5 Big News Stories Overnight - Friday, June 19, 2026

MoU’s $300bn Iran reconstruction fund becomes US political flashpoint

Al Jazeera reports:

A provision in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the US-Israel war with Iran has become the latest political flashpoint in Washington, with President Donald Trump defending the commitment to create a $300bn reconstruction plan for Iran.

Trump and Vice President JD Vance both sought to reassure on Thursday that the commitment would not be funded by US taxpayers. Still, several Democrats and a handful of Republicans have seized on the planned fund at a time when affordability and economic populism have dominated the country’s electoral politics.

The MoU, signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday, says only that the US “undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

Boy, 3, thrown to crocodiles at UK zoo

The Telegraph reports:

A three-year-old boy was in a critical condition on Thursday night after he was thrown into a crocodile enclosure at a Cambridgeshire zoo.

Police said they had arrested a 30-year-old British man from Norfolk on suspicion of attempted murder after the incident at Johnsons Zoo, near Huntingdon, on Thursday afternoon.

The suspect and the boy, who was taken by air ambulance to Addenbrooke’s hospital with serious injuries, were not believed to have known each other, officers added.

Iran announces plans to bring in maritime fees for strait of Hormuz

The Guardian reports:

Iran has announced plans to introduce a system of maritime fees in the strait of Hormuz in two months, after the 60-day period of negotiation that has been triggered by the signing of the memorandum of understanding.

Tehran, claiming a historic victory over the US, said the strait was under its control and a European plan for a naval mission to escort ships though the strait would not be welcome.

The warning came as the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had said Israel “will maintain the security zone in south Lebanon as long as our security needs require it”, referring to the more than 600 sq km of Lebanese territory occupied by Israeli troops along the border.

Poll: 71% of Israelis don’t trust Trump to look out for them in Iran deal; just 11% say Israel won war

Times of Israel reports:

A poll by [an Israeli TV station] finds that only a sliver of Israelis feel their country won the Iran war, or trust US President Donald Trump to look out for their interests as he negotiates a deal with the Islamic Republic.

In addition, most feel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct hurt Israel’s interests in the US-Iran agreement.

The numbers mark a stark departure from the robust support Israelis have given Trump for years in poll after poll. Now, however, there is deep concern across Israel over the terms of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed this week, while a series of recent harsh public criticisms of Israeli officials from both Trump and US Vice President JD Vance point to a rift in the US-Israel relationship.

Asked whether they trust Trump to look out for Israeli interests in an agreement with Iran, 71% said they don’t, while just 13% said they do and another 16% don’t know.
 

Senator Warren Blasts Trump's Iran Deal

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, issued the below statement on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed to by the United States and Iran:

“President Trump should have never dragged the United States into war with Iran in the first place, and the American people have paid the price for the dumbest foreign policy decision in a generation. Fourteen brave servicemembers were killed and hundreds more have been injured, families have suffered higher gas and groceries bills, and countless innocent civilians, including children at an Iranian school for girls, were killed.  

“I am glad the conflict has halted as the result of negotiations. But no one in the Trump administration or his Republican enablers in Congress–who repeatedly voted to continue military action–can explain how people in Massachusetts and across our nation are safer or better off because of the war.

“Trump’s war is a failure by his administration's own metrics: Iran is now a more extreme regime with greater leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. I hope this deal means his war is over. The only way to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon is through a diplomatic agreement–which Trump ripped up, went to war instead, and then negotiated worse terms.

“The burden is now on the Trump administration to inform Congress and the public on the details of the U.S.-Iran deal, explain its sanctions approach, and ensure we end this destructive and costly war.”