Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
U.S. President Donald Trump continued to threaten Iran on Sunday even as talks began in Switzerland between his vice president and Iranian officials on next steps in the interim agreement signed last week to end the war.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency suggested that talks have “entered a difficult phase” after what it described as an “insulting” statement by Trump.
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It did not specify the statement. Trump made multiple provocative warnings to Iran on Sunday, including to “hit Iran very hard again.”
An official with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press that the Iranian delegation remains engaged in the talks and has not indicated to mediators any intention to leave. The official requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.
The U.S. team is led by Vice President JD Vance and includes Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. The Iranian negotiators are led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Pakistan and Qatar are mediators.
Delegation staff members meet in the lobby on the first day of a quadrilateral meeting between the U.S., Iran, Pakistan, and Qatar at the Buergenstock Resort Lake Lucerne, near Stansstad, Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)
Iranian state television said the Iranian and Qatari delegations were having discussions after about 80 minutes of four-way negotiations including the U.S. and Pakistan.
On the eve of talks, Tehran said it closed the Strait of Hormuz again over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. The interim deal is meant to stop fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon. Iran has said talks must first address that issue.
The U.S. says shipping traffic on the crucial waterway continues, and Trump has threatened to impose American tolls in the strait if a final deal with Iran isn’t reached in 60 days.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says 67 ships went through the Strait of Hormuz in the last 24 hours, similar to traffic before the war began in terms of oil and oil products.
Other issues include unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets and addressing the heart of tensions: Iran’s nuclear program.
Israel’s military says residents of the north near the border with Lebanon will be able to move around freely with no restrictions as of Monday morning. For months, residents have faced restrictions because of the threat of attack by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah and Israel went to war two days after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28,
The military did not say what led to its decision Sunday, but it has noted that a fragile ceasefire is in place.
Still, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces will remain in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a televised speech that the militant group will not accept any ceasefire deal that grants Israel “freedom of action” within Lebanon or does not result in a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.
“There are no ‘security zones,’ for Israel,” Kassem said, using Israel’s term.
He also said Hezbollah will comply with a ceasefire “if it happens,” but “we will not accept any violation.” The Iranian-backed Hezbollah is not part of the talks between Israel and Lebanon that will continue Tuesday in Washington.
Uneasy calm has settled over Lebanon, with no Israeli strikes reported overnight or Sunday after days of heavy fighting.
U.S. President Donald Trump in 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. ambassador says Trump and Netanyahu are still close
The U.S. ambassador to Israel is playing down recent differences between Trump and Netanyahu.
Mike Huckabee said in a speech in Jerusalem that despite Trump’s sometimes blunt language about the Israeli leader, the two still have a close relationship and the president remains deeply committed to Israel’s wellbeing.
“The one thing that I’ve always heard him say — always — and that I’ve always watched him do, is that America has an unbreakable bond with the state of Israel,” Huckabee told the JNS International Policy Summit. “And I trust that he means what he says.”
Trump in a telephone interview with Fox News has said that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had “better watch his mouth.”
The broadcaster also quoted Trump as saying Pezeshkian had “better shape up or we’ll take over the rest of the country.”
Not long after that, Iran’s lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf posted on X that “We do not regard American threats as amounting to anything. They would do better to be careful about their statements.”
Pezeshkian earlier Sunday said that “what is certain is that we will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it,” according to state media.
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