. Benevity’s former CEO, Kelly Schmitt, delivered a PowerPoint presentation in 2021 explicitly stating that the company had “vetted” almost “2 million nonprofits,” adding that it used the “Southern Poverty Law Center Hate List.” Nash, the ADF attorney, told the Daily Signal that ADF’s efforts led to Verizon opting out of using the SPLC “hate map” filter on Benevity. Salesforce has also directed Benevity to stop using the SPLC filter for its employee giving, after pressure from the Heritage Foundation. “It’s absolutely astounding… how many companies have adopted the use, either directly or through a vendor, to screen out nonprofits that are on the SPLC list,” Nash, the ADF attorney, told the Daily Signal. “Our goal is to go one by one, knock on doors, and help people understand what the SPLC has done and help root it out,” he said. “It’s like a cancer—we don’t just want you to take out a little bit of it.” What’s Wrong With the SPLC? The SPLC has gained renewed scrutiny after a federal grand jury handed down an 11-count indictment, charging the center with wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to conceal money laundering. The indictment claims that the SPLC spent some of its donors’ money to prop up the very hate groups it claims it exists to oppose, including by paying for KKK hoods and reimbursing racists for cross-burning materials. The SPLC, for its part, claims it was merely funding “informants” who would tip the center off to any potential violence before it happened. Yet the indictment claims that at least some of the money functionally supported the hate groups, enabling the SPLC to fundraise off claims that hate was increasing. Critics also say the SPLC exaggerates hate by placing mainstream conservative and Christian groups on a “hate map” with Klan chapters. The map inspired a terrorist attack in 2012. The SPLC “hate map” includes ADF, alongside other conservative Christian nonprofits, such as the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. “Our belief at ADF is, of course, that the SPLC is a religiously discriminatory list,” Nash, the ADF attorney, told the Daily Signal. He warned that employers face “potential legal risk” for using the map, because it may involve treating “religious employees differently.” The SPLC claims it puts groups on the “hate map” for their statements vilifying others, such as LGBTQ people, not for their religious beliefs, but the criticism often amounts to the same thing. Conservative Christians hold traditional positions on LGBTQ issues that directly conflict with the SPLC’s stances. “If you take a position on the issues that they disagree with, and you’re outspoken about it, you’ll be on the list,” he noted. “The institutions that are willing to call evil evil and good good, you know, then you land on the SPLC hate list.”

The Daily Signal is strengthening its Virginia coverage with the addition of Rich Tucker as a second Virginia correspondent, joining Joe Thomas to form a dedicated reporting team covering the commonwealth. Tucker brings deep roots in Virginia journalism to the role. He was the founding editor of The Virginia Flyover, a publication he launched in the fall of 2024 to cover news from across the state. His timing proved fortuitous as the publication launched just as Hurricane Helene struck. During his time at The Virginia Flyover, Tucker reported on major federal and statewide elections, provided in-depth coverage of Virginia’s congressional redistricting, and tackled issues ranging from health care and data centers to Navy deployments and criminal cases. Tucker is based in Richmond and will report on stories from across the commonwealth. “At The Virginia Flyover, we tried to provide a brief overview of all the news from Virginia each day, but our format didn’t allow us to examine any particular story in depth,” Tucker said. “I’m looking forward to digging into and providing detailed coverage of important stories that matter to Virginians and our fellow Americans.” Earlier in his career, Tucker served as a senior writer at The Heritage Foundation. He contributed to America’s Opportunity for All, Heritage’s 2012 blueprint for the country’s political future. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. “Rich’s firsthand knowledge of Virginia politics and policy makes him an ideal fit for what we’re building,” said Bradley Devlin, politics editor for the Daily Signal. “Rich and Joe Thomas will give Virginians the on-the-ground coverage they deserve—and that the national media too often overlooks.” Virginia has long been a bellwether state for national politics, and the Daily Signal is committed to covering it comprehensively. With Thomas and Tucker working in tandem, readers can expect expanded reporting on the issues that matter most to Virginians—from Richmond’s statehouse to communities across the commonwealth. Tucker joins a growing network of state-based journalists at the Daily Signal, which has expanded its footprint to include correspondents in California, Georgia, and Ohio. The Daily Signal’s Texas bureau will launch soon. Learn more about the State News Network and subscribe to our newsletters.

WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) – Donald Trump hosts a card of seven mixed martial arts fights to be held on Sunday inside a specially built arena on the White House’s South Lawn on his 80th birthday, a spectacle spotlighting his norm-defying style at a tense moment in his presidency. Seventeen months into his second term in office, Trump has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of the U.S. presidency to command attention and project strength. His latest stage is the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Octagon, the eight-sided cage erected within eyeshot of his White House bedroom for the event titled “UFC Freedom 250.” That is a reference to the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding next month. The event comes as Trump grapples with the four-month-old Iran war that has pushed consumer prices to a three-year high and, as shown in public opinion polls, unnerved many voters. It also coincides with his birthday and his efforts to counter perceptions that he is becoming a lame duck president. A Respite From War Trump is set to watch 14 mixed martial arts fighters from five countries try to kick, punch and grapple their way to a victory before an expected audience of 4,000 people inside a 92-foot-tall (28 meters) makeshift venue, nicknamed “The Claw.” The main event, scheduled for up to five rounds, features UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria against former interim titleholder Justin Gaethje. The fights are set to begin at 8 p.m. (0000 GMT Monday). Tickets were not sold publicly. UFC offered some to guests paying more than $1 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. A quarter of the audience will be military service members, according to the Trump administration. Trump asserted broad executive authority to stage a private company’s event on federal grounds, a break with norms that drew a legal challenge and raised concerns about the cost of the event and the potential for ethical conflicts. The UFC’s parent company is publicly traded TKO Group Holdings.  In a Reuters/Ipsos online poll of 4,531 U.S. adults conducted June 3-8, just 16% said ​it was appropriate for Trump to hold the event. A judge declined on Friday to block the event in a legal challenge by plaintiffs who had argued that his administration exceeded its authority in staging it by, among other things, failing to get congressional authorization. Trump has long been close with UFC Chief Executive Dana White and the Ellison family, whose Paramount has a $7.7 billion deal to air UFC fights until 2033.  White has used the sport’s popularity, particularly ​with younger men, to support Trump’s campaigns dating back to his first run for the presidency in 2016. UFC has said it spent more than $60 million on the event and will not make a profit. In the run-up, Trump’s trust purchased stock in TKO Group Holdings while a company that licenses the president’s likeness marketed commemorative coins for as much as $12,000. One of the event’s sponsors, Crypto.com, previously partnered with Trump Media & Technology Group. The White House has denied that any conflict of interest exists and said the Trump family manages the president’s business affairs. “The vast majority of Americans are not celebrating 250 years of America by watching a UFC fight,” said Dan Rayburn, an independent streaming analyst. “This is really a private event.” Spectator-in-Chief Trump has made sports a recurring feature of his presidency, weighing in on issues including transgender athletes and pay for college football players, and has attended a range of major sporting events. France delayed the Group of Seven summit, which starts on Monday, to accommodate Trump’s attendance at the UFC event. About a fifth of Americans call themselves MMA fans. According to the findings of the Reuters/Ipsos poll, they do not have a particularly high opinion overall of Trump’s job performance, with 45% approving and 55% disapproving. That exceeds his 35% approval rating among all Americans but is well below his 79% approval rating among Republicans. MMA fans skew male and tend to identify as more politically independent, with nearly half of those polled saying they do not identify with either party. About a third identified as Republicans and one in five as Democrats. The arena will provide an intimate setting for the bouts. Some fighters are expected to begin their walkout to the Octagon from the Oval Office and then pass through the Rose Garden or the West Wing colonnade. The arena is 20 rows deep on all sides. Noise from the sound system caroms off the facade of the White House’s Truman Balcony, shaking the executive mansion’s walls. Tens of thousands of people will be able to watch the fights on a big screen from a nearby park. Daytime temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) are expected to cool by the evening, but the U.S. National Weather Service forecasts rain and thunderstorms. The arena was not built with a roof. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jacob Bogage in Washington; Additional reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Will Dunham)