Edited By BRIDGET BROWN, BERNARD MCGHEE, LUENA RODRIGUEZ-FEO VILEIRA and DREW CALLISTER
Updated 9:49 AM PDT, May 29, 2026
Here’s what we’re following:
President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s holding a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers as he looks to make a “final determination” on moving forward on a deal to extend a ceasefire with Iran. Trump confirmed the high-level talks a day after the AP reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had reached a tentative agreement to extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days and start new talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
Earlier Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s administration from paying any claims through a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for Trump allies who believe they were victims of a weaponized government. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, also barred the government from moving forward with the fund’s creation while litigation is pending to challenge it.
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer questions on Trump’s involvement in the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein as she defended the administration’s actions in a closed-door interview before House lawmakers on Friday. Lawmakers have scrutinized the Justice Department’s release of the files, which was delayed and revealed the personal information of potential victims.
Updated 9:40 AM PDT, May 29, 2026
Trump meeting with aides to make ‘final determination’ on moving forward with Iran deal
By AAMER MADHANI and MICHELLE L. PRICE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he’s holding a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers as he looks to make a “final determination” on moving forward with a deal to extend the Iran ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump confirmed the high-level talks the day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement. The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
Trump in a social media posting said that “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened for international navigation and all sea mines dropped in the waterway must be destroyed as part of the agreement.
Iran’s main negotiator said Friday that it has “no trust in guarantees or words,” only actions, underscoring lingering distrust after the U.S. and Israel have twice attacked Iran over the past year while it was engaged in nuclear negotiations.
“No step will be taken before the other side acts,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who attended talks in Qatar this week, wrote on X. “We do not gain concessions through talks, but through missiles.”
Iran also wants any deal to include a truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, where fighting has intensified despite a nominal ceasefire.
Vance says discussions continue on nuclear issues
On Thursday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested negotiators were trying to strike general terms on Iran’s nuclear program in the tentative agreement, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.
Vance said the sides were going back and forth on “a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff, the highly enriched stockpile, and also the question of enrichment.”
The Islamic Republic has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Trump and his team said from the start of the conflict that a prime objective was to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.
Vance framed the war’s accomplishments more modestly.
“We’re in a position where we could substantially set back their nuclear program, not just during the term of this president but over the long term,” Vance said, adding that it would be “very, very good” for Americans.
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the stockpile. It’s believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last year.
Trump returned Friday to his on-and-off demand for the removal of the cache as part of a deal. The material would be unearthed by the U.S., in coordination with Iran and the IAEA, “and DESTROYED,” he posted.
A deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz
The proposed memorandum makes clear that Iran would not be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and that it would have to remove all mines from the vital waterway within 30 days, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. would gradually lift its blockade on Iranian ports and would also agree to relax sanctions, allowing Iran to sell more of its oil.
Iran has effectively closed the strait since the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack on Feb. 28 that killed Iran’s supreme leader and other top officials. Before then, the waterway was open to international traffic, and around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed through it.
The closure of the strait, which runs between Iran and Oman, has caused the price of fuel and other goods to soar, with the effects felt far beyond the Middle East.
Iran has said it lets some commercial vessels pass — about two dozen daily in recent days, compared with more than 100 a day before the war. But the Islamic Republic also has charged tolls for at least some ships and established a formal gatekeeper agency earlier this month, spurring a new round of U.S. sanctions this week.
Iran and Oman discuss the Strait after the Trump threat
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that he discussed the strait’s future management with his Omani counterpart by phone. Araghchi wrote on X that he expressed solidarity “in the face of any threat.”
On Wednesday, Trump had warned Oman — a U.S. ally — not to enter into any agreement with Iran to share control of the strait or the U.S. will “have to blow them up.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Friday with Pakistan’s top diplomat, Ishaq Dar, whose country has been mediating the Iran talks. Neither Rubio nor Dar spoke as they posed for photographs at the State Department in Washington.
Since the ceasefire began about seven weeks ago, the U.S. and Iran have traded strikes and accusations of ceasefire violations. But they have not returned to full-scale hostilities and have kept negotiating.
Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Farnoush Amiri in New York and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
AAMER MADHANI
24 min ago
Bondi refuses to answer lawmakers’ questions about Trump’s involvement in Epstein files release
By STEPHEN GROVES
Bondi was on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview in which she defended the administration’s actions before House lawmakers who are scrutinizing a process that was delayed and included personal information of potential victims.
Democratic lawmakers said Bondi told them she would not speak about the president in Friday’s interview and, accompanied by a lawyer from the Department of Justice, cited her ability to decline questions because she agreed to appear before the committee voluntarily.
“It’s a sham in there. They are not answering any questions,” said Democratic Rep. Dave Min during a break in the interview.
Bondi refuses to answer lawmakers’ questions about Trump’s involvement in Epstein files release
By STEPHEN GROVES
Bondi was on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview in which she defended the administration’s actions before House lawmakers who are scrutinizing a process that was delayed and included personal information of potential victims.
Democratic lawmakers said Bondi told them she would not speak about the president in Friday’s interview and, accompanied by a lawyer from the Department of Justice, cited her ability to decline questions because she agreed to appear before the committee voluntarily.
“It’s a sham in there. They are not answering any questions,” said Democratic Rep. Dave Min during a break in the interview.
39 min ago
Rubio thanks Pakistan for ‘constructive role’ in supporting Iran ceasefire efforts
By MATTHEW LEE
In a meeting on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for his country’s efforts in trying to mediate an end to the Iran war.
In a separate statement, the foreign ministry said “Secretary Rubio acknowledged Pakistan’s sincere diplomatic and mediatory efforts for peace and stability in the region and beyond.”
Neither statement offered details on Pakistan’s recent involvement, although Pakistani officials have been heavily involved in shuttle diplomacy and hosted a meeting between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad last month.
The meeting took place shortly before Trump suggested he may be ready to sign off on an agreement to extend the current fragile ceasefire, re-open the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
Rubio thanks Pakistan for ‘constructive role’ in supporting Iran ceasefire efforts
By MATTHEW LEE
In a meeting on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for his country’s efforts in trying to mediate an end to the Iran war.
In a separate statement, the foreign ministry said “Secretary Rubio acknowledged Pakistan’s sincere diplomatic and mediatory efforts for peace and stability in the region and beyond.”
Neither statement offered details on Pakistan’s recent involvement, although Pakistani officials have been heavily involved in shuttle diplomacy and hosted a meeting between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad last month.
The meeting took place shortly before Trump suggested he may be ready to sign off on an agreement to extend the current fragile ceasefire, re-open the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
8:52 a.m. PDT
Trump says only US and China capable of removing Iran’s enriched uranium
By AAMER MADHANI
The president in his online post also turned back to his on-and-off demand that the highly-enriched uranium buried under nuclear sites badly damaged during last year’s U.S. air bombardment of Iran be removed as part of a deal.
“The enriched material, sometimes referred to as ‘Nuclear Dust,’ which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains, caused by our powerful B2 Bomber attack 11 months ago, sitting on top of it, will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED,” Trump said.
Trump has offered mixed messages over the course of the three-month conflict on the importance of removing the enriched uranium. Earlier this month, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity he’d “just feel better if I got” the uranium, but that “it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else.”
Trump says only US and China capable of removing Iran’s enriched uranium
By AAMER MADHANI
The president in his online post also turned back to his on-and-off demand that the highly-enriched uranium buried under nuclear sites badly damaged during last year’s U.S. air bombardment of Iran be removed as part of a deal.
“The enriched material, sometimes referred to as ‘Nuclear Dust,’ which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains, caused by our powerful B2 Bomber attack 11 months ago, sitting on top of it, will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED,” Trump said.
Trump has offered mixed messages over the course of the three-month conflict on the importance of removing the enriched uranium. Earlier this month, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity he’d “just feel better if I got” the uranium, but that “it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else.”
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