Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Iran peace talks hit an upswing

Iran peace talks hit an upswing

Jun 22, 2026

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THE CATCH-UP

BULLETIN: “‘Blatantly unlawful’: Judge blocks DOJ subpoenas aimed at Tim Walz,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney: “A federal judge has thrown out Justice Department grand jury subpoenas aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his allies, calling them an abusive and retaliatory process to punish Walz based on his refusal to assist President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.”

Vice President JD Vance speaks to members of the media after the U.S. and Iran held high-level talks at the Bürgenstock Resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, in Switzerland, Monday, June 22, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

VP JD Vance announced that Iran had agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency back in for inspections. | Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP

THE ART OF THE DEAL: After a weekend of stops and starts, the signals from U.S.-Iran peace talks turned more positive today, with both sides hailing progress across multiple fronts.

Most notably at the negotiations in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, VP JD Vance announced that Iran had agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency back into the country to look at nuclear sites. That would end a year of Iran blocking the inspectors from military nuclear enrichment locations.

Vance, who’s taken a political risk in becoming one of the administration’s faces of the provisional peace deal, touted this as “the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran,” per POLITICO’s Cheyanne Daniels.

This is still just the start of a long and perilous process to hammer out the stickiest nuclear issues in negotiations, which could be derailed at any moment by an uptick in Israel-Hezbollah fighting or a Trump Truth Social post.

But Vance chalked up the weekend tensions to “a little bit of threatening” and “a little bit of whining” that hadn’t stopped their forward momentum. Negotiators and mediators have kept the wheels moving so far today. And Trump’s latest post this afternoon struck a steadier tone: “Everybody is fully aware that Iran will agree to have Major Weapons Inspections in order to ensure ‘Nuclear Honesty’ long into the future,” he wrote.

Back in Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took the next step of issuing a two-month sanctions waiver for Iranian oil sales, as had been laid out in the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding. The move will help bolster Iran’s economy, reconnecting it to the world and allowing payments with U.S. dollars. It indicates that the U.S. sees Tehran as largely complying with the deal so far, though all eyes remain on whether shipping really starts to move freely through the Strait of Hormuz again.

Longtime Iran watchers know that the IAEA and sanctions news both constitute an approximate return to the shape of the Barack Obama Iran deal that Trump ended in his first term. As CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Jennifer Hansler report, Trump, Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for years all opposed Iranian sanctions relief. But the administration argues that this deal is stronger and Tehran is now weaker.

The State Department said Rubio will depart tomorrow for a trip through the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain, where he’ll discuss the agreement with Middle Eastern allies who’ve expressed some discomfort with parts of the text, per Reuters. Though Rubio has publicly taken more of a back seat to other officials on the negotiations, this is an opportunity for him to sell the Gulf on why not to worry about money going to Iran for a postwar reconstruction fund.

Just as crucial as the talks in Switzerland was the relative calm in Lebanon, where a delicate ceasefire has seemed to hold steady today, per NYT’s David Halbfinger and Natan Odenheimer. That follows the U.S. and Iran announcing a new “deconfliction cell” around Lebanon, which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the “1st real test” of the deal.

And the more optimistic outlook for talks today also pushed oil prices lower, dropping below $75 a barrel for the first time in more than three months — the most immediate cost-of-living ramification for U.S. consumers and politics.

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

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6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. DEMOCRACY WATCH: DHS is planning new rules to force states to make major changes to their elections — or lose out on tens of millions of federal dollars in safety and disaster funding, CNN’s Gabe Cohen and Tierney Sneed scooped. The Trump administration would demand that states offer paper ballots, use manual audits and check their voter rolls against a citizenship database. It’s a major escalation of Trump’s efforts to transform election administration, part of a push to make voting more secure that also dovetails with his repeated false claims about fraud. These changes would cost states a lot of money to implement. The rules would also be almost assured of a legal challenge.

2. HILL MOVEMENT: The top Democrat and Republican on House Energy and Commerce have landed an agreement on the Kids Online Safety Act, and it could advance to the House floor as quickly as next week, POLITICO’s Owen Dahlkamp and Kelsey Brugger report. The legislation would place new restrictions on social media platforms’ design for children — and preempt any state laws that impose weaker consumer protection. But negotiations with the Senate and White House loom. The House version omits the Senate “duty of care” standard for tech companies to protect children.

Reconcilable differences: Republicans’ yearlong defunding of Planned Parenthood is nearly up, and anti-abortion groups are eager for the GOP to extend the block on federal funds in a new reconciliation bill. The initial move had a big impact: The group says 51 of its sites had to shutter last year. But now many Hill Republicans are pessimistic about whether they can muster the votes for a third reconciliation attempt — and for more Planned Parenthood defunding specifically, NOTUS’ Oriana González reports.

3. CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS: “‘A Huge Grab of Power’: Trump Is Defying Congress on Foreign Aid,” by ProPublica’s Anna Maria Barry-Jester: “[E]ight months into the fiscal year, Trump officials are failing to follow many [congressional] orders, ProPublica has found. Officials have delayed spending on global health, have not issued funds for some projects and have labeled money destined for humanitarian aid as ‘unallocated’ to control how it can be spent … Legal scholars say such moves, and the delayed spending by the State Department, likely violate the law.” In response, the State Department said it is not withholding funds, and OMB said the story is “patently false,” without saying what specifically is incorrect.

J.B. Pritzker talks Democrats’ road ahead

On On the Road, Jonathan Martin sits down with Gov. J.B. Pritzker at Manny’s Deli for a candid conversation on 2028 speculation, party strategy and the future of Democratic politics.
Watch now.

4. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: China today slapped new export controls on 10 U.S. defense companies, including two rare earth producers, per the WSJ. The move came in response to the Pentagon’s expansion of a blacklist of Chinese companies — and it indicates that trade/supply chain tensions between the two countries, particularly over rare earths, continue. (The immediate impact of today’s announcement is more symbolic than anything.)

5. TRAIL MIX: A new analysis by WaPo’s Eric Lau and Erin Cox finds that Democratic turnout has surged around the country in primaries and special elections this year, even in low-profile races or districts Republicans have gerrymandered. … James Talarico is out with a new multimillion-dollar ad buy for his Senate campaign, leaning into affordability concerns, MS NOW’s Kevin Frey scooped. … Priorities USA is getting 2028 started early, kicking off a $30 million effort to define Vance and Rubio negatively, NOTUS’ Elena Schneider scooped. Their focus is digital content to shape the perceptions of young, low-information voters.

6. OPIOID FILES: “Staggering amounts of fentanyl hit streets as the DEA watched and took no action, records show,” by AP’s Jim Mustian and Joshua Goodman: “[T]he U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025 … DEA agents repeatedly monitored shipments of fentanyl pills — but did not seize them — as federal prosecutors sought to bring bigger criminal cases against traffickers … Agents and experts, however, said the tactic amounted to a gamble with public safety that potentially imperiled communities in and around Albuquerque and may have violated U.S. Justice Department rules intended to safeguard the public.”

The DEA responded that it followed all legal guidelines and did not intentionally allow fentanyl to reach people.

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TALK OF THE TOWN

IN MEMORIAM — “Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan dead at 100,” by POLITICO’s Victoria Guida: “An economist famous for his often inscrutable style of communication, known as ‘Greenspeak,’ Greenspan served as Fed chief from 1987 to 2006, a mostly prosperous era for the U.S. He was also the chief economist for President Gerald Ford. … But the 2008 financial crisis tarnished his reputation as critics highlighted the Fed’s failure to rein in irresponsible mortgage-lending practices and risky financial products … Greenspan’s mystique reached almost mythic proportions during the height of his influence.”

Greenspan’s wife, Andrea Mitchell, said in a statement that Greenspan was “a giant of a man who helped shape the U.S. economy for decades under presidents of both parties but was always honest in acknowledging his mistakes. … He will be remembered for his brilliance and his kindness.”

MEDIA MOVES — Stefanie Bolzen will be transatlantic correspondent at POLITICO, based on the U.S. trade team. She currently works for Welt. … Ted Hesson will be an immigration reporter at WaPo, covering DHS. He currently works at Reuters and is a POLITICO alum.

TRANSITIONS — Brooke Singman is joining Watchtower Strategy as a managing director, per Axios’ Mike Allen. She previously was a reporter at Fox News. … Madeleine Peters is joining Hitachi Energy as director of federal relations. She most recently worked at Dow. … Darshak Dholakia is now a partner and chair of the international trade practice at Winston Taylor. He previously worked at McDermott Will & Schulte.

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