Latest news for 17 June 2026

IRAN

The latest on the deal.

The US has begun circulating a draft of its 14-point deal with Iran. Shared among allies at the G7 in France, it appears to confirm that most of the pre-war sticking points we flagged (nukes, missiles, sanctions, proxies) get kicked down the road to an eventual “final agreement“. The draft does stipulate an immediate ceasefire along all fronts (“including Lebanon”), US waivers on Iranian oil exports, and unspecified private “financing of at least $300 billion” for Iran’s economic development. (Bloomberg $)

UNITED STATES

Mixed messages.

DC is reportedly declining to blacklist China’s DeepSeek AI startup, chipmaker CXMT, and more than 100 other firms first flagged as security risks last year. It’s reportedly all about avoiding further escalation with Beijing. (Reuters)

Comment: There are valid debates at each fork in America’s China road, but the issue here is how awkwardly this latest move sits alongside several others this month: DC has now closed one AI loophole (for China’s offshore subsidiaries), left open another (for China to instead buy via third-country intermediaries), and slapped shock new export controls on its own AI pioneer (Anthropic). It risks looking less like strategy, and more like a DC getting torn between its hawks and doves.

BHUTAN

Real recognises real.

The mountain kingdom has officially recognised Croatia, a chill 34 years after Croatia’s independence from Yugoslavia. Niger and Tonga are now the only two nations left on Zagreb’s list. (CroatiaWeek)

Comment: If you were wondering, the delay doesn’t reflect any longstanding beef, but just a “never got around to it” vibe between two distant smaller nations.

EUROPEAN UNION

At last?

After delays linked to Trump’s Greenland threats, EU lawmakers have finally approved the EU-US trade truce hammered out last summer — this removes most European tariffs on US industrial imports in exchange for a ✌️preferential✌️ 15% US tariff on Europe. The same week, the bloc has also finally started membership talks with Ukraine some two years after giving the greenlight, now that Hungary’s new government has lifted its veto. (EuroNews)

CUBA

Capitalism with Cuban characteristics?

Cuba’s communist leaders are reportedly mulling a China-style economic overhaul, which would liberalise the economy without relinquishing their one-party control. (Diaz Canel via X)

Comment: Coming after years of Beijing’s own communists urging their Cuban comrades to try being less communist, this kind of ‘market-Leninism’ might (if the Cubans can execute) enable Trump 2.0 to claim a victory and Cuba’s administration to stave off collapse, all while avoiding a direct confrontation. But we have our doubts whether even that’d be enough for DC’s Cuba hardliners like Rubio.

INDIA

Telegram banned.

Delhi has temporarily banned the Telegram messaging app for India’s 150 million users, alleging it was the main platform used to spread and sell last month’s leaked med-school entrance exam (taken by ~2.3 million student hopefuls). (Economic Times)

Comment: We already flagged this scandal’s role in the Cockroach People’s Party recently rattling local politics, but Telegram’s founder is weighing in with his own allegations: he’s saying Indian telecom Reliance is also cutting Telegram access for Indian nationals abroad. Why? Reliance is controlled by the powerful Ambani family, with backing from America’s Meta (which owns rival messaging platform WhatsApp).

ISRAEL

New embassy just dropped.

The de facto self-governing territory of Somaliland has opened an embassy in Jerusalem, months after Israel became the first to recognise the territory as an independent country. (AfricaNews)

Comment: It’s a rare diplomatic win for Somaliland (getting its first embassy), but also for Israel, getting more access along the strategic Red Sea’s south to counter Iran/Houthi influence — this is also now only the eighth foreign embassy to choose not Tel Aviv but Jerusalem, the capital claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians.