Jun 22, 2019

Trump tweets: U.S. to impose "major" new sanctions on Iran

Alex Wong/Getty Images

In a string of Saturday tweets, President Trump announced that the U.S. plans to impose major new economic sanctions on Iran starting Monday, within days of abruptly aborting a plan to launch airstrikes against the nation.

What he's saying:

  • Speaking to reporters Saturday morning on the White House lawn before leaving for Camp David, Trump said military force against Iran is "always on the table until we get this resolved," Bloomberg reports.
  • “We’ll see with Iran,” he said. “Everyone was saying I’m a warmonger and now they’re saying I’m a dove.” Instead, Trump described himself as “a man with common sense,” per Bloomberg.

The backdrop: Earlier this week, Trump authorized a retaliatory strike after Iran for downing an unmanned American drone. He aborted the mission Thursday night, saying he decided the casualty count was disproportionate.

Go deeper: Iran timeline: How Trump and Tehran came to the bring of war

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Rebecca Falconer
Updated 32 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Updates: George Floyd protests nationwide

Police officers wearing riot gear push back demonstrators outside of the White House on Monday. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images

Protests over the death of George Floyd and other police-related killings of black people continued across the U.S., inciting a federal response from President Trump, the National Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

The latest: Immigration agents have been deployed to assist federal, state and local law enforcement. The U.S. Secret Service closed the streets immediately on all four sides of the White House Tuesday, until "riots become peaceful, or stop."

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Miriam Kramer
38 mins ago - Science

NASA passes the torch

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

With the historic crewed SpaceX launch last weekend, NASA passed the torch to private companies that will need to step up to build the economy the space agency envisions in orbit.

Why it matters: This new era of spaceflight will likely be marked by new conflicts — possibly including product placement (like the Tesla that drove the astronauts to the pad on Saturday), safety concerns and cultural differences between companies, the space agencies and people they serve.

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Axios
Updated 1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 1 p.m. ET: 6,309,107 — Total deaths: 376,885 — Total recoveries — 2,725,627 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 12:30 p.m. ET: 1,812,742 — Total deaths: 105,475 — Total recoveries: 458,231 — Total tested: 17,340,682 — Map.
  3. Public health: Protests against police brutality threaten coronavirus response — Controlling the coronavirus in nursing homes won't be easy.
  4. Business: More than 1 in 6 black workers lost jobs between February and April.
  5. Climate: The alarm over climate financial risk gets louder because of coronavirus.
  6. Media: Interest in the George Floyd protests has soared past the coronavirus.
Other resources (<1 min. read)Arrow