Thursday morning news: June 26, 2025

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Israel-Iran ceasefire / talks » U.S. officials plan to meet with representatives from Iran’s government for talks next week. That’s the word from President Trump.

But he says he’s not interested in restarting negotiations because there's no longer anything left to negotiate.

TRUMP: The way I look at it, they fought, the war's done, and, you know, I could get a statement that they're not going to go nuclear. We're probably going to ask for that, but they're not going to be doing it. But they're not going to be doing it anyway. They've had it. They've had it.

Iran has already pledged to fully restore its nuclear program. But Trump told reporters that if it does so the U.S. would be prepared to strike again.

Iran nuclear damage » And the Trump administration is pushing back on a recent media report suggesting that the weekend U.S. airstrikes against key nuclear sites in Iran weren’t all that effective.

That report cited leaked low-confidence intelligence from one intel agency.

Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio told reporters whoever leaked it is also spinning it.

RUBIO:   They read it, and then they go out and characterize it the way they want it characterized, and they're leakers. This is the game they play.

Rubio said Iran’s uranium conversion facility, which would be needed to build a nuclear weapon appears to have been completely destroyed.

He also said after B-2 bombers targeted Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility with so-called ‘bunker buster’ bombs, quote—“everything under[neath] that mountain is in bad shape.”

And Rubio pointed to remarks by Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency, who said this week:

GROSSI:  I think the nuclear program, the Iranian nuclear program, has been set back significantly.

But Grossi would not speculate on how significantly. He’s calling for independent inspectors to be given access to key nuclear sites in Iran to assess their condition.

NATO statement / Trump on Spain » Marco Rubio spoke from the Netherlands, where he joined President Trump and other world leaders for the NATO summit at The Hague.

And the alliance on Wednesday formally announced that it's raising its defense spending target.

Member nations are now expected to spend at least 5% of their GDP on defense and security — more than double the old 2% goal.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte:

Rutte: The decisions today will produce trillions more for our common defense to make us stronger and fairer by equalizing spending between America and America's allies.

But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did not sign onto the 5% commitment. He said raising defense spending to that level would be—quote—“unreasonable and counterproductive” for Spain.

President Trump reacted:

TRUMP:  They're the only country that won't pay the full up. They wanna stay at 2%. I think it's terrible and you know, they're doing very well. The economy is very well.

Trump is threatening to double tariffs against Spain in response.

Former Biden aide cancels testimony » A former top aide to Jill Biden has abruptly cancelled plans to testify today before the House Oversight Committee. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more.

BENJAMIN EICHER: Lawmakers were set to question Anthony Bernal behind closed doors as part of a probe related to former President Joe Biden’s mental fitness while in office.

Bernal backed out after the Trump White House waived executive privilege for the probe. That means former aides can no longer refuse to answer questions by citing presidential confidentiality.

Oversight Chairman James Comer called Bernal’s decision to cancel “obstruction,” and said he will subpoena him to testify.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

Republicans are questioning former Biden White House aides about whether anyone other than the president was carrying out presidential functions.

Neera Tanden, former White House staff secretary, testified this week that she used the autopen to sign documents on Biden’s behalf.

Congressman Darrell Issa serves on the Oversight Committee. He said if then-President Biden was not involved or fully aware of actions taken on his behalf:

ISSA:  We might undo some of what the president did because they were invalid. And then we have to look at either statute or constitutional amendments that give safeguards to prevent this from happening again.

GOP members are also probing what they call a cover-up of Biden’s cognitive decline.

Democrats on the committee say the probe is a waste of time and pure political theater.

NYC mayor race » In New York City a self-described democratic socialist has won the Democratic nomination in the mayoral race. State assemblyman Zohran Mamdani won roughly 44 percent of the vote in a major upset victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo.

MAMDANI: I spoke with Andrew Cuomo about the need to bring this city together, as he called me to concede the race.

He campaigned on freezing rent, providing free childcare, and establishing city-owned grocery stores. And controversially, Mamdani promised to boost the minimum wage to $30 per hour and raise the corporate tax rate. Critics say that’s a recipe for killing jobs in the Big Apple.

The 33-year-old lawmaker will face off in November against incumbent mayor Eric Adams, a former Democrat, turned independent as well as Republican Curtis Sliwa.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: selling federal land for affordable housing projects. Plus, a visit to a 75 year old drive-in movie theater.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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