The briefing for Tuesday, June 23.

Vice President JD Vance said Monday that Iran has agreed to allow international nuclear inspectors back into the country, with discussions potentially happening "as soon as today." But Iran's foreign ministry quickly denied the claim, telling state media that Tehran had made "no new commitments" on nuclear inspections. The conflicting statements emerged after the first round of U.S.-Iran negotiations in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock, where both sides agreed to a roadmap toward a final deal within 60 days.

The talks made progress on other fronts. The U.S. Treasury issued a 60-day sanctions waiver Monday that dismantles central pillars of Washington's long-running embargo on Iran. The emergency license authorizes the production, sale and delivery of Iranian crude and petrochemicals until August 21, even allowing Iranian oil to be imported directly into the U.S. The waiver unlocks banking transactions, insurance and transportation that have been blocked for decades. Mediators Qatar and Pakistan said both sides agreed to create a "communication line" to avoid incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and a "de-confliction cell" for Lebanon.

Iran suspended access to nuclear sites bombed by Israel and the U.S. during last year's 12-day war, and the UN's nuclear watchdog pulled out its remaining inspectors the following month. In 2015, Iran and six world powers had struck a deal allowing inspections, but President Trump withdrew the U.S. from that agreement in 2018. Vance said the Iranians threatened to walk out Sunday after Trump warned on social media that the U.S. could "hit Iran very hard again," but talks resumed after Vance said Trump was merely responding to Iranian "trash talk." Trump issued a fresh warning Monday, saying "if Iran doesn't live up to their agreement, or if they're not behaving, I will do what I have to do."

The Drug Enforcement Administration permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025, according to three current and former DEA agents and government records reviewed by the Associated Press. DEA agents repeatedly monitored shipments of fentanyl pills but did not seize them as federal prosecutors sought to build bigger criminal cases against major drug traffickers. "We poisoned our community to make cases," whistleblower DEA Special Agent David Howell told AP in a series of interviews in New Mexico.

The tactic amounts to a gamble with public safety, according to agents and experts who reviewed the case. The DEA has long contended it would not be plausible to seize every shipment of every drug, and the agency said in a statement that "the investigative decisions at issue were lawful, reasonable under the circumstances and consistent with Department guidance." However, the practice appears to violate Justice Department rules about seizing dangerous drugs like fentanyl, which the White House designated last year as a "weapon of mass destruction."

The whistleblower complaint was sent to the White House in September but escaped media attention at the time. AP reporters discovered the case after noticing a critical oversight in the government's redactions—the whistleblower's name ended in an "l," a single letter missed by the black marker. The amount of fentanyl that was not seized was also initially redacted but later revealed through the investigation. The DEA's approach raises questions about the balance between building major prosecutions and protecting public health in communities ravaged by the opioid crisis.

The Pentagon has told senators it needs roughly $80 billion, mostly to cover the cost of the U.S. war against Iran, according to two people familiar with the situation. Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg spoke to several senators about the proposal last week and notified congressional committees that the request had been sent to the Office of Management and Budget. The White House OMB has yet to make a formal request to Congress, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, including Monday evening.

The funding request is far higher than the $29 billion estimate of war costs that Hegseth gave Congress during testimony last month, and substantially lower than the initial $200 billion the Pentagon floated at the start of the war. An early estimate put the cost of the first week of the war at $11.3 billion. The bulk of the current request is related to replacing munitions and repairing equipment but also includes operational costs to keep forces deployed. The amount does not include the cost to repair or rebuild U.S. military sites damaged in the region.

The push for billions in Iran war funding comes at a fraught political moment. Lawmakers are skeptical of the deal Trump struck with Iran to end the war and wary of next steps. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he's expecting a supplemental spending request and "we'll work through it and see where the votes are." Democratic Senator Patty Murray told Hegseth last month, "You're spending families' hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many strongly oppose." The request adds to an already substantial military spending boost, with the White House seeking a remarkable $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon—a nearly 50% increase over current fiscal year funding levels.

At least 13 people were killed and 66 injured after an explosion at Qatar's largest gas facility on Sunday night, according to the country's interior ministry. The blast occurred at the Barzan local gas supply facility in the Ras Laffan industrial zone, with the explosion rattling windows and turning the skyline orange across central Doha, more than 70 kilometers away. Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi confirmed all those killed were from India and Pakistan, and said the explosion would not affect the country's exports.

The explosion occurred as workers were restarting operations that had been halted since December 2025 for urgent maintenance requirements. "Plant production was intentionally completely stopped since December 2025 due to urgent maintenance requirements, it was first restarted again only two days ago," al-Kaabi said. The energy minister added that the government was working to determine the cause of the blast and that there were no environmental risks, though it would be difficult to determine when operations would fully resume.

The Ras Laffan Port is the largest artificial harbor in the world and hosts the world's largest LNG export facility. It was targeted by Iranian strikes earlier this year during the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, suffering "extensive damage" that was expected to reduce output by 12.8 million tons of LNG for three to five years. Qatar had halted production in response to the conflict, pausing a fifth of the world's LNG, and shipments had only recently begun to resume. Al-Kaabi emphasized that "this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature," and QatarEnergy confirmed that emergency response teams deployed immediately and that the fire is now under control.

Andy Burnham, Britain's newest lawmaker and likely its next prime minister, was meeting Labour colleagues on Tuesday in preparation for a leadership contest in which he may be the only contender. Burnham is the strong front-runner to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who announced Monday that he will step down within weeks after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors. Burnham, a former Cabinet minister who served since 2017 as mayor of Greater Manchester, won a special election last week for a seat in Parliament with the express aim of challenging Starmer for the leadership.

Burnham's chances got a major boost Monday when former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who was considered his main rival, announced his support. Nominations for the Labour leadership will open July 9 and close a week later. If Burnham is the only contender, he could be prime minister by July 17. If there is a contest, the winner should be in place by the time Parliament returns from its summer break on September 1. Potential candidates need the support of at least 81 Labour lawmakers, a fifth of the parliamentary party, to run.

Burnham was a popular mayor of Manchester, overseeing a period of rapid regeneration for the city where the Industrial Revolution was forged. Many Labour members hope his people skills and charisma can connect with the public more than the stolid, managerial Starmer could. Burnham is expected to make a speech next week outlining some of his economic plans. Former Armed Forces Minister Al Carns, who quit this month to protest inadequate defense spending, suggested he might run but told ITV he's "not ready to make a decision." Many argue that a swift transition is needed to avoid focusing attention on the party's internal divisions and extending political uncertainty during a difficult period for the government.