A proposed peace agreement between Iran and the US seemed to remain on the table on Tuesday despite US bombing Iranian targets.
The Iranian foreign ministry denounced the US attack – aimed at missile launchers and efforts to lay fresh mines in the strait of Hormuz – as “an act of bad faith” and “a definitive violation of the ceasefire” and said it would not leave aggression unanswered. But it did not pull out of the talks that were continuing under the joint mediation of Pakistan and Qatar.
The Iranian military announced no specific reprisals, suggesting it did not want the attack – which killed four Iranian soldiers – to disrupt the delicate last steps towards an agreement that it intends to hail as one of the great milestones in Iran’s history of resistance. Brent oil futures climbed 4% after news of the renewed fighting.
In a sign that Donald Trump recognises the conflict has reached a decisive point, he had been due to convene a rare cabinet meeting at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, but on Tuesday he said on Truth Social that this had been postponed due to bad weather.
Iran remains in peace talks despite first US strikes since ceasefire
As Trump continued to face questions about how a planned peace deal would achieve the objectives he set out at the start of the war, he appeared to copy and paste a rambling social media post from last week that claimed Democrats and the media would proclaim an Iranian victory even if Tehran “surrenders, admits their Navy is gone and resting at the bottom of the sea, and their Air Force is no longer with us, and if their entire Military walks out of Tehran, weapons dropped and hands held high, each shouting ‘I surrender, I surrender’ while wildly waving the representative White Flag”.
South Carolina Republicans defy Trump again to reject rapid redistricting drive
In a 26-18 vote, state senators rejected mid-decade redistricting in a special session of the legislature, ending hope in Washington to split up congressman Jim Clyburn’s district and add to the list of gerrymandered gains for Republicans.
Alabama’s new Republican-friendly voting map blocked
Alabama cannot use a new Republican-friendly map in this year’s midterm elections because it was drawn to intentionally discriminate against Black voters, a panel of three federal judges ruled on Tuesday. The state will probably appeal to the US supreme court.
White House proposes NDAs for federal workers
Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed asking federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements with the goal of preventing them from sharing confidential information with journalists.
US senator says he was pepper-sprayed by federal agents during protest at ICE facility
Andy Kim, a Democratic senator, said he was pepper sprayed by federal agents on Monday during a protest at a New Jersey detention facility.
Video posted on social media showed Kim receiving help from a volunteer who is seen pouring water in his eyes outside Delaney Hall in Newark, where detainees are reportedly staging a hunger strike against poor conditions and denial of medical care.
UFC arena under construction on White House lawn to mark Trump’s 80th birthday
Construction is under way on the White House lawn for an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) arena that will host a cage match next month to mark the US’s 250th anniversary and Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.
The mixed martial arts fight is planned for 14 June.
What else happened today:
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Clarence B Jones, a former speechwriter and confidant of Martin Luther King Jr who helped pen his famous “I have a dream” speech, has died. He was 95.
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Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman who just lost his primary to a Trump-picked candidate, filed to run again for the seat in 2028.
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Nasa announced on Tuesday ambitious plans for three uncrewed lunar missions this year to kickstart construction of a $20bn moon base, and said it had chosen the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, ahead of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to conduct the first.
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A woman fired by an Indiana university over her Facebook post criticizing far-right commentator Charlie Kirk after he was killed will receive $225,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused her former employer of violating her free speech rights, the woman’s attorneys said on Tuesday.
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Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, on Tuesday added to his lengthening catalog of bizarre wild animal encounters by posting to social media a video of himself in Florida wrestling with two snakes.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 25 May 2026.
