Trump once again says an Iran deal is close. What’s changed?

Summary

Episode Summary: Apple News Today – “Trump cancels strikes and claims a deal is imminent. What changed?”

Date: June 12, 2026
Host: Gideon Resnick (in for Shamita Basu)

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Overview

This episode covers a tumultuous week in global politics, U.S. legal culture, European policy, and sports. The central story unpacks President Trump’s abrupt reversal from escalating U.S. military strikes on Iran to announcing an imminent peace deal, delving into the motivations and skepticism surrounding this shift. Other headlines include Switzerland’s potential population cap, the Supreme Court’s historic-leaning legal arguments, a shift in U.S. intelligence leadership, El Niño’s climatic impact, and a look at the U.S. Men's soccer team’s World Cup prospects.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Trump’s Sudden Shift on Iran

• A "Whipsaw" Week: The episode opens on the sharp pivot from U.S. threats of escalated military action against Iran to President Trump’s declaration of a near-finalized peace deal.

  • “It was a day that began with threats of escalated strikes and ended with optimism.” – Gideon Resnick (00:45)

• The Announced Deal: Trump claims the conflict, now in its fourth month, is close to over and that the Strait of Hormuz could reopen soon. Details are scant, with skepticism running high given previous unfulfilled pledges.

  • “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran, and we're going to be subject to finalization of documents, which should get done over the next few days.” – President Donald Trump (00:50)

• Historical Pattern of Uncertainty:

  • Commentators and journalists highlight this pattern of threats followed by abrupt reversals.
    • “There is a huge amount of skepticism that this is a Groundhog Day moment because it's happened several times.” – Amr Madhani (00:24)
  • While the U.S. claims substantial progress, Iran says it hasn’t reached a final decision despite Trump stating otherwise.

• Escalation and its Impacts:

  • The week included three consecutive days of U.S. strikes following the downing of an American helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz (02:10).
  • Trump’s rationale for optimism rests on claims of Iran taking heavy losses and being eager for a deal.
    • “They've taken a pounding like very few other people could take, and they just simply want to make a deal, and they want to make a deal even a lot more than I do.” – Amr Madhani (quoting Trump, 02:21)
  • Key Negotiation Points: Ensuring Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon (a charge Iran denies) and Iran’s demands to lift international sanctions, free billions in assets, and recognize its control of the Strait of Hormuz (02:47).

• What’s Next:

  • Talks may yield a temporary, possibly 60-day extension while hard issues around Iran’s nuclear program and regional security are tackled.
  • Domestic U.S. pressures—rising inflation and gas prices—could also be driving policy, with Trump under pressure for his timeline promises:
    • “There is also a political pounding that seems to be taking place here in Washington and that may be inching this along as well.” – Amr Madhani (03:45)

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2. Switzerland’s Historic Population Cap Vote

• Background: Switzerland may become the first country to vote on capping population growth (04:19).
• Key Issues:
  • Immigration-driven population growth is driving debates around housing, transit, and sustainability.
  • Conservative Swiss People’s Party proposes a 10 million cap by 2050—triggering restrictions on both asylum and free movement with the EU.
• Criticism and Consequences:
  • Critics note that asylum seekers are a small minority but will face disproportionate impact.
    • “Critics have pointed out that this seems both harsh and unfair, given that they are such a small proportion of the population and are not driving the population growth...” – Jesse Ujewska Stevens (05:36)
  • Blocking EU citizens could upend economic ties. This resonates with other wealthy democracies now questioning the standard “immigration = prosperity” narrative.
• Growing Support:
  • Popularity is rising: from 45% to 52% support in two months (06:53).
    • “This language of presenting this population cap as a solution to unchecked growth itself seems to be resonating with a wider spectrum of the population...” – Jesse Ujewska Stevens (07:00)

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3. Supreme Court’s Turn to “Originalism” – And Founders’ Booze Habits

• Overview: This term’s Court cases are marked by deep dives into esoteric historical texts, as both sides aim to argue from “originalist” stances (07:43).
  • “Originalism is the belief that the meaning of the Constitution's words...doesn't change over time.” – James Remoser (08:07)
• Courtroom Highlights:
  • Lawyers and justices debate 18th and 19th-century dictionaries, legal treatises, even newspaper articles to pin down intentions behind constitutional rights (08:47).
  • Justice Gorsuch’s memorable moment: questioning if Founding Fathers’ drinking would have disqualified them from gun ownership under modern “drug user” laws:
    • “John Adams took a tankard of hard cider with his breakfast every day. James Madison reportedly drank a pint of whiskey every day...Are they all habitual drunkards who would be properly disarmed for life under your theory?” – Justice Neil Gorsuch (09:37)
• Controversy and Limits:
  • Trump administration uses quirky historical documents to try to challenge birthright citizenship (10:50).
    • “They are dusting off a number of quirky historical sources...” – James Remoser (11:02)
  • Chief Justice Roberts, not himself an originalist, points out the eccentricity of the legal sources.

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4. Other Headlines & Notable Segments

Intelligence Leadership Shakeup (11:42)

• President Trump nominates Jay Clayton, former SEC chair, as permanent Director of National Intelligence after previous disputes over an interim pick.

El Niño Alert (12:35)

• NOAA confirms a “Super El Niño” event, expected to significantly impact global weather and exacerbate floods, droughts, and hurricanes (12:54).
  • Previous similar events coincided with record heat years.

U.S. Men's Soccer World Cup Hopes (13:22)

• Brendan Hunt (from “Ted Lasso”) previews the U.S. squad’s strengths and vulnerabilities ahead of their group stage opener.
  • “Those two guys are just phenomenally, phenomenally important.” – Brendan Hunt on Tyler Adams and Chris Richards (13:42)
  • “To not get out of the group stage, which is not impossible...there's no all-star teams either but it's a low ceiling but a high floor, so it could be tough, but I'd be pretty surprised if they didn't make it out.” – Brendan Hunt (14:03)

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Memorable Quotes

• “There is a huge amount of skepticism that this is a Groundhog Day moment because it's happened several times.”
  – Amr Madhani (00:24)

• “John Adams took a tankard of hard cider with his breakfast every day...Are they all habitual drunkards who would be properly disarmed for life under your theory?”
  – Justice Neil Gorsuch (09:37)

• “They're taking a very contrarian view, and their argument is that the 14th Amendment actually has been misunderstood all along...”
  – James Remoser on birthright citizenship arguments (10:29)

• “This language of presenting this population cap as a solution to unchecked growth itself seems to be resonating with a wider spectrum of the population...”
  – Jesse Ujewska Stevens (07:00)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Trump and Iran – The shifting deal: 00:45 – 04:19
• Switzerland’s population vote: 04:19 – 07:43
• Supreme Court and originalism: 07:43 – 11:25
  • Gorsuch's Founding Fathers alcohol quip: 09:37
• Intelligence director nomination: 11:42 – 12:27
• El Niño declared: 12:35 – 13:22
• US Men's Soccer preview with Brendan Hunt: 13:22 – 14:21

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Tone and Style

The episode is brisk, journalistic, and insightful, blending on-the-ground reporting, expert interviews, political skepticism, and the occasional dry humor (especially in covering Supreme Court oral arguments).

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Conclusion

The episode provides an informed, multifaceted look at politics, policy, legal culture, environment, and sports, highlighting how old patterns, public anxiety, and changing political winds drive global headlines—even as the cast of characters and rhetorical tactics remain all too familiar.

Transcript

[News Anchor]

Good morning.

[Gideon Resnick]

President Trump backs away from strikes on

[News Anchor]

Iran and once again says a deal is close. The AP tells us what to make of this Whipsaw week.

[Amr Madhani]

There was just this feeling that for all intents and purposes, this idea of a ceasefire had become rendered meaningless.

[Gideon Resnick]

Why one European country may vote to cap its population, and how a Supreme

[News Anchor]

Court justice came to draw upon the founding father's drinking habits in an important case.

[Gideon Resnick]

It's Friday, June 12th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Vassu. This is Apple News.

[News Anchor]

Today.

[Gideon Resnick]

It was a day that began with

[News Anchor]

threats of escalated strikes and ended with optimism.

[President Donald Trump]

We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran, and we're going to be subject to finalization of documents, which should get done over the next few days.

[Gideon Resnick]

President Trump spoke with reporters from the

[News Anchor]

Oval Office about the makings of a deal that would end the conflict that has now stretched into its fourth month.

[Gideon Resnick]

He didn't expand much on the details,

[News Anchor]

but said that when an agreement is signed, potentially as soon as this weekend, the Strait of Hormuz would reopen.

[Gideon Resnick]

It's far from the first time that

[News Anchor]

the president has leveled threats against Iran, only to reel them in and promise an approaching end to the war.

[Amr Madhani]

There is a huge amount of skepticism that this is a Groundhog Day moment because it's happened several times.

[Gideon Resnick]

Amr Madhani is a White House reporter

[News Anchor]

for the Associated Press.

[Amr Madhani]

That is the huge caveat that this could fall apart, just like all those other times when Trump has said, I am on the cusp of a deal. We're just going to have to wait and see if this happens.

[Gideon Resnick]

To that end, Iran said on Thursday

[News Anchor]

that it had not reached a final

[Gideon Resnick]

decision on the agreement, despite the fact

[News Anchor]

that Trump said he believed that Iran's new supreme leader had approved it.

[Gideon Resnick]

The announcement from the president came after

[News Anchor]

a dramatic week of escalation that seemed as though it could draw Iran, Israel, and the US Back into a significant armed conflict in the region.

[Gideon Resnick]

Last night would have marked the third

[News Anchor]

day of US Strikes on Iran following the downing of an American helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz.

[Gideon Resnick]

On Monday, Manhani said the president suggested

[News Anchor]

that retaliation had made an impact.

[Amr Madhani]

The question he got over and over again is, what's different now? And the best answer he could give of what's different now is they've taken a pounding like very few other people could take, and they just simply want to make a deal, and they want to make a deal even a lot more than I do.

[News Anchor]

Ultimately, President Trump said that any deal has to ensure that Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon, something it denies it's trying to do.

[Gideon Resnick]

And in turn, Iran has stated that

[News Anchor]

it wants lifting of international sanctions, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets, and recognition of its control of the Strai.

[Gideon Resnick]

Madhani said.

[News Anchor]

What could be agreed to next here is essentially the start of an even harder conversation.

[Amr Madhani]

The idea would be to get maybe a 60 day extension as something they've talked about in the past, and that would give them the time to focus in on some of the really important issues on Iran's nuclear program and the US And Israel trying to get answers and trying to be sated with their concerns, essentially the justification for why they started this war to begin with.

[News Anchor]

There are also domestic economic pressures at

[Gideon Resnick]

play with rising inflation and the prospect

[News Anchor]

of continued high gas prices as Americans travel over the summer.

[Gideon Resnick]

So as much as negotiating may have

[News Anchor]

been successful, it's possible that grim economic numbers could be moving the needle.

[Amr Madhani]

This was a war that he promised would last four to six weeks, and now we're talking about reaching into maybe a fourth month. And he may be right that the pounding is taking effect on Iran. But there is also a political pounding that seems to be taking place here in Washington and that may be inching this along as well.

[Gideon Resnick]

Voters in Switzerland will head to the

[News Anchor]

polls this weekend to decide if the country will be the first in the world to cap its population.

[Jesse Ujewska Stevens]

And compared to previous initiatives, this one has really struck a nerve.

[Gideon Resnick]

Jesse Ujewska Stevens is following the selection

[News Anchor]

for the New Yorker from Switzerland.

[Jesse Ujewska Stevens]

It brings together debates over immigration, the rapid pace of population growth because Switzerland is such an attractive destination, and discontent over what is framed as the consequences of that growth.

[Gideon Resnick]

Switzerland's population has grown by over 25%

[News Anchor]

since the year 2000, with immigration accounting for most of that increase.

[Gideon Resnick]

The conservative Swiss People's Party, or SVP

[News Anchor]

for short, argues that growth is straining housing, transportation and public infrastructure.

[Gideon Resnick]

So the party wants to cap the

[News Anchor]

population at 10 million until 2050 to preserve what it says is Switzerland's long term sustainability. The SVP has proposed two ways to keep the country below that threshold.

[Gideon Resnick]

First, if the population surpasses 9.5 million,

[News Anchor]

the government would be required to restrict asylum seekers.

[Gideon Resnick]

Last year, just over 7,000 people seeking

[News Anchor]

asylum were granted a refugee permit in Switzerland, a small portion of the country's net migration, which is roughly 80,000 people a year.

[Jesse Ujewska Stevens]

And critics have pointed out that this seems both harsh and unfair, given that they are such a small proportion of the population and are not driving the population growth that the initiative ostensibly aims to target.

[Gideon Resnick]

If the population surpasses 10 million people

[News Anchor]

for two years in a row, then

[Gideon Resnick]

the government would be required to block

[News Anchor]

citizens of the EU from living, working, and studying in Switzerland without a visa and to limit Swiss residents from doing the same. Now that could dramatically reshape the country's economy.

[Jesse Ujewska Stevens]

Throughout the 20th century, Switzerland became one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. And this success, this prosperity, has largely been the product of being such an attractive place for foreign workers. So were that agreement to be canceled, it would have cascading effects on the other by bilateral agreements, and that would be a major rupture for those relations.

[Gideon Resnick]

One labor economist told Yujewska Stevens that

[News Anchor]

this could jeopardize all of the EU's agreements with Switzerland, which is significant as the EU is Switzerland's closest partner in trade and security. The Swiss government opposes the measure and in fact, implored people to vote against it earlier this year.

[Gideon Resnick]

But since Switzerland has a direct democracy,

[News Anchor]

voters will get the final say, and

[Gideon Resnick]

it's been gaining popularity in recent months.

[News Anchor]

In one survey conducted in April, 52% of respondents said they support the measure. That's up from 45% in March.

[Jesse Ujewska Stevens]

This language of presenting this population cap as a solution to unchecked growth itself seems to be resonating with a wider spectrum of the population than your average initiative that is simply more aimed against foreign migration. And I think that one thing that is interesting or illustrative for other wealthy democracies is this messaging suggests perhaps, that the standard sales pitch for immigration that it boosts the economy might not be as persuasive as it once was.

[News Anchor]

June is typically the busiest month for the Supreme Court, and this year is no different.

[Gideon Resnick]

The justices have many consequential cases left

[News Anchor]

to decide this term, among them the

[Gideon Resnick]

legality of mail in ballots, gun rights

[News Anchor]

for drug users, and birthright citizenship.

[Gideon Resnick]

But what's notable about this term is how more and more obscure and sometimes

[News Anchor]

bizarre historical arguments have made it before the Court in the name of a legal philosophy known as originalism.

[James Remoser]

Originalism is the belief that the meaning of the Constitution's words, the meaning of its text, doesn't change over time.

[Gideon Resnick]

James Remoser is the Supreme Court reporter

[News Anchor]

for the Wall Street Journal.

[James Remoser]

So the meaning of the Constitution's provisions when they were ratified is what they should mean today, and that's how the Supreme Court should interpret them in modern times.

[Gideon Resnick]

Originalism isn't a new concept by any

[News Anchor]

stretch, but Ramoser reports that the Court's current conservative majority is embracing it with gusto and that's meant that lawyers on both sides of cases are turning into de facto amateur historians in order to help support their arguments.

[James Remoser]

Things like dictionary entries from the 19th century or obscure newspaper articles or legal treatises written in the 1700s or the 1800s to try to figure out what people at the time understood to be the meaning of certain statutes or of certain constitutional provisions, they really have dusted off all kinds of arcane evidence.

[News Anchor]

Several arguments this term have devolved into theoretical and academic debates over what historical sources actually mean.

[Gideon Resnick]

That came up in oral arguments in

[News Anchor]

US V. The case where justices are considering whether people who use illegal drugs should be allowed to own guns. The challenge for an originalist approach here is that drug use and addiction was not widely understood in the 19th century. And so Justice Neil Gorsuch reached for another example.

[Justice Neil Gorsuch]

John Adams took a tankard of hard cider with his breakfast every day. James Madison reportedly drank a pint of whiskey every day. Thomas Jefferson said he wasn't much of an user of alcohol. He only had three or four glasses of wine a night. Okay, are they all habitual drunkards who would be properly disarmed for life under your theory?

[Gideon Resnick]

His argument there is if being intoxicated

[News Anchor]

disqualified a person from gun ownership, some of the very people who wrote the Second Amendment might be in that group.

[Gideon Resnick]

Advocates for originalism say that these kinds

[News Anchor]

of arguments, even if they appear strange, are the only way to ensure that modern justice is infringe on constitutional rights. The legal philosophy is also being applied in President Trump's efforts to end birthright citizenship, long believed to extend to any person born on US soil, as enshrined in the 14th Amendment.

[James Remoser]

They're taking a very contrarian view, and their argument is that the 14th Amendment actually has been misunderstood all along and that the original meaning of birthright citizenship in the 14th Amendment was never to extend citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants.

[Gideon Resnick]

To defend the position, the administration has

[News Anchor]

used artifacts, including an 1881 document from a Confederate officer trying to deny citizenship to Chinese immigrants and another unsigned letter purportedly written by President Andrew Johnson.

[James Remoser]

They are dusting off a number of quirky historical sources to try to make that point. And I use the word quirky because that's the word that Chief Justice John Roberts used in the oral arguments when he was grilling Trump's solicitor General about the historical sources that the administration has marshaled.

[Gideon Resnick]

Ramoser notes that Roberts is the only

[News Anchor]

member of the conservative majority who does not identify as an originalist, despite the fact that he is a history buff.

[Gideon Resnick]

Here's a few other stories we're following today. Amid a firestorm over his last election, President Trump nominated a permanent replacement to

[News Anchor]

be the next Director of National Intelligence. Jay Clayton, the US Attorney in Manhattan was named after members of both parties revolted over Trump's prior temporary pick, Bill Pulte, a housing official with no intelligence experience.

[Gideon Resnick]

Pulte's appointment had stalled efforts to renew

[News Anchor]

what is known as fisa, a federal surveillance authority. Lawmakers left Washington yesterday after rejecting a short term extension.

[Gideon Resnick]

Clayton is a former securities and Exchange

[News Anchor]

Commission chair and came recommended by CIA Director John Ratliff.

[Gideon Resnick]

While some Democrats praised the selection, others

[News Anchor]

said that Trump would need to remove Pulte in the interim.

[Gideon Resnick]

The Senate Intelligence Committee scheduled a hearing

[News Anchor]

with Clayton for next week with the aim of filling the permanent spot soon. El Nino has officially begun.

[Gideon Resnick]

The national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed

[News Anchor]

the phenomenon's presence, which is marked by a warming of the Pacific Ocean ocean near the equator.

[Gideon Resnick]

El Nino has the power to affect

[News Anchor]

weather patterns around the world, likely driving higher temperatures and exacerbating flood and drought conditions.

[Gideon Resnick]

NOAA said that this year's pattern could be strong enough to rank among the

[News Anchor]

largest events on record, leading some scientists to declare it a potential Super El Nino.

[Gideon Resnick]

Weather outcomes vary by area.

[News Anchor]

As a result of El Nino, for

[Gideon Resnick]

example, the Middle east could see some

[News Anchor]

relief from drought, while places in the Pacific, like Hawaii are at an increased risk of hurricanes. The pattern typically peaks in winter and causes higher temperatures the following year. The previous el Nino in 2023 and 2024 coincided with the two hottest years on record.

[Gideon Resnick]

And finally tonight, the US Men's national

[News Anchor]

team will play their first official match in the World cup group stage against Paraguay.

[Gideon Resnick]

It'll take place in Los Angeles. Brendan Hunt, who you might know from

[News Anchor]

Ted Lasso and one of the hosts of the Apple News original podcast after the Whistle, says that along with winger Christian Pulisic, there are two other US Players that he'll be watching.

[Brendan Hunt]

Two players who are in the spine of the team who are both immensely important and also a little bit injury prone, which is the central midfielder Tyler Adams and the central defender Chris Richards. Those two guys are just phenomenally, phenomenally important.

[Gideon Resnick]

Hunt says he feels pretty good about

[News Anchor]

the U.S. team's chance of making it out of the group stage, where they will also play Turkey and Australia.

[Brendan Hunt]

To not get out of the group stage, which is not impossible. You know, the US doesn't have any mugs in their group. There's no tomato cans. Like there's no all star teams either but it's a low ceiling but a high floor, so it could be tough, but I'd be pretty surprised if they didn't make it out.

[Gideon Resnick]

Beyond that, it's hard to know exactly

[News Anchor]

how the US Men's team will fare.

[Gideon Resnick]

But to hear more from Hunt on

[News Anchor]

the team's chances, the players to watch,

[Gideon Resnick]

and why a deep run could bring the country together, check out this week's episode of Apple News in Conversation if you're listening in the news app that

[News Anchor]

is queued up to play for you next.

[Gideon Resnick]

If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News in Conversation

[News Anchor]

to find that episode, or just come back to the Apple News Today feed tomorrow.

[Gideon Resnick]

All new episodes of In Conversation will

[News Anchor]

be available there on Saturdays as well.

[Gideon Resnick]

Enjoy the weekend, and I'll be back

[News Anchor]

with the news on Monday.