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Rubio Heads To Gulf Capitals As Washington Races To Lock In Iran Deal

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates this week, set for June 23–25, following the weekend breakthrough Switzerland-based negotiations with Iran, Department of State Spokesperson Tommy Pigott announced Monday.

The announcement comes on the heels of indirect talks between Iranian and American officials - the latter delegation which was led by Vice President JD Vance in person, which took place on Sunday in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock under the mediation of Pakistan and Qatar.

"Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain from June 23-25. The Secretary will discuss a range of regional priorities," Pigott said in the official statement released by State. These countries will likely seek some kind of serious reconstruction reparations for the attacks they suffered through the opening months of Operation Epic Fury.

via Associated Press

According to the spokesperson, Rubio's diplomatic tour will focus heavily on the newly drafted US-Iran memorandum of understanding, alongside ongoing initiatives to restore free, safe, and regular commercial transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

Pressure has also been put on Oman of late to not side with Iranian demands for its own protocol for international vessel passage. Broader regional stability will top the agenda, even as official claims in terms of technical details agreed to by the warring sides is somewhat at odds.

"In Bahrain, the Secretary will also meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss shared priorities across the region," Pigott added.

The signed MoU accord establishes specific timelines for the United States to eventually dismantle its naval blockade of Iranian ports in exchange for Iran restoring safe shipping lanes through the critical Strait of Hormuz.

This is a big 'if' given that the Iranian side has signaled that this could take a long time, and as a 60-day window for formal negotiations - focusing especially on the nuclear file - is sure to be wrought with many hurdles and hold-ups.

Furthermore, Tehran has committed to refraining from seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran will seek among primary objectives for these subsequent talks the formal lifting of longstanding anti-Iran sanctions.

But already there's been plenty of disagreement on how that will look as well, in terms of the concrete details.

BREAKING: Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain this week as the Trump administration seeks support from Gulf allies for its preliminary Iran agreement.

Rubio is also scheduled to meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council, bringing together key U.S.… pic.twitter.com/e6OvsqUHCc

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 22, 2026

On Monday the US Treasury issued a temporary 60-day general license authorizing the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian oil. There's real positive momentum, this one big development reveals.

While this suggests that Washington is very serious about ending the war at this point, a lot could still go wrong, also as Israel and Hezbollah have continued sporadic fighting in Lebanon. At the moment an uneasy official ceasefire is on in south Lebanon, but this and other key sticking points remain huge question mark issues.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/23/2026 - 02:45

Starmer's Gone, But UK's Right May Have Little To Cheer About

Authored by Remix News via Modernity News,

The deeply unpopular British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announced his resignation on Monday morning, but despite his upcoming departure, the right may have little to cheer about.

During a speech outside Downing Street, Starmer announced he was stepping down after holding office since July 7, 2024. In that election, his Labour Party won 412 seats, securing a comfortable majority and decimating the Tories, who had governed Britain since 2010.

Starmer revealed on the morning of Monday, June 22, that he had already spoken with King Charles III to inform him of his decision. The Labour Party's National Executive Committee will now develop a timetable for the election of a new leader, who will also become Prime Minister. He stressed that this process should be completed by the end of the summer holidays. Until then, Starmer will remain at the helm of the British government.

According to Reuters, the main favorite to replace Starmer is the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who won a seat in the House of Commons during the Makerfield constituency by-election in northwest England on June 18, defeating Nigel Farage's party.

The right now has a challenger

Burnham may pose a grave challenge to Restore Britain and Reform UK, the two main right-wing parties running against the British left.

Under Starmer, multiple polls predicted a strong majority for Reform UK, with some even forecasting a blowout election victory.

However, the rise of Restore Britain had already siphoned off a number of voters from Reform UK, narrowing Farage's lead.

Now, with Starmer gone, some polls show Reform UK barely leading Labour in a general election. A new poll from Politico shows Farage winning 27 percent of the vote versus 20 percent for Labour under Starmer's current numbers - but when tested against Burnham, Labour's chances receive a significant boost. Some within Labour even describe Burnham as a "Reform Slayer," as he polls better against Farage than anyone else in the party.

Nevertheless, the Politico article also describes an uphill battle for Burnham, given how far Labour has fallen out of favour with British voters during Starmer's rule. Notably, Burnham is described as more left-wing than Starmer, who is categorized as a "centrist."

Although the Tories are still seen as a formidable election force, they have long since discarded any semblance of right-wing politics. Nevertheless, they are also siphoning voters away from both Restore Britain and Reform UK, retaining voters who might lean personally to the right but still vote Conservative out of habit.

The combined effect of vote-splitting on the right and Burnham leading Labour could deliver a shock upset in favor of Labour, ending Farage's dream of winning the office of prime minister.

British commentators point out that Starmer's position has been weakening for months. More than 100 Labour MPs - around a quarter of the parliamentary party in the House of Commons - had publicly stated they wanted the prime minister to resign or set a timetable for his departure.

Labour Party members pointed to a total loss of trust in the head of government and his leadership abilities. The government had recently been rocked by a number of high-profile resignations, including Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Defence Secretary John Healey.

Polling also showed that Labour members overwhelmingly wanted Burnham, nicknamed the "King of the North" after winning three consecutive mayoral terms. He is currently Labour's most popular politician. His recent victory in the Makerfield seat also bodes poorly for Reform UK and Restore Britain; the constituency is predominantly white and working-class, representing the exact demographic that these two right-wing parties are seeking to win over from Labour.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/23/2026 - 02:00

"Okay, well you might not call it street racing, you might call it highway racing, road racing. Whatever you want to call it . . . whatever you're doing, we don't condone that here in Lake County."

Anchor Dustin Nolan went viral over his on-air farewell statement to KWQC TV6 on Friday.

Wyndham Clark didn’t take the same stance as some others around the game of golf did toward the Long Island crowds at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

Their grass is showing.

The Celtics weren’t able to land Giannis Antetokounmpo to pair with Jayson Tatum, as the Bucks’ superstar was dealt to the Heat late Monday night.

The 21-year-old man was discovered with a gunshot wound to his head outside of a building on East 187th Street between Webster and Park Avenues just before 7 p.m.

Police in Davie, Florida, are reversing course after originally saying that an investigation into Geno Smith over an alleged battery had been closed.

The Greek Freak is taking his talents to South Beach.

'They're there as an escape from all that stuff,' Chesney said of why he refuses to get political at his shows.

'They're there as an escape from all that stuff,' Chesney said of why he refuses to get political at his shows.

The girl reportedly struggled with her identity and often pretended to be a dog, crawling around and barking on all fours with other friends in school corridors, according to Dutch outlets.

The city of Carmel decided to push back a $292,947 funding request related to marketing efforts after residents voiced concerns over gridlock and overcrowding caused by tourism.

Israeli Troops Deployed To Somaliland In Covert Mission

Via The Cradle

Israel secretly deployed a small contingent of forces to Somaliland earlier this year following its recognition of the breakaway territory, a senior Somali government official revealed to Middle East Eye (MEE) on Monday.

"According to our intelligence reports, the Israeli military selected Israeli soldiers of African heritage, especially Ethiopians, so as not to draw attention to themselves and to blend in more easily with the local community," the senior Somali official stated.

via Reuters

The Somali official said that Israel had deployed a group of 50 soldiers to Somaliland shortly after the recognition and the resumption of the war on Iran in late February.

On June 17, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz admitted to years of clandestine, "under the radar" security operations with Somaliland.

During a high-level meeting in Tel Aviv with Somaliland’s visiting president, Israeli officials confirmed that Israel is now directly involved in training the breakaway region's military and police.

"For many years, we cooperated under the radar in a series of operations that will remain classified. Now we are determined to bring our security cooperation to new heights, for the benefit of both peoples and for the benefit of stability in the region," Katz said.

In early June, CNN reported that the breakaway republic of Somaliland had provided Israel with an additional military position on the Horn of Africa, allowing Israeli aircraft to "potentially stop" long-range flights to Iran.

Israel's Channel 12 reported on 2 May that a senior official in Somaliland said the territory is ready to cooperate with Israel to confront what it described as the "threat" from the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) to the highly strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The official said that any "disruption of maritime security" would push Somaliland to expand its relations with Israel, including to the level of a security alliance.

The official also noted that Somaliland currently cooperates with partners such as the US and the UAE, which maintain a presence in the territory’s Berbera Port, and said a similar partnership would be possible with Israel. 

AA is probably not happy about this. Reminder that Abdul Malik al-Houthi recently said in a speech that they are monitoring developments on “Somali soil” and that they will mot hesitate to strike israeli bases. https://t.co/3hFw1vdnK5 pic.twitter.com/OEOy3Z2hYr

— barry with the NED (@bonzerbarry) June 22, 2026

The UAE operates the Berbera Port, using it as a logistics hub to transfer arms and mercenaries to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is responsible for committing alleged genocide against non-Arab tribes in Sudan.

Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, and in December 2025, Israel became the first and only UN member state to recognize it as an independent and sovereign state. Israel later appointed Michael Lotem as its first ambassador to Hargeisa in April, drawing worldwide condemnation.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/22/2026 - 23:25

Hopkins is entering the draft with momentum, feeling like he has performed well in workouts. He has spent time with 12 teams, including the Knicks.

Ali Sánchez was already scheduled to be out of commission for a few days this week, for good reason: paternity leave.

Apollo Gates Private Credit Investors For 2nd Quarter As 17% Rush To The Exits

It would appear that the private credit crisis has not, in fact, been contained.

With the software bounce now dead and buried...

Software bounce is over pic.twitter.com/wcKtRt3NaR

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 22, 2026

... amid growing fears that the next round of the SAASpocalypse will be far worse (just look at the spectacular implosion in Accenture stock), the private credit firms that had tons of Software exposure ("but muh cash flows") are once again in the market's crosshairs, and after first Cliffwater, then Blackrock gated investors as redemptions requests soared even more in Q2 compared to the already skyhigh levels in Q1, today it was the turn of Private Equity giant Apollo Global Management to join the club and again limiting withdrawal requests from its largest non-traded private credit fund for retail investors, as broader concerns about the asset class persist. 

Apollo Debt Solutions, which has roughly $25 billion in assets, capped withdrawals at 5% of outstanding shares on Monday after investors asked to redeem 16.8%, according to a shareholder letter first seen by Bloomberg. Redemption requests in Q2 were more than 5% higher than the 11.2% investors wanted to pull in the first quarter when they were gated for the first time.

As shown in the chart below, for those hoping that Q2 redemption requests would moderate, well... the trend is not your friend. 

The fund, taking rare delight in glorious irony, reported that it has generated an 8.1% total net return since it was launched, which however does not appear to have impressed its shareholders who instead want their money and are capped at 5% of it. 

As we reported previously, private credit icon Cliffwater faced requests to pull 17% of shares from its flagship fund, while the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock, received about 13% earlier this month. Both funds enforced a 5% cap for their BDCs.

Apollo President Jim Zelter predicted - correctly - in May that redemptions from BDCs will continue for the next two quarters following a turbulent first quarter for the sector, and that such requests could even increase. Spoiler alert: when software stock puke again, and when BDCs write down their SAAS loans form par to their fair value of plus or minus 0, not only will the requests increase, there may come a day when there is a literal run on the private credit bank, with crowds of people gathering across various lobbies on Park Avenue demanding their money (good luck folks).

 

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/22/2026 - 23:09

A dominatrix who allegedly had a secret, years-long online tryst with the ex-DHS secretary’s husband claimed he reached out to her as recently as last month.