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From Executive producer Isaac Saul this is T.
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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening and welcome to the Tangle Podcast, a place where you get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of our take. I'm your host TODAY Senior Editor Will K. Back wishing you all a very happy Thursday. I had the great pleasure to wake up this morning in Winchester, Kentucky where I'm spending the weekend. It's just outside of Lexington and let me tell you, it is a beautiful place. It is as lush and as rolling and as hilly and as horsey as advertised. If you haven't been out to Kentucky, I highly, highly recommend it. And if you happen to be listening in Kentucky, well howdy. It'll also be nice to enjoy a bit of a long weekend out here. It's a short week for us at Tangle because we observe all bank holidays and tomorrow is Juneteenth. So a note up front that we are not going to be publishing an edition tomorrow. With that said, if you are interested in getting an on the ground perspective of people's thoughts about Juneteenth, which is a relatively new holiday, as well as how it came to be, you should head over to our YouTube channel and check out a video that we published in 2024 which featured Isaac very much in his element on the streets of Philadelphia, interviewing people about what they think about the holiday and how they were planning to celebrate it. Now, with all that said, we have got quite a ways to go until the long weekend. The past few days have been dominated by the news of a preliminary agreement to end the Iran war, and yesterday and even this morning brought the release of the full memorandum of understanding that was signed by the US And Iran this week. So today we're gonna break down what's in the agreement and I'll share some of my thoughts on why it's caused such an uproar on both sides of the political spectrum. And then we will round out the episode with an interesting update on aviation safety in the United States, as well as our now regular feature on the stories that we didn't cover during the week. All right, let's get right into it. I'm gonna pass it over to John. John, over to you.
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Thanks, Will, and welcome everybody. Hope y' all have been having a great week. Looking forward to the weekend. Myself, quick note that we have a new episode of Suspension of the Rules out and guess what? I'm actually on this one. Isaac's father, Bailey, myself, and of course Isaac, Ari and Camille are on the podcast talking about fatherhood. We realized that we represent different phases of fatherhood and wanted to get into a discussion about it. So we all sat down and shared our different experiences. You can listen to this special edition episode on Apple Music, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. And of course we film the whole thing so it is up on YouTube. I highly suggest you actually go and check out the YouTube episode. There's a couple of fun little additions that I put in there that I think y' all will enjoy. Alright, with all that said, here are today's quick hits. First up, the Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.5 to 3.75%. In Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Marsh's first FOMC meeting as chair. Nine policymakers signaled that they expected at least one interest rate increase in 2026. Number two, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the government cannot prosecute individuals for illegal gun possession solely because they are recreational cannabis users. Number three, Republican lawmakers in Georgia opted not to pursue redrawing the state's congressional map for the 2028 elections, though they said they may revisit the plan at a later date. Number four, the U.S. southern Command said that it struck a boat allegedly operated by designated terrorist organizations in the Eastern Pacific, killing one but leaving two survivors. The Coast Guard was notified for search and rescue operations. And number five, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the Pentagon will review the US Military's presence in Europe and could reduce its contrib contributions to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization if other member states do not meet their defense spending obligations.
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President Trump says a deal between the United States and Iran is quote now complete Calling on this a ceasefire as you can see on social media for rapid response saying a deal with the Islamic Republican of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all. I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz and simultaneously here within authorized the immediate removal of the United States naval blockade. Ships of the world, start your engines. Let the oil flow. This from President Donald Trump.
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On Wednesday, both the United States and Iran remotely signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war between the two countries after more than 100 days of conflict. The White House also announced the details of the 14 point plan, which include calls for the United States and Iran to allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz and commits the United States to facilitating a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran. For context, the US and Israel launched a coordinated military campaign against Iran on February 28, 2026. After more than five weeks of fighting, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire on April 7. In the months since, the US and Iran have each conducted sporadic military operations, including exchanging airstri last week after an Iranian drone hit a US Helicopter. President Donald Trump had previously announced the agreement on Sunday, calling it a great deal before heading to the G7 summit in Avion les Bains, France. The deal includes 14 individual terms for trade. Iran will immediately open the Strait of Hormuz without tolls for 60 days, with shipping volumes returning to pre war levels within 30 days. And the US will lift its naval blockade in parallel on Iran's nuclear program. Iran reaffirms it will not pursue a nuclear weapon while the US Agrees to not impose new sanctions or deploy additional forces in the region pending a final deal for oil production. The US Agrees to allow Iran to resume exports of crude oil and petroleum products and unfreeze Iran's assets. The US will also develop a $300 billion reconstruction project in cooperation with unspecified regional partners in the Middle East. Separately, the MOU states that the ceasefire will extend to Lebanon, although Israel has said that the deal will not obligate it to pull its forces out of the country. Israel conducted airstrikes on Lebanon yesterday, killing at least three people. President Trump has described the deal as achieving 99.9% of his goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, pointing to Iran's reaffirmation in the MOU that it will not produce one. Iran has confirmed the details of the plan, but Iranian spokesperson Ismail Ba' ui emphasized Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity were integral to the deal. After the details were released, many US Legislators were critical. We get a deal that just reopens the strait that was already open before he started a war. How is that a win? Said Representative Seth Moulton, the Democrat from Massachusetts. History teaches us that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is a bad idea, senator Ted Cruz said today. We'll share arguments from the left and the right, and then Senior editor Will Kbach will give his take.
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Alright, first up, let's start with what the left is saying. The left calls the deal a failure, with many saying it will define Trump's legacy. Some criticize Trump for forsaking his promise to the Iranian people. Others argue the deal heralds a shift in the new world order in the nation. David Ferris called the deal total humiliation. For Trump, the deal represents a humiliating strategic defeat and immediately ends the Islamic Republic's long international isol, with virtually no concessions from Tehran whatsoever, Ferris wrote. While U.S. officials failed to broker any serious linkage between Iran's nuclear program and aid resumption, Tehran achieved a linkage breakthrough of its own. Iranian negotiators tied the negotiating window to stopping Israel's reckless bombing attacks in Lebanon. Once Iran succeeded in keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed with minimal effort. And once the US Gave up on any attempt to force it open with history's most powerful navy, Tehran realized it held all the cards, ferris said. Shielded from military reprisals and with a promise from the United States to respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to refrain from interfering in each other's internal affairs, Iran is now well on the road to regional hegemony. Trump will now have to live with the reality that for all of the horrific long term damage he has inflicted on the United States and its political system, the debacle in Iran may be the humiliating foundation of his legacy. In Ms. Now, Holly DeGrasse said Trump abandoned the Iranian cause. Anti regime Iranians have been on an emotional rollercoaster for months. Protests that began in late December turned into a bloody January uprising in which security forces killed thousands of civilians President Donald Trump urged the Iranian people on January 13 to keep protesting, promising that help is on the way, digris wrote. Meanwhile, they watched as U.S. officials negotiated with a regime that had slaughtered fellow Iranians, including children, and even said they would be honored to meet those leaders. As the conflict continued, Iranian civil infrastructure has been increasingly damaged, not just the accidental US Strike on an elementary school in Manab, but also, more recently, drinking water structures. The economic consequences for Iranians have also been severe. The conflict is estimated to have cost at least 1 million Iranian jobs, Degra said. The war and the broader US treatment of Iran issues have left many in and outside of Iran wondering whether the US Remains committed to supporting the Iranian people at all. In Bloomberg, Andreas Kluth said America's loss to Iran will unravel geopolitics for the world as a whole. The ramifications of this stalemate will be just as large, kluth wrote. America's war against Iran differs from Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, but the two conflicts have this in in each case, the president of an erstwhile superpower attacked a second rate power and failed to defeat it. One result is that America and Russia in different ways will come out of their wars of choice exhausted and diminish a third power. China has of course been watching this slow but accelerating self sabotage by America and Russia. Its leader Xi Jinping is seeing his assumptions confirmed, kluth said. One is that Moscow will be no more than a junior partner to Beijing, useful in balancing against the US but no match in any non nuclear arena of power, economic, technological or political. Another is that America is in a secular decline which will leave China stronger as long as it conserves its own resources. Alright, that is it for what the left is saying. Which brings us to what the right is saying. The right is mixed though Many suggest Trump lost out in the deal. Some say the deal allows the US to adjust its Middle east strategy. Others predict Vice President Vance will take the fall if the deal falls through. The New York Post editorial board said the deal gives the Islamic Republic big wins up front and America nothing. As best we can tell, the deal does nothing to achieve the aims America started the war with, but does hand Tehran a whole series of gains, the board wrote. Iran gets at least a few billion in immediate funds and can start selling oil right away, with at least some of the other sanctions dropped as well. Moreover, Tehran wins unprecedented authority over the Strait of Hormuz and likely locks in Hezbollah's dominance in Lebanon. Recall our goals. The press opened combat seeking to permanently end Iran's nuclear threat and also eliminate its missiles and other offensive capabilities. And we also hoped for regime change. The bombing set back Iran's nuke programs, took out a lot of missiles and missile factories, and decapitated most of the regime's top leadership. All the talks since the start of April have done nothing more, indeed, have only let new Iranian leaders rebuild and regroup even as the populace suffers, the board said. It seems to us that Team Trump doesn't want to use force to open the strait. It's panicking over oil prices and the midterms and just wants to forget its promises to help the Iranian people. In the American conservative Eldar Mamedov suggested the deal could help transform America's Middle east strategy. The deal has far wider geopolitical ramifications than a transactional ceasefire. That is because it reveals the limits of American power and opens the path to a long overdue US Strategic recalibration in the Middle east, mamedov wrote. This outcome need not be seen as catastrophic. It can instead produce a realistic assessment of American presence and partnerships in the Middle East. The strategic opportunity is now visible. The deal allows the United States to do what it should have done a decade recalibrate its regional posture downward while ensuring that no single power Iranian, Saudi, Turkish or Israeli dominates the Gulf, mamedov said. The primary responsibility for regional security would likely shift to an alignment of regional powers. These states have the economic weight, military capacity and diplomatic relationships with Tehran to manage the regional frameworks without direct American combat involvement. In the Spectator, Freddie Gray asked, will the Iran deal destroy JD Vance? Both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though keen to show their commitment to Trump's agenda, have tried to distance themselves from his unpopular war and its ramifications on their presidential ambitions, gray wrote. The difference is that Rubio has privately expressed reservations about negotiating with the Iranians, whereas Vance has become the frontman of the ongoing peace process. This week he has appeared on almost every American news channel, selling the MoU as Iran's last chance to come in from the diplomatic cold. If the deal collapses or is widely seen as a humiliation for America, Vance will be dismissed as a foreign policy dunce. It's notable that the odds on him becoming the next Republican presidential nominee are lengthening. While Rubio's have shortened, sources close to Vance have let it be known he is now considering not running in 2028. Gray said Trump's war seems destined to force a painful reckoning over America's relationship with its closest ally in the Middle east and Vance or Rubio may well have to deal with that. Alright, let's head over to Will for his take.
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Thanks, John. All right, it's Will back here to read my take. I don't know about you, but my head is spinning. After the past week trying to parse the tonal shifts, contradictory messaging, and the lack of transparency from the Trump administration about peace negotiations with Iran has felt like solving 10 jigsaw puzzles whose pieces are all mixed up together in a single box now as of yesterday. And finally, we have access to the text of the Memorandum of Understanding, which is not actually a deal, but a starting point for negotiations on a lasting deal that could still fall apart if those future discussions stall out. Okay, yeah, my head is still spinning. But for some time now, the administration has clearly been drifting away from its goals in Iran. They communicated those goals in contradictory and uncertain terms at the beginning of the conflict, but they did eventually land on a core set of objectives. Number one, destroy Iran's missile arsenal. Number two, destroy its navy. Number three, ensure it can never obtain a nuclear weapon. And number four, end the threat posed by its proxies in the Middle East. On the first count, the United States credibly degraded a significant portion of Iran's missile arsenal, especially early on in the war. However, based on reporting from several outlets in the past month, Iran has retained up to 70% of its stockpile today. Now, the US government has denied these reports, but it hasn't publicly issued its own assessment either, and the MoU says nothing about the arsenal. And Trump himself suggested on Wednesday that it would be unfair to for Iran not to have some missiles. That's a stark change from the messaging we were getting at the start of the war. On the second count, the administration met its goal in technical terms, as Iran's navy was severely hampered within two weeks of the war's start. Tactically, however, this achievement hasn't been very meaningful. Iran was able to leverage the Strait of Hormuts by mining the waterway, a move that could continue to disrupt ship's movements even after the war formally ends. And despite its naval losses, Iran's mosquito fleets, small unconventional military flotillas, have continued to wreak havoc in the strait, using a kind of on the water guerrilla warfare to disrupt traffic as they please. Third, the fate of Iran's nuclear program, ostensibly the core issue of this war, is uncertain. But we're a long way off from the complete obliteration that President Trump claimed last year's US Strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, already achieved after the war began in February the administration told us time and again that eliminating Iran's nuclear threat was an absolute priority. But has the war brought that goal any closer? Well, the MOU amounts to a promise that Iran will not procure or develop nuclear weapons, which is hardly binding and hardly reassuring. The president even undermined this position on Wednesday, implying that it isn't fair that Iran's neighbors can possess enriched uranium when Iran can't. Finally, Iran's proxies, particularly Hamas and Hezbollah, remain active in the region while fighting in Gaza has declined. Hamas has not disarmed, and reporting from this week indicates that it doesn't plan to. Separately, the MOU explicitly states that military activity will cease on all fronts, including Lebanon, where Israel has been carrying out airstrikes targeting Hezbollah. The text of the agreement notably highlights the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon, which feels like a clear warning to Israel to stand down, especially when paired with Trump's recent comments criticizing Israel's airstrikes. Meanwhile, the Houthis, another Iranian proxy, threatened last week to attack Israeli ships in the Red Sea, potentially causing more transit disruption across the the world. Now, considering the US Position at the start of this war, these developments frankly boggle my mind. It's not hyperbole to say that President Trump has backed off from or completely reversed his position on all of the core issues he used to justify attacking Iran. And that is not all, either. The MOU confirms reports from earlier in the week that the US will develop a planned $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran, as well as unfreeze its assets and allow it to immediately resume exporting oil. And that's despite the State Department reportedly telling Congress on Tuesday of this week that Iran uses these oil exports to fund terrorism. And I'm not done yet either. The deal also rolls back all of the US Sanctions against Iran. And in return for all of this, Iran will employ its, quote, best efforts to allow ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz without a toll for 60 days. In other words, that's the pre war status quo, except the Strait is now full of mines and Iran could start charging a fee after two months. These lopsided terms have triggered a remarkable deluge of criticism from the president's hawkish supporters in the media and Congress. Fox News's Trey Gowdy said, we had total control over that country. When you're in that position, you negotiate from strength. You don't give people money. The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro called it a disaster, and commentator Batya Ungar Sargon wrote, the greatest superpower to ever exist Brought to its knees by a few minds. Just a disaster for America. These criticisms underscore a larger point. Throughout President Trump's second term, his core agenda items have all stalled. The Supreme Court struck the reciprocal tariffs down. The deaths of Renee Goode and Alex Pretty in Minneapolis forced leadership changes on immigration enforcement, and deportation numbers continue to lag behind the president's lofty goal. Now, the Iran war has derailed his foreign policy. But in the first two cases, Trump has still found avenues through which to enact tariffs and carry out deportations. The administration has pursued alternate legal routes to impose tariffs and recently locked in $70 billion in funding for ICE and Border Patrol through Congress's reconciliat. But on this issue, in this war, he's waving the white flag. Consider just a few of his comments at the G7 summit in France yesterday. Quote, the alternative to this deal would be a worldwide depression. He said, we have taken a lot of Iran's money. It's not our money, it's their money, and we froze it. At a certain point in time, I guess we're going to have to give it back. Quote, without this deal, we run out of oil reserves at about four weeks. The one thing I didn't want to see is economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened at the start of the war. Pointing out the economic risks was a common talking point from the left. Now, just yesterday, the President himself has adopted that talking point about a war that he started. These admissions suggest that Iran will carry substantial leverage into the next stage of negotiations. And they lay bare the administration's lack of a coherent war strategy. Make absolutely no mistake. Iran's restriction of the Strait of Hormuz was the decisive move of this conflict, one that we did not appear prepared for or capable of countering, despite the administration insisting otherwise. Of course, it should be said that the war is not necessarily over. Future negotiations could fall apart and the US could resume its attacks in some form. As Tangle's managing editor Ari Weitzman noted on Monday, the MoU doesn't resolve the conditions of the conflict, which implies that the conflict may persist. But without the ability to control movement through the strait, we'll just be back in the same place we are today. No matter how many Iranian leaders we kill or how many military sites we destroy, no masterstroke is coming. The Trump administration is simply boxed in. As someone who doubted the justifications for this war from the start and felt its execution has been haphazard, I admit to feeling some schadenfreude at this outcome, particularly after the degree of bluster about our path to overwhelming victory in the first few weeks, as well as Trump's confidence that he could easily negotiate an Iran deal superior to the Obama administrations. But then I remember the US Service members killed in this conflict and the many others wounded, and the high costs paid with taxpayer money. I also remember the Iranian civilians killed, including the more than 100 schoolchildren, in what was almost certainly an errant US missile strike. I remember that the Iranian regime, a repressive and violent government that murders its own people and thirsts for the destruction of the United States, is on the verge of emerging from this war richer and more influential in the Middle East. If the war is indeed over, I'll be relieved, but I find little to take solace in beyond that. I keep asking myself, what was this all for? My cynicism aside, we should be clear on one if this MOU is indeed the beginning of the end of this war, then the war was a failure for the United States. We have not achieved our goals and our adversary is likely to emerge from the conflict stronger than before. The costs in lives and dollars have been high and we haven't even begun the now planned reconstruction. The world is a more dangerous, unstable place than it was before February 28th, and in all likelihood the US public will be left picking up the pieces and footing the bill for this administration's mistakes long after President Trump's term is over.
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We'll be right back after this quick break.
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All right, that is it for my take. Now we're going to get into a semi new section that we're calling Note to Self. This is something that we have done before, but typically under the banner of the reader question. But we're going to rebrand it today as A Note to Self and use that going forward. So here's what it is. In February of 2025, we left a note for ourselves to report back on updates to aviation safety. Here's what we wrote today. On January 29, 2025, the deadliest air crash in the United States since November 2001 occurred when an Army Blackhawk helicopter carrying three soldiers collided with an American Airlines plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members over the Potomac River. I wrote a Friday edition looking into the state of aviation safety at the time and and our team set a calendar reminder for this week to look back on any major industry changes since then. So here's that. First, the January crash was not the last of the negative headlines for the Federal aviation Administration. The FAA in 2025, Department of Government efficiency cuts created concerns about short staffing across departments starting in February, and reports of chaos at Newark Liberty International Airport's air traffic control first went public back in May. Then the government responded. The one big beautiful bill passed by Congress in July put more than $12 billion towards air traffic control modernization, and the FAA expected to obligate about half of that by the end of fiscal year 2026. In February of this year, Congress passed legislation to fund 2,500 new air traffic controllers, 54 additional aviation safety inspectors, and $4 billion to maintain and upgrade air traffic control infrastruct. It also blocked any effort to privatize the air traffic control system. In April of this year, the House passed the Alert act to improve the country's automatic dependent surveillance broadcast. The bill passed after a rival piece of legislation, the ROTOR act, was voted down in the House, even though it had passed in the Senate unanimously with more industry support. The bottom line of the changes from the past year or so are the FAA has so far hired above its goal for air traffic controllers, but years of training still remain before the industry can be considered fully staffed. All in all, the latest investments in the airline industry have not yet resulted in a noticeable improvement in the safety data for aviation. All right, now I'm going to hand it back over to John to take us home in today's episode reminder that we're going to be off tomorrow, so the next time you hear from us will be on Monday. If you have the long weekend, I hope you enjoy it and even if you don't, I hope you have a great weekend. John, over to you.
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Thanks, Will. Here's your under the Radar story for today, folks. On Monday, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Ordered Angela Perryman, one of the American passengers linked to a cruise ship outbreak of hantavirus last month, to remain in quarantine at a Nebraska facility despite her request to leave. Kennedy's decision also conflicted with a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention review that said Perrymen should be allowed to quarantine at home in Florida, where she lives part time. An HHS spokesperson called Kennedy's order necessary, citing the absence of proper home monitoring by Florida, which has reportedly refused to meet the Trump administration's requested 24. 7 surveillance requirements. I'm in a room 23, 24 hours a day, perryman said. It does not serve public health. The Wall Street Journal has this story, and there's a link in today's episode description. For this week's Road Not Taken. We briefly considered a few stories that we are still developing to cover this week. California Governor Gavin Newsom's claim that he is being investigated by the DOJ, the G7 meeting in France, the FISA and Save America act negotiations in Congress, and the hold placed on Anthropic's release of its latest AI models. However, as those topics are unfolding, we felt covering them would now be premature. We wouldn't normally cover the same topic twice in one week, but the flurry of updates on Iran pushed us to cover both the events leading up to the announcement of the coming MoU, as well as the MOU itself. The biggest upset of that choice is that we get to go deep on the topic, but another is that we have a menu of items we're keeping tabs on as we head into a three day weekend. And last but not least, our have a nice day story. After discovering he had a hereditary condition affecting his lungs and liver, Pete McKee received a liver transplant in 2017 that saved his life. This year, McKee, an artist in Sheffield, England, designed new organ donor cards for a limited edition run to help encourage people to register. The designs included symbols connected to Sheffield like a steelworker pouring molten metal into a heart shaped cask. Mark Piotr was the man who donated his liver to McKee and his wife Karen. Pyotr recalled the moment he decided to become a donor. They were donating blood and Mark said, they've had a pint of my Yorkshire finest. If anything ever happens, they can just have the lot. The BBC has this story and there's a link in today's episode description alright everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, Please go to readtangle.com where you can sign up for a newsletter membership, podcast membership or a bundled membership that gets you a discount on both. As Will mentioned at the top, we are off tomorrow for Juneteenth, but we do have a fresh episode of Suspension of the Rules going into this Father's Day weekend where we talk about fatherhood. I am actually part of this episode and so is Isaac's dad, Bailey. It was a really fun discussion and I hope you all get a chance to check it out on our YouTube channel. We'll be back in your ears on Monday morning. Until then, for Isaac, Will and the rest of the crew, this is John Law signing off. Have an absolutely wonderful weekend y'.
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All.
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Peace.
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Our Executive Editor and founder is me, Isaac Saul, and our Executive Producer is John Mull. Today's episode was edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Our editorial staff is led by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman with Senior Editor Will Kaback and Associate Editors Audrey Moorhead, Lindsey Knuth and Bailey Saul. Music for the podcast was produced by Dienstel. To learn more about Tangle and to sign up for a membership, please visit our website@retangle.com.
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Date: June 18, 2026
Host: Will Kaback (senior editor), with contributions and production from Isaac Saul, John Mull, and others
This episode provides a comprehensive, non-partisan breakdown of the newly signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the U.S. and Iran, setting terms for a ceasefire after more than 100 days of conflict. The Tangle team explores what's in the agreement, reactions from across the political spectrum, and why the deal has stirred controversy. Additional segments include a retrospective on aviation safety and other news stories "under the radar" this week.
Signed remotely on Wednesday; a 14-point plan and MoU.
Key Provisions:
Historical Context:
Trump Statement:
"Congratulations to all. I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz and simultaneously ... authorize the immediate removal of the United States naval blockade. Ships of the world, start your engines. Let the oil flow." – President Trump ([06:14])
"Trump will now have to live with the reality that ... the debacle in Iran may be the humiliating foundation of his legacy." — Ferris ([12:20])
"America is in a secular decline which will leave China stronger as long as it conserves its own resources." — Kluth ([14:23])
"The deal does nothing to achieve the aims America started the war with, but does hand Tehran a whole series of gains ..." — NY Post ([15:25])
"This outcome need not be seen as catastrophic. It can instead produce a realistic assessment of American presence and partnerships in the Middle East." ([16:30])
Summary of U.S. Goals vs. Results:
Assessment of U.S. Concessions:
Trump’s Justification (G7 summit):
"The alternative to this deal would be a worldwide depression ... Without this deal, we run out of oil reserves at about four weeks. The one thing I didn’t want to see is economic catastrophe." ([22:28])
Bottom Line:
"If this MOU is indeed the beginning of the end of this war, then the war was a failure for the United States. We have not achieved our goals and our adversary is likely to emerge from the conflict stronger than before ... The world is a more dangerous, unstable place than it was before February 28th, and ... the U.S. public will be left picking up the pieces and footing the bill for this administration’s mistakes long after President Trump’s term is over." ([28:50])
Hantavirus Outbreak Quarantine: HHS Sec. RFK Jr. orders continued quarantine for Angela Perryman, over CDC recommendations and home state objections.
Stories Not Covered:
Good News Story:
"I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz ... Ships of the world, start your engines. Let the oil flow."
— President Donald Trump ([06:14])
"We get a deal that just reopens the strait that was already open before he started a war. How is that a win?"
— Rep. Seth Moulton ([06:50])
"Total humiliation ... Iran is now well on the road to regional hegemony."
— David Ferris, The Nation ([12:20])
"The deal gives the Islamic Republic big wins up front and America nothing."
— NY Post Editorial Board ([15:25])
"If this MOU is indeed the beginning of the end of this war, then the war was a failure for the United States."
— Will Kaback ([28:50])
The episode is analytical, direct, and non-partisan, with the hosts openly wrestling with the complexities and contradictions of the U.S.-Iran agreement. Will Kaback’s tone, especially, is candid, skeptical about U.S. handling of the war, and emotionally grounded when reflecting on the human toll.
Listeners are encouraged to check out Tangle’s newsletter and YouTube for more, with the show signing off for Juneteenth. The crew teases a special "Suspension of the Rules" episode on fatherhood and promises a return on Monday.
This summary covers all substantive content, key analysis, representative quotes, and provides enough context for listeners who missed the episode to understand the importance and controversy around the new U.S.-Iran deal.