'Iran held off Israel retaliation after last-minute MoU change - IRGC outlet'

 

Iran secured changes to provisions related to the administration of the Strait of Hormuz and added guarantees for Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity during the final days and hours of negotiations over a memorandum of understanding with the United States, Iran’s IRGC-affiliated news agency Tasnim reported, citing an informed source.

According to the source, issues related to the management of the strategic waterway were among the final elements revised in the text after proposals from Tehran led to changes in the draft agreement.

The source also said that language “guaranteeing Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” was added to the memorandum in the final hours of negotiations.

Tasnim reported that the inclusion of the Lebanon clause played a significant role in Iran’s decision not to carry out what it described as a planned military response to an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh.

The source said Tehran viewed the provision as a concession benefiting Lebanon and one that helped avert further escalation.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202606139149

US rejects Iranian claims on frozen funds under deal - Axios

 

A senior US official rejected Iranian claims that Tehran would receive billions of dollars in frozen funds before negotiations on a final agreement begin, calling the characterization a "spin."

Speaking to Axios, the official denied reports that Iran would gain unconditional access to $12 billion in blocked assets before the start of the 60-day negotiating period.

"This is completely not true," the official said. "This is a pay-for-performance deal and no frozen funds will be released without the Iranians implementing their commitments."

Iranian officials have said final negotiations will begin only after key commitments are implemented, including the release of some frozen assets and the lifting of the maritime blockade.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202606139149

Trump to restart Iran strikes without final deal

 United States President Donald Trump threatened to restart military action against Iran unless a final deal is reached. His comments come shortly after Washington and Tehran confirmed their intention to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to end the war, starting the first stage of the peace process. He also promised the deal would ensure the Strait of Hormuz remains "permanently toll free."

The American leader also floated the possibility of the US becoming "the guardian of the Middle East" in exchange for 20% of the region's oil revenues as an alternative to renewed war with Iran should the final negotiations prove unsuccessful.

In a phone interview with the New York Times, Trump praised his Chinese and Russian counterparts, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, for aiding his agreement with Iran, while describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "difficult guy." He insisted that despite Netanyahu's objections, the compromise with Tehran saved Israel from nuclear obliteration.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Trump-to-restart-Iran-strikes-without-final-deal/66501778

Crop Prices Drop as Hormuz Reopening Would Ease Farm Input Shock

 

Grain futures declined in Chicago as a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz could improve access to vital crop inputs, helping to ease the threats to food inflation brought on by the months-long war.

The US and Iran said they reached an interim agreement to reopen the strait, halting a war that killed thousands of people. Officials from the two countries will meet in Switzerland on June 19 to formally sign the agreement, a decision that suggests aspects of the deal may still remain unresolved.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-15/crop-prices-drop-as-hormuz-reopening-would-ease-farm-input-shock

Travel chaos at MetLife has World Cup fans stranded for hours, ‘petty’ NJ Gov. Sherrill taking heat

 Thousands of World Cup fans were left stranded at MetLife Stadium for hours over the weekend as chaos reigned and trains left almost empty — with “petty” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill taking the heat.

Insiders said too many people tried to drive and park at the American Dream theme park close to the site, temporarily renamed the New York New Jersey Stadium for the soccer games.

Visitors who took ride shares couldn’t get off the property till past midnight, leading to frustrated scenes for hours.

MetLife Stadium was a mess to get out of Saturday night, furious soccer fans say.PSNEWZ/SIPA/Shutterstock

There was more positive news for fans traveling by bus. The NY-NJ Host Committee got all of the bus passengers off the site within three hours of the game ending at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Things could have been worse: One of the buses taking part in shuttle runs between New York City and the stadium was set ablaze amid wild celebrations after the New York Knicks’ historic NBA Championship victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.

A transportation planning source told The Post that “petty” Sherrill was to blame for the shambolic scenes for refusing to bring down the $98 train ticket price.

“Maybe instead of being petty and demanding the FIFA Host Committee pay to switch out all the [stadium’s] signs so it says New Jersey before New York, Sherrill should have made them bring down the cost of the crazy $98 train ticket that left thousands stranded after the game while they ran train cars that were half-empty!” the source told The Post in the wake of Saturday’s disruption before and after the Brazil vs. Morocco game.

Inflated train tickets are partly to blame for the mess, critics say.Getty Images

Sherrill’s office did not respond to Post requests for comment.

The governor urged visitors to take the train in for the matches.

But with fans expected to pay an inflated $98 for a round-trip ticket, many were looking for alternative options.

Many of the trains reportedly arrived at the stadium far under capacity, suggesting fans had opted to drive, even with parking near the stadium costing up to $225.

https://nypost.com/2026/06/14/us-news/travel-chaos-at-metlife-has-world-cup-fans-stranded-for-hours-with-petty-gov-sherrill-taking-heat/

Dems’ dirty donation platform shows they don’t give a damn about clean elections

 Last week exposed the utter hypocrisy of Democrats who scream about “free and fair elections” and demand that we get dark money out of politics.

Specifically, the House Administration Committee shined a spotlight on the Dems’ major fund-raising platform, ActBlue, and its apparent efforts to end-run the federal laws that Dems insist are all about “clean campaigns.”

The Justice Department is investigating ActBlue’s role in the use of straw donors to launder illegal giving;  a larger federal probe is looking into the platform’s alleged efforts to help funnel illegal foreign donations to Democratic candidates.

ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones appeared Wednesday to answer questions about how her company abetted illegal donations — only to repeatedly plead the Fifth.

A terrible look, but probably wise, since she gave false testimony to the same committee in 2023.

ActBlue’s record is filthy: For years, it failed to follow basic security procedures (like requiring 3-digit CVV numbers on credit cards), leading its own internal anti-fraud team to sound the alarm — leaving huge loopholes for, in the company’s own words, “a big attack where each individual donation fell below the [fraud review] threshold.” 

A 2023 House analysis of more than 200 million FEC records of ActBlue-processed “giving” found hundreds of small donations from the same individual, donations in amounts far greater than the donor could afford, and unusually frequent donations from elderly people or first-time contributors — all telltale signs of “smurfing,” or using fake info to give illegally to campaigns.

That prompted the House committee to ask Wallace-Jones how secure her platform really was: She insisted, “our approach is multilayered, with checks and confirmations occurring throughout the donation process” to “root out potential foreign contributions, and protect donors from financial fraud.”

That was three years ago — and it was false when she said it, per an investigation conducted last year by law firm Covington and Burling.

 A Democratic superlawyer and ex-Obama official, Dana Remus, was Covington’s point person on that probe; Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder is a senior counsel at the firm. This wasn’t about partisanship.

Wallace-Jones’ false testimony to Congress “presents a substantial risk for ActBlue,” the investigation found. The CEO’s response? To fire Covington, even as senior-level lawyers and other top people within ActBlue headed for the hills. 

Meanwhile, the company lowered its already-lax standards for the 2024 election cycle — not once but twice, to let hundreds of illegal donations from foreign nationals flow through, and missing more than 6% of fraud (at the most conservative estimate). 

Pretty bold, when Wallace-Jones knew she was under federal scrutiny.

Democrats should be up in arms about this crooked setup; they’ve spent the past decade screaming about election integrity — and yelling about the pernicious power of money in politics for even longer. 

Hah! Dems at Wednesday’s hearing dismissed the investigation as just a partisan attack, with serial liar Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md) droning, “This hearing is part of a political vengeance and vendetta campaign.”

Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) saw racism at work: “Over and over again, Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has harassed Black women with bogus lawsuits.”

Yes, Wallace-Jones is black — but it’s the Democrats who chose to make her the face of ActBlue, the source of the stink. (Did they hire her expressly so they could play the race card when ActBlue got caught?)

If Democrats actually gave a damn about the crisis of public trust, they’d be the ones hammering ActBlue into oblivion. 

Instead, they’re running interference for it — fresh proof that, for all their lip service about clean politics, all the Dems really care about is power.

https://nypost.com/2026/06/13/opinion/dems-dirty-donation-platform-shows-they-dont-give-a-damn-about-clean-elections/

Joe Biden and Xavier Becerra winked at massive child-trafficking

 Lefties and their media minions painted President Joe Biden’s border opening as humane and just, but it brought the largest child-trafficking operation in history.

A quarter-million unaccompanied children, waved into the interior, simply disappeared because the Bidenites made no real provision for keeping track of them — with Xavier Becerra, now running to become California’s next governor, one of the chief culprits.

US law requires the feds to carefully supervise and track unaccompanied minors they let enter the country, passing them only to vetted sponsors, ideally family or former neighbors, who agree to take good care of the kids, enroll them in school and ensure they show up to future immigration court hearings.

But Biden’s de facto “come on in” signals led to hundreds of thousands of children, mostly from South and Central America and many orphaned or abandoned, flooding in — and his people let the system collapse.

More than two-thirds of these kids fell off the radar: Their sponsors quit answering the phone, vanished from whatever address they’d provided and of course didn’t bring the children to court.

The Biden White House shrugged off its legal duties and let the chaos continue.

Some of the kids are likely with genuine guardians who simply think it best to avoid immigration authorities.

But thousands (at least) had been sent into our country by trafficking rings who had “super sponsors” — criminals using fake IDs to claim sponsorship of multiple unrelated children — indenture them to construction, factory or slaughterhouse jobs or simply sell them to pimps.

It seems the Biden crew accepted this child slavery, often open, as just a cost of its “just” immigration policies.

Kids working in meat-processing factories was hardly the worst; America’s cities are flooded with young girls forced into prostitution, sometimes “servicing” dozens of men a day.

All because Biden took office determined to undo all the “inhumane” Trump border policies.

Democratic politicians who’d wept over “kids in cages,” namely children in holding facilities (really just dorms with educational and recreational facilities) awaiting placement with legitimate sponsors, said nothing about kids in slavery.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has announced criminal indictments of some of the worst known super-sponsors, but the Justice Department has identified tens of thousands of addresses repeatedly used to sponsor children under the Biden crew’s oblivious eyes.

Specifically on the watch of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, whose Office of Refugee Resettlement was supposed to protect the kids.

As the Bidens tour the country selling their books, and other administration alums like Becerra seek office, a decent press corps would demand answers on this nightmare.

Joe, Jill, Xavier: What do you have to say to the tween girls forced to sell their bodies on the streets of New York, Los Angeles and other “sanctuary” cities because you chose to wink at child enslavement?

https://nypost.com/2026/06/14/opinion/joe-biden-and-xavier-becerra-winked-at-massive-child-trafficking/