Early Edition: June 18, 2025

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A curated guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT — U.S. RESPONSE

“We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” President Trump wrote yesterday on social media. Implying U.S. collaboration with Israel’s attacks, the statement marks a contrast from Trump’s previous statements refuting claims Washington was involved in Israel’s offensive against Iran. In another post, Trump said, “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] is hiding,” and urged Iran’s “unconditional surrender.” Kathryn Watson, Jennifer Jacobs, and James LaPorta report for CBS News; Ammer Madhani and Chris Megerian report for AP News; Michael R. Gordon, Tarini Parti, and Alex Leary report for the Wall Street Journal.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today said his nation “will not surrender” and warned of “irreparable harm” if the United States joins Israel’s strikes targeting underground nuclear sites in Iran. The comments follow reports that Trump is considering joining the Israeli campaign on Tehran’s nuclear sites, with officials saying he is growing increasingly warm to the idea of using U.S. military assets. “Any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region,” an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson added. BBC News reports; Abbie Cheeseman reports for the Washington Post; Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins, Kylie Atwood, and Natasha Bertrand report.

After meeting with his national security team, Trump yesterday spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the escalating Israel-Iran conflict, officials told Axios. Ahead of the meeting, Trump was seriously considering joining the war, U.S. officials say. Meanwhile, Israeli officials said that the Israeli government believes Trump is poised to enter the war in the coming days. Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler report.

Iran has prepared missiles and other military equipment for possible retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases in the Middle East should the United States join the Israeli campaign against the country, U.S. officials who have reviewed intelligence reports say. Julian E. Barnes, Farnaz Fassih, Eric Schmitt, and Helene Cooper report for the New York Times.

Before its attack last week, Israel shared intelligence with the United States regarding Iran’s nuclear research and alleged work on an explosive triggering system. In a gap of assessment between the allies, U.S. officials say they are not convinced the information indicates that Iran has made a decision to move forward on building a bomb – an assessment which Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard previously shared with Congress in March. Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman, and Dustin Volz report for the Wall Street Journal.

ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT

Israel and Iran traded fresh strikes early today as the conflict enters its sixth day. Israel said it attacked a centrifuge production site and weapons manufacturing sites overnight, while Iran said it used its hypersonic Fattah-1 missile for the first time. Meanwhile, sources say that Israel’s spy agency, the Mossad and the Israeli military worked together for at least three years to lay the groundwork for last week’s attack. The Washington Post reports.

Predatory Sparrow, an Israeli hacking group, yesterday said it attacked Bank Sepah, a major Iranian bank, marking the first significant cyberattack on critical infrastructure in the conflict. While the bank has not publicly commented on the attack, Iranian state media warned the disruptions could impact the country’s gas stations. Separately, Iran’s cyber command has ordered senior officials and their security teams to ditch IT equipment connected to telecom networks. Sam Sabin reports for Axios; Antoaneta Roussi and Dana Nickel report for POLITICO.

ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has praised Israel for doing the “dirty work” for other countries by striking Iran’s nuclear sites. “I can only say I have the greatest respect for the fact that the Israeli army and the Israeli government had the courage to do this,” Merz told German media at the G7 leaders’ summit in Canada. Laurence Norman reports for the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. PROTESTS RESPONSE

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass yesterday lifted a curfew that had been imposed on the city’s downtown in the wake of immigration enforcement protests. Reuters reports.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

The number of people killed yesterday by Israeli tank fire as they attempted to reach aid from trucks in Gaza has been updated to 51, medics say, with a further 221 wounded. In a statement, the IDF said it is “aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach,” adding that the details of the incident are “under review” and that the IDF “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals.” Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Hatem Khaled report for Reuters.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

North Korea will send “two military brigades [of] 5,000 people” to help with the “restoration” of Russia’s war-torn Kursk region, Moscow’s security chief and Russian state media reported today. South Korea and Japan condemned the plan, saying it was a violation of U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang. Koh Ewe reports for BBC News.

GLOBAL AFFAIRS

The EU and Australia yesterday announced they had agreed to begin negotiations on a “Security and Defense Partnership.” The pact “does not have military deployment obligations,” the statement says, focusing on cooperation in areas “such as defense, industry, cyber and counter-terrorism.” Giorgio Leali reports for POLITICO.

An Argentine judge yesterday placed former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner under house arrest to serve a six-year prison sentence for corruption, marking a dramatic fall for one of the country’s most prominent politicians in recent decades. Nicolás Misculin and Miguel Lo Bianco report for Reuters.

India and Canada signaled a reset in their relationship yesterday by agreeing to restore high commissions in each other’s capitals. The move follows nearly two years of strained relations following Ottawa’s allegations that New Delhi was involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil. Rhea Mogul reports for CNN.

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday told Trump that the India-Pakistan ceasefire was achieved through direct bilateral talks between the two militaries and not U.S. mediation, according to India’s foreign secretary. The comments are in contrast to Trump’s claims last month that the South Asian neighbors reached a ceasefire following talks mediated by Washington. The White House has not commented on the Modi-Trump call at the time of writing. Shivam Patel reports for Reuters.

U.S. forces have pulled out of two further bases in northeastern Syria, Reuters reporters found, expediting a troop drawdown that the commander of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces said was allowing a resurgence of the self-styled Islamic State group. John Davidson and Orhan Qereman report.

The State Department revoked the travel visas of a former president of Panama, Martín Torrijos, and a Panamanian presidential runner-up, Ricardo Lombana. Torrijos and Lombana alleged the action is a retaliation for their criticism of recent deals made between Panama and Trump. The State Department has declined to explain the revocation, saying, “Visa records are confidential under U.S. law.” Frances Robles reports for the New York Times.

U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellog, is slated to travel to Belarus in the coming days to meet the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko,, sources say, in what would be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the authoritarian state in five years. Gram Slatterly and Humeyra Pamuk report for Reuters.

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS

“The FBI has located documents which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in a social media post yesterday, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. Patel added he has “immediately declassified the material and turned the documents over” to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) for further review.” The unsubstantiated claim, which was presented to the bureau by a confidential source in 2020 during the first Trump administration, alleges that Beijing used mass-produced driver’s licenses to be used in a mail-in ballot scheme. There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election. Ryan J. Reilly and David Rodhe report for NBC News.

A Pennsylvania man who was arrested on weapons charges at Saturday’s “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration is facing over two dozen additional charges after investigators said they found 13 homemade bombs, as well as military-style body armor vests and several drawings of grenades at his home, authorities announced yesterday. Neil Vigdor and Hannah Ziegler report for the New York Times.

U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS

Federal agents yesterday detained and arrested New York City Comptroller Brad Lander after he attempted to escort an immigrant from his appearance at an immigration court. A video of Lander’s arrest shows him linking arms with the immigrant leaving court as officers, some in plain clothes and others wearing “Federal Agent” labelled vests, pushed through the crowd attempting to separate the two men. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Lander was arrested “for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.” Lander was released hours after the arrest and has denied assaulting law enforcement. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke alongside Lander on his release, and said “to my knowledge” any charges had been dropped. María Luisa Paúl, Sarah Ellison, and Shayna Jacobs report for the Washington Post; Ben Kasimar and Zoë Richards report for NBC News.

A federal judge yesterday found Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier (R), in civil contempt of court for defying a restraining order that required state attorneys to tell law enforcement agencies to pause enforcing a newly enacted immigration law. Southern Florida District Judge Kathleen M. Williams issued a temporary restraining order in April halting enforcement of the law, which made it a state crime for “any unauthorized alien” to enter or reenter Florida, with an attached minimum nine-month prison sentence. After the injunction, Uthmeier wrote to state law enforcement agencies saying he could not prevent them from enforcing the law “where there remains no judicial order that properly restrains [them] from doing so.” In a post on X yesterday, Uthmeier wrote, “If being held in contempt is what it costs to defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President Trump’s agenda on illegal immigration, so be it.” Frances Vinall reports for the Washington Post.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

Further reductions are planned to the Justice Department, with 1,500 positions being eliminated from the FBI, according to a department budget summary reviewed by CBS News. The Justice Department has lost 4,000 employees as part of the administration’s “fork in the road” deferred resignation program, the summary shows. Scott MacFarlane reports.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

A federal judge ruled yesterday that transgender and nonbinary people who are either without a passport or need to renew one can request a male, female, or “X” identification marker – rather than a marker that matches their gender assigned at birth. The ruling by District Judge Julia Kobick follows Trump’s executive order in January, which rejected the notion that someone can transition from the sex assigned at birth to different gender. Michael Casey reports for AP News.

Five major U.S. cities have joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration over funding to prevent nuclear attacks and terrorism, alleging the cities have not been reimbursed for the expenses and that funding has not been awarded for 2025. The lawsuit was initially filed by Chicago in May, with the four other cities signing yesterday. “DHS cannot override Congress’s judgment by freezing congressionally appropriated funding,” the lawsuit states. Natalie Fertig reports for POLITICO.

A three-judge federal appeals court panel yesterday spent over an hour weighing whether Trump unlawfully federalized thousands of California’s National Guard to bolster security at immigration enforcement protests. The panel appeared inclined to rule in favor of the Trump administration. Devan Cole and Molly Reinmann report for CNN; Charlie Savage and Laurel Rosenhall report for the New York Times.

Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions