Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Iran tensions rise as Trump rushes toward a deal

Iran tensions rise as Trump rushes toward a deal

May 26, 2026

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THE CATCH-UP

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the journalists before boarding his plane.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the journalists Tuesday before boarding his plane in New Delhi, India. | Pool photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson

President Donald Trump has signaled an imminent end to the war in Iran — but that messaging is bumping up against a reality of escalating tensions in the wake of renewed U.S. strikes last night.

A deal could take “a few more days,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters today as he concluded a visit to India. “The president’s expressed his desire to make [a deal] — he’s either going to make a good deal or no deal,” he added.

Rubio’s comments — which came hours after U.S. Central Command announced “self-defense strikes” were conducted against targets in southern Iran — softened Trump’s comments over the holiday weekend forecasting an impending conclusion. The president yesterday morning emphasized that negotiations were “proceeding nicely,” said Sunday they were “proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner,” and announced Saturday a deal had been “largely negotiated.”

Today the outlook is looking less cheery. The Iranian Foreign Ministry declared the strikes a “clear violation of the ceasefire” and called them a sign of “bad faith and unreliability.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened a “definite response”, according to state media. And newly installed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned that the U.S. “will no longer have a safe haven for its mischief and for establishing military bases in the region.”

The friction comes as Trump is expected to convene a Cabinet meeting at Camp David tomorrow, where discussions of the war will likely overshadow all other chatter — about the economy with the midterms looming or anything else on the agenda. U.S. consumer confidence decreased slightly in May for the first time in three months — a poor sign for the White House ahead of a tough midterm environment Democrats are casting as a referendum on affordability.

But Trump’s sell for a soon-to-be-concluded war may yet pay off. “Americans’ expectations for growth six months in the future improved, potentially a sign they expect the Iran war to be over by then,” per the AP.

Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at isentner@politico.com.

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5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. NOT SO FAST: A three-judge federal panel this morning blocked Alabama Republicans from implementing a House map that cut up a majority-Black district, which sought to tip the balance of the state delegation to favor Republicans 6-1, POLITICO’s Andrew Howard and Alec Hernandez report. “Ultimately, we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the panel wrote in a decision that for now could prevent the GOP from picking up a seat in the state. But this one isn’t over: Republicans are already saying they’ll appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, and they’re confident the high court will restore the new map.

The CBC fights back: The Congressional Black Caucus today called on more than 200 major corporations to oppose redistricting efforts by Republican-led states to dissolve majority-Black districts, per AP. The lawmakers urged the companies to publicly condemn the redistricting plans, meet with caucus members and disclose their political donations to GOP politicians in the states that are redistricting.

2. GAG IT: The White House is planning to issue a blanket NDA to all federal workers across the government that would broadly bar them from sharing “non-public, confidential, or proprietary information,” according to an OPM draft notice posted today to the Federal Register. OPM cited recent leaks to news organizations — including regarding the Venezuela operation to capture Nicolás Maduro — “underscoring the need for an NDA.” Agencies would be able to decide whether to adopt the agreements. More from WaPo

3. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Ad it up: Way to Win, in partnership with Fight Agency, Down Home North Carolina and LUPE, launched a $250K ad buy targeting Reps. Chuck Edwards in North Carolina’s 11th District and Monica de la Cruz in Texas’ 15th District. The ads slam the GOP incumbents for “rubber-stamping” Trump’s agenda especially on the Iran war, Playbook’s Ali Bianco scoops. The digital spots, which will run for five weeks, hit hard on “skyrocketing gas prices and runaway costs while the American government spends tens of billions on a war in Iran and a ballroom no one voted for,” Way to Win cofounder Jenifer Fernandez Ancona told Playbook. Both districts are among Democrats’ top targets to flip this cycle. Watch the ads

4. A POST IS WORTH … A WHOLE LOT: Influencer disclosures in California are revealing just how much candidates are willing to spend to go viral — including gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer, who paid an eye-popping $400,000 just to progressive influencer Carlos Eduardo Espina alone, Semafor’s Max Tani reports. The figures offer a rare glimpse into the broader world of political online influence, which federal campaigns can keep secret due to a gap in authority between the FTC and FEC.

California dreamin’: “Why Silicon Valley’s big bet on Matt Mahan went bust,” by POLITICO’s Jeremy White and Christine Mui: “Silicon Valley’s effort to place Matt Mahan in the governor’s mansion is stalling out amid recriminations, donor frustration and second-guessing. The San Jose mayor entered California’s wide-open governor’s race as tech’s chosen champion: a centrist Democrat with founder credentials, elite backers and promises of tens of millions of dollars to catapult him through the June primary.”

5. SCOTUS WATCH: The Supreme Court this morning sided with the Trump administration in a free speech case brought by federal immigration judges over a requirement that they must receive prior approval before any official speech, per Reuters. The justices in an unsigned ruling reversed a lower court’s decision siding with the judges and returned the case to that court, but did not weigh in on the legal merits of the policy, which was enacted under Trump’s first administration.

More from the bench: The high court also threw out Florida’s attempt to sue California and Washington for issuing commercial driver licenses to people who do not speak English and are not authorized to be in the U.S., AP reports.

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TALK OF THE TOWN

LET’S GET PHYSICAL — President Donald Trump, who turns 80 next month, celebrated his six-month checkup at Walter Reed today: “Everything checked out PERFECTLY,” he wrote on Truth Social. The White House has not yet released any details.

THE MARBLE RAGE — “Trump fumes at Congress and courts for holding up his ballroom,” by WaPo’s Dan Diamond: “President Donald Trump has made little secret that his planned White House ballroom is a top priority, invoking the project more frequently than most other issues. And in recent weeks he has raged at anyone — including a federal judge, a Senate official and a local historian — whose actions threaten to slow construction.”

NEW ENGLAND DRAMA — Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) is in hot water after telling CNN that Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner’s tattoo depicting a Nazi symbol — which he has covered up — was “personally disqualifying” and that he hoped Maine voters “agree with me.” Platner is locked in a tight race against GOP Sen. Susan Collins that Democrats must win if they have any hope of retaking the Senate. In something of a clean-up job today, Auchincloss blasted Collins on X for being “a rubber stamp for the worst admin in history,” but did not reverse course on Platner. “If it were me I'd vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary,” Auchincloss said.

FIGHT NIGHT — UFC President Dana White spoke with Rolling Stone about his friendship with Trump, recounting how the president specifically requested that his favorite fighter, Derrick Lewis, be added to the card for the UFC event set to take place on the White House lawn in June. “I’m not looking for anything from him. There’s nothing transactional in our relationship. We’re friends,” he says. White also revealed to RS that he lost a key matchup for the America 250 event because Russian President Vladimir Putin “called one of the Russian participants and told him not to perform at a site that represents the heart of a rival superpower.”

MAJOR MOVE FOR MARCO — Mike Needham has been promoted to deputy national security adviser and assistant to the president, Axios scooped, one of the most influential rules in a White House consumed by reshaping the global order. Needham is a longtime Rubio aide and replaces Robert Gabriel, a Susie Wiles acolyte who left the White House last week.

TRANSITION — Halimah Locke has been named chief strategy officer of Darkhive, Inc. She previously was deputy assistant secretary of Defense for industrial base policy, and is a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, House Armed Services Committee and House Small Business Committee alum.

MEDIA MOVE — Helen Huiskes is now a Senate reporter for The Hill. She was previously a reporter at NOTUS and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.

WEEKEND WEDDING — Ata Khan, chief of staff for Rep. George Whitesides (D-Calif.), and Yasmine Osman, assistant administrator for cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, got married Sunday at the White House Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi.

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