The Taliban takeover has not been good for Pakistan. Drug-trafficking from Afghanistan has increased under Taliban rule, my new piece shows, with frequent large seizures of opiates and crystal meth, the latter feeding a domestic 'ice' epidemic. atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/so…

!! ISRAELI DRONE STRIKE ON CAR IN SOUTH LEBANON KILLS DRIVER -LEBANESE SECURITY SOURCE, STATE MEDIA

Vance was notably less forthright this morning than Trump about the Strait of Hormuz being reopened "toll free" immediately. The VP suggested the nature of the Strait's reopening will be part of the 60-day technical talks that begin once the MOU is signed "Well, our expectation is that the Strait is going to be opened in a toll free way for the long term. And that's the sort of thing that we're going to figure out in these technical negotiations," he told CNBC

This media personality in Israel is very close to Netanyahu. If you want to understand the feeling among Netanyahu supporters tonight in light of the deal between the US and Iran read his tweet. I don't think I've ever seen such harsh language from Bibi's camp toward this administration

The signing of the peace agreement between Iran and the United States comes as a relief to all those who value peace. But it has arrived after immense suffering, loss of life, and destruction across West Asia, particularly in Iran and Lebanon. For India, however, this moment raises uncomfortable questions about our place in the emerging world order. 1. The agreement was facilitated through the efforts of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey. India, despite its civilizational ties with Iran and despite Prime Minister Modi's much-publicised personal rapport with President Trump, was nowhere in the picture. We failed to leverage these relationships, enhance our diplomatic relevance, or contribute meaningfully to the pursuit of peace. Instead, our External Affairs Minister dismissed the very idea of mediation as “dalali”. 2. For years, India worked to expose Pakistan's role in sponsoring and exporting terrorism. Under the UPA government, sustained diplomatic efforts contributed to Pakistan being placed on the FATF grey list. Yet today, Pakistan has successfully projected itself as a stakeholder in global stability and a beacon of peace. We lost not only the lives of our sailors, but also ground in the battle of perception and diplomacy. While others helped shape the outcome, India was reduced to a fly on the wall, a helpless, mute spectator. This was never India's war. Yet somehow, we emerge diminished from it. Modi hai tou mumkin hai!

RT @emile_hokayem: Look, if you cheered for the US-Israel war on Iran or believed that it could achieve its strategic aims, you don't get t…

Is Trump conceding enrichment to Iran? Because this NYT framing of his interview tonight makes it seem like it.

Trump’s deal isn’t going down well in Israel...

the world needs the strait of hormuz reopened. should have happened months ago, but today’s outcome is the best option available. having said that, iran war has been a disaster. no agreement on nukes, ballistic missiles, support for proxies…and one of the world’s most brutal regimes remains in place…and is getting paid off. biggest foreign policy failure of trump administration by a long margin.

Until the text of the US-Iran deal is signed and released, there is going to be a lot of spin on both sides. But here is my initial take. This war was a mistake, and it needs to end. The President thought that the Iranian regime would collapse quickly, but it did not. In fact, it has been strengthened strategically by its survival against a heavy US-Israeli assault and carrying out some effective counterstrikes. Many countries in the region are now courting Iran and looking to deescalate and rebuild ties. A sign of which way the wind is blowing. Getting the Strait of Hormuz open is the most important outcome of this MOU. Of course, the Strait was open before the war. Now we are paying to reopen it with sanctions relief. Iran has taken a theoretical point of leverage and turned it into a very real and powerful one, imposing costs across the global economy and rattling President Trump. As for the nuclear issues, there really is no agreement, other than to negotiate over the HEU stockpile and an enrichment moratorium. Iran knows how to drag out those negotiations, and try to pocket concessions along the way. It is possible that no deal will every be reached, and very likely that if one is reached, it will be worse than what we could have achieved through diplomacy before the war. Iran is not likely to take seriously that the US would return to war, certainly before the US midterms. So that means we will be conducting diplomacy without a credible threat of force. If any agreement ultimately reached actually safely puts Iran's nuclear ambitions out of reach, I'll acknowledge it. It's just too early to make that judgment. Trump is mainly focused on comparing his deal favorably to the JCPOA. But we are a long way from being able to make that comparison, and it may end up no better, or weaker than that deal. But in some ways, Trump's deal and the JCPOA are already similar. Nothing on ballistic missiles, nothing on proxies, nothing on weakening the regime or helping the Iranian people. And plenty of sanctions relief that will strengthen the regime, and be poured into the missile program and proxy network. Honest critics of the JCPOA will not twist themselves into pretzels to defend Trump's approach. Israelis are deeply disappointed in this outcome, but they should not be surprised. After some initial overlap of Trump's and Netanyahu's interests, there was a strong divergence. The United States needed this war to end. Netanyahu wanted to continue. Trump's claim to include Lebanon in the ceasefire and his harsh shutting down Israeli attacks on Hezbollah is also a win for Iran. After the JCPOA was signed, Obama and Netanyahu worked together to strengthen Israel's campaign of strikes in Syria to intercept Iranian weapons shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon. So let's hope we see the removal of Iran's enriched uranium and a long-term suspension of enrichment, with full verification. But to achieve those goals, Trump's team is going to need to engage in far more sophisticated diplomacy, backed by qualified experts, than they have to date. If it is a phase one splash with no follow-up on implementation of later phases, like in Gaza, we will be much worse off after, and because of, this war.

whoops. strait not quite open yet.

BREAKING: Pakistan announces US-Iran deal in place 🔴 LIVE updates: aje.news/y3hc1w?update=46594…

Netanyahu embarked on this war with Trump despite it being clear from the outset that his senior partner was focused on the flow of oil. None of Israel’s aims (destroying nuclear/missile programs, weakening regime/proxies) and Israel now at loggerheads with US. Strategic failure

🚨🚨🚨ראש ממשלת פקיסטן שריף: ״לאחר שיחות אינטנסיביות, אנו שמחים להודיע כי הושג הסכם שלום בין ארצות הברית של אמריקה לבין הרפובליקה האסלאמית של איראן. שני הצדדים הכריזו על הפסקה מיידית וקבועה של הפעילות הצבאית בכל הזירות, כולל בלבנון. טקס החתימה הרשמי יתקיים ביום שישי, 19 ביוני, בשווייץ״

Trump announces that a deal has been made between the US and Iran The Strait of Hormuz will open and the blockade will be lifted, according to Trump

🚨President Trump told me: "Why did Bibi have to do a fucking attack? I was so pissee off. I let him know. He has no fucking judgement. I let him know that"

Trump: I spoke with the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, I told him, “What the f- are you doing?”

Can Trump keep Bibi in check? The answer is clearly no.

June 14 (Reuters) - The deputy commander of Iran's top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Sunday that Israeli “crimes” in the southern suburbs of Lebanon's capital will not go unanswered, according to state media.

NEW: The strikes today in Beirut are creating issues with finalizing the deal, a diplomat involved in the talks told Fox News. "This is a clear attempt by Israel to sabotage the President’s deal and drag the United States back into war," the diplomat added. A senior Israeli official rejected the notion that Israel is to blame for the exchange of fire. "Hezbollah attacks have targeted Israeli civilians the past three days," the official told Fox News.

Senior Iranian official to Reuters: -under draft memorandum with U.S., Tehran agrees that it will neither produce nor acquire nuclear weapons -U.S. agrees for Tehran to dilute highly enriched uranium stockpile inside Iran, mechanism to be discussed in next 60 days -Iran to immediately reopen Strait of Hormuz to all commercial vessels, while U.S. will lift naval blockade -U.S. agrees to release $25 billion of Iran’s frozen assets, including via direct cash transfers, cooperation among regional countries, and financial credit lines