Washington Edges Toward Iran Deal Amid War Rhetoric

The US war on Iran defined the day with sharply mixed signals. At a White House cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted "diplomacy is always the first option" and said the next "few hours and days" would show whether progress was possible, while reminding President Trump he retained "other options." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was blunter, describing a "world-class blockade" that had forced Tehran to "cry uncle" and warning the US was prepared to "go back to the War Department to finish the job." Negotiators, meanwhile, were said to be closer to an initial agreement than at any point since the April ceasefire.

On the water, the blockade ground on. Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy said 23 ships had crossed the Strait of Hormuz with its permission in the previous 24 hours, down from 25 the day before, while US Central Command said it had redirected 109 commercial vessels in the Arabian Sea since the blockade of Iranian-linked shipping began on April 13. The Guards' political deputy, Mohammad Akbarzadeh, threatened to turn the coast "from Chabahar to Mahshahr into a graveyard for aggressors" if Washington resumed strikes, even as talks stayed stuck on control of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear file. The hard line tracked Trump's own posture: he had recently dismissed Iranian peace proposals relayed through Pakistan as "total nonsense" and "completely unacceptable," leaving a ceasefire that observers described as on "life support."

Trump used the meeting to project strength on several home fronts. He told officials not to lower National Guard numbers in Washington -- "don't lower the number" -- prompting Hegseth to vow to "surge this summer," and brushed off the war's effect on gas prices, claiming the US produces "more oil by double than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined" and declaring "we don't need the straits." Vice-President JD Vance detailed a fraud task force probing scams across education, housing and Medicaid; Trump said it was finding "billions and billions," pointed to charges in a Minnesota social-services case, touted prescription-drug prices at "a fraction" of past levels, and opened the session asserting "zero illegal aliens" had entered over 12 months and that murder rates had fallen.

The day also reshaped a Senate race. In Texas, state attorney general Ken Paxton defeated four-term Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary, a result Trump -- who had backed Paxton -- marked by attacking the Democratic nominee, Austin state representative James Talarico, as someone who "may be the worst Texas candidate I have ever seen" and "a vegan who dislikes meat." Of Cornyn he was gentler: "John will remain my friend for a long time to come." Texas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, though Republican operatives have privately worried that Paxton's legal troubles make him a riskier nominee.

Away from politics, an industrial disaster unfolded in Washington state. A chemical tank holding roughly 900,000 gallons of caustic "white liquor" imploded at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging paper mill in Longview, killing one worker and leaving nine missing; nine others were injured, including eight employees and a firefighter. Recovery was paused until the unstable tank could be reinforced, with crews able to work only in daylight.