Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Deal or no deal

Deal or no deal

Aug 03, 2026

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THE CATCH-UP

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters onboard Air Force One while returning to the White House, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters onboard Air Force One while returning to the White House on Sunday. | AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

The conflict with Iran is increasingly becoming a war of the words.

President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One last night that he had called off another “massive attack” because U.S. allies in the region believed Tehran was ready to make “a deal on Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the … denuclearization.”

“We’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation,” he said, indicating talks would begin today.

That’s not how Tehran sees it.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said during a news conference today that Iran was negotiating with Oman over the strait between the two countries — but that there were no current talks with the U.S.

Cue the confusion.

Tehran’s rejection of Trump’s claims angered the president. “Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous! They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with ‘Oman,’” he said this morning on Truth Social.

Although that message came with his usual indignation, Trump did not level any new threats at Iran.

The episode is part of a persistent pattern for Trump that has emerged over five months of the war: He threatens massive military action, only to walk it back and announce an agreement on the brink.

The peace talk crosstalk capped off a weekend of whiplash for the war. Last week, the president had promised that the U.S. would soon be “hitting them very hard.” By Saturday, the U.S. was “locked and loaded,” Trump said, but because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to,” he had decided “to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.”

And although the White House appears to have no immediate off-ramp to end the costly and unpopular conflict, the president’s posturing does appear to still be effective in smoothing out its immediate economic impacts. Oil prices fell sharply last night following Trump’s remarks, and the market rallied this morning in response.

Good Monday morning. This is Irie Sentner. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Get in touch.

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8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. OUTBREAK WATCH: The first two deaths from the ongoing cyclospora outbreak were announced today in Michigan, per AP. The state’s health department said both people had underlying health conditions, but would not supply any additional information.

2. DNC AUTOPSY FALLOUT CONTINUES: The messy saga over the report about what went wrong for Democrats in 2024 is still playing out, months away from the 2026 midterms as the party searches for its footing ahead of another presidential contest. Paul Rivera, the author of the 2024 election autopsy that embattled DNC Chair Ken Martin first declined to release, then in May made public while criticizing its quality, told NYT’s Shane Goldmacher that Martin had excluded a key chapter called “What Happened in 2024.”

That chapter, NYT reports, raised questions about former President Joe Biden’s decision to run for reelection and about a “generationally wealthy” Democratic consultant class. It also “analyzed the party’s loss of support among Hispanic, Black, Asian American and Native American voters, which had been mostly missing from the public draft. And it pointedly raised the concern that most senior Democratic strategists in 2024 were ‘financially secure’ and thus removed from the challenges facing many Americans.”

But Martin, who said he released Rivera’s report “in its entirety,” denied he had omitted the chapter, saying in a statement that the “alleged report section was not in any binder I reviewed” and that if it had been included, he would have released it. The Times could not corroborate either man’s account.

3. BRAVE NEW WORLD: AI companies are set tomorrow to review a draft White House framework on how it will analyze new AI models at a meeting with the Office of the National Cyber Director, POLITICO’s Cheyenne Haslett and Owen Dahlkamp report. “The framework will shape how the federal government works with the country’s leading AI developers before and after their most advanced models are deployed, and comes as the Trump administration seeks to address potential safety and national security risks while pursuing a mostly light-touch regulatory approach to the technology.”

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4. CARTE BLANCHE: Acting AG Todd Blanche is cleared to be confirmed for the permanent post before August recess after holdout GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis said they will vote to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow, per POLITICO’s Chris Marquette. “We want to express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” Cornyn and Tillis said in a joint statement. They also suggested their agreement with Blanche also satisfies the concerns of several other Republican senators who raised concerns about DOJ’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

5. GET SCHOOLED: The Education Department requested today that university leaders commit to an overhaul to align higher education with the Trump administration’s priorities by the end of the year, POLITICO’s Rebecca Carballo reports. In a letter, the agency demanded that the leaders address grade inflation, improve transparency about the costs of attending their schools, curb foreign donations and hire faculty with “all relevant perspectives.” Those asks are similar to a “college compact” the administration sent to a group of elite universities last year that all of them declined to sign.

6. REDISTRICTING RODEO: Maryland state lawmakers today are kicking off a special session to consider a redistricting initiative that would allow Democrats to carve out an additional House seat in 2028, POLITICO’s Gregory Svirnovskiy reports from Annapolis. If approved by the state legislature, an amendment to the state constitution would go on the ballot for voters in the deep-blue state to decide in November. The amendment would allow lawmakers to redraw the state map in a way that would likely oust the state’s lone Republican member of Congress, Rep. Andy Harris, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus.

7. IMMIGRATION FILES: “ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year — Including Young Children,” by WIRED’s Dhruv Mehrotra: “Internal documents show ICE's DNA collection has skyrocketed in the second Trump administration. Now hundreds of thousands of people never convicted of a crime are in an FBI criminal database forever.”

8. FOR YOUR RADAR: “Inside the Secretive Boards Deciding Trans Troops’ Fate,” by NYT’s Greg Jaffe and Dave Philipps: “The Pentagon is relying on closed-door hearings to kick out transgender service members. An Army Reserve lawyer is one of the few who have seen how they really work.”

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TALK OF THE TOWN

MASSIVE DISTRACTION? — “Park Service Finds Trump’s Arch Could Detract From Dozens of Historic Places,” by NYT’s Emily Badger: “Trump’s proposed 250-foot-tall triumphal arch would change the skyline of Washington to such an extent that it would intrude on views at dozens of historic sites around the capital, according to an assessment by National Park Service staff. … It would disrupt the symbolic relationship between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, obstruct sightlines from the Kennedy Gravesite and Robert E. Lee’s home, and alter what official documents call “one of the most magnificent” views in Washington at the National Cathedral four miles away, the Park Service said.”

KICKING AND SCREAMING — Gianni Infantino, the embattled FIFA president who came under fire last week over a bid to sell a stake in the World Cup to Jared Kushner’s brother, was expected to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this morning, NY Post’s James Franey reports, as he seeks help from the Trump administration to stay in his post. But the State Department denied that any such call was happening.

OUT AND ABOUT — Gore Bolton, CEO of Bolton & Associates, and Robin Colwell, Intel’s senior vice president of government affairs, were married Saturday at St. John’s Church, followed by a reception at the Hay-Adams. The bride was radiant, and the groom jammed with the band at the reception. SPOTTED: NEC Director Kevin Hassett, White House science adviser Michael Kratsios, FCC Chair Brendan Carr, David Redl, Arielle Roth, Lizzy Simmons Bush, Ryan Baasch, Paige Willey, Sean Farrell and Kasey Shelly, Jennifer DeCaspar and Jac, Justin and Amy Rzepka, Charles and Dana Cogar, Andrew Olmem, Mike O’Rielly, Wendy Donoho, Courtney Reinhard, Robert Malpass, David Goldman, Jerry Leverich, Al Thompson, Sarah Kemp and Tim Kurth.

TRANSITIONS — Nash Long is joining Baker Botts as a partner in Washington. He most recently was at Hunton Andrews Kurth. … Terrill North has been named executive director of the Center for Progressive Reform. He most recently worked at New Profit. … Jake Schwemlein is now executive director of Transportation Energy Partners. He most recently was at Clean Fuels Ohio and previously worked at TEP. …

… Patrice Harris has been named executive vice president and chief health impact officer at Nemours Children’s Health. She most recently was at eMed and is an American Medical Association alum. … Barbara Vanich has joined BRG’s Financial Institution Advisory practice as a managing director in Washington. She previously spent more than 17 years at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. … Hannah Crossman has joined Continental Strategy as director of operations. She most recently was deputy chief of staff to Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas).

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