Tehran says Israel’s operation in Lebanon is violation of existing ceasefire with US, throwing wrench in planned peace talks – key US politics stories from Monday 1 June
Peace talks planned between the US and Iran are in limbo yet again, sparked by the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.
The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said “unequivocal violation of the ceasefire on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts” and the US and Israel would be held responsible. A news agency aligned to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Tehran was suspending its participation in talks designed to end the blockade of the strait of Hormuz.
Donald Trump spent some of Monday mediating with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and representatives of Hezbollah.
The US president said in a social media post that both agreed that “all shooting will stop”.
According to a statement by Lebanon’s presidency, under the proposed arrangement Israel would not strike Beirut’s southern suburbs if Hezbollah did not launch attacks against Israel.
But that arrangement was uncertain later on Monday as the Israeli military says it has intercepted two rockets launched from Lebanon into Israel territory.
Iran has indicated it is suspending all further contacts through mediators with the US over the Israeli offensive in Lebanon and as the two sides skirmished amid a faltering ceasefire.
The apparent collapse of talks followed the US hitting Iranian radar and drone sites at the weekend and Tehran on Monday saying it had countered by targeting a military base in Kuwait that it claimed was involved in the US operation.
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Democrats in the US Senate vowed to force Republicans to vote on a $1.8bn “Maga slush fund” established as part of a resolution of Donald Trump’s long-shot lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
The US president has described the secretive and loosely controlled “anti-weaponization fund” as a means of paying the victims of politicized prosecutions. Members of his own party are among those who have expressed alarm.
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Jerome Powell, the former chair of the Federal Reserve, has warned that a single act of political interference in monetary policy could permanently destroy public trust in the central bank.
As Donald Trump’s administration continues to test the Fed’s longstanding independence, Powell said in a speech on Sunday night that the institution was in the midst of a “stress test”.
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Tina Peters, the former clerk convicted of participating in a scheme to chase election conspiracy theories promulgated by Donald Trump, was released from prison on Monday after the president successfully pressured Colorado’s Democratic governor into commuting her sentence.
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On Monday afternoon, over an hour south of Newark, a few dozen protesters outside the New Jersey state legislature in Trenton condemned Democratic governor Mikie Sherrill’s decision to send in the state police to Delaney Hall, the Newark immigration detention center that has seen more than a week of chaotic and often violent clashes.
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Transgender troops can remain in the US military, but the armed services can continue to block their enlistment, an appeals court ruled on Monday in a split decision with potentially significant consequences for the Trump administration’s anti-diversity agenda.
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Officials in New Jersey said on Monday that several protesters were arrested overnight for defying a curfew at Delaney Hall, the Newark immigration detention center that has seen more than a week of chaotic and often violent clashes.
Hackers used Meta’s AI-powered support chatbot to infiltrate high-profile Instagram accounts, the company confirmed on Monday, saying it had resolved the problem after researchers exposed it. The targets ranged from Barack Obama’s White House account to Sephora and the US Space Force Chief Master Sergeant, according to reporting from 404 Media.
With the Fifa World Cup just two weeks away, immigrant rights advocates in the 11 US host cities are mobilizing to protect fans and residents from immigration enforcement activities this summer.
Tech billionaires have shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars ahead of the 2 June primary election in California, in an unrivaled attempt to influence who gets to run the state that Silicon Valley calls home.
The conservative California community of Huntington Beach, known for banning the Pride flag from city property and fighting the state over pandemic and housing policy, could soon be represented by a gay, Democratic congressman.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 31 May 2026.
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