Morning Joe - U.S. and Iran agree to a deal, Israel reportedly not happy with it and Trump heads to G7

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

June 15, 2026 - 6am: The U.S. and Iran reach an initial agreement aimed at ending the war... but it's not a final peace treaty NYT reports that Israel is not happy with the U.S.- Iran agreement Trump heads to G7 Knicks win it in 5! To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From all I know, we are on track. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. There's logistics involved into how these things happen. Ultimately, obviously, we're attuned to what's happening with Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel, which they need to stop doing. And Iran needs to encourage them to stop doing that in very adamant ways. And Israel was very measured in its response, understanding that a deal is on, is we're on the verge of a deal. No, Secretary of Defense, Pete Heggseth, yesterday. Trump announced on social media an initial agreement toward ending the war with Iran. We're going to dig into the latest reporting on what's actually in the deal. The devil, as they always say, is in the details.

And we don't know yet what's in there, judging from what both sides are saying, we could be in an actually a worse situation after this war than we were at the beginning. But we're going to talk through that with experts and dig into what we know so far. We're also going to bring you the reporting from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, another explosive report coming from their book on secret memos that showed the White House debating last year suspending habeas corpus for undocumented immigrants and also talking about instituting the Insurrection Act. And which members of the administration were jumping up and down telling the president to do that,

unconstitutionally. More instances of just pushing right up to the line constitutionally and even going over. We'll give you all of that reporting. And we're going to go through the new polling of the president's approval rating, which continues to plummet as we get closer to the midterm elections. Good morning. Welcome to Morning Joe. It's Monday, June 15th. With us, we have staff writer for the Atlantic, Jonathan O'Meer, co-hosts of The Rest is Politics podcast of BBC's Katty K, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haas, and columnist and associate editor for the Washington Post, David Ignatius. We're going to talk in one minute about the details of the deal.

I just want to get first impressions from David and Richard. Okay, wait a second. Okay, before I do that, this is important. Richard, let's run tape of New York City completely losing their head this weekend. Dan, do you have it? Yeah, here we go. So Richard, as we look at this, I can tell you we have somebody that is new to the Morning Joe team who's actually new to New York City, working in New York City, who, along with the rest of New York, completely lost her mind this weekend and was describing how she ran out after the win. had a party in the streets till 5 a.m. with people that she didn't even know, even though they'd been living right by here for years. It didn't look quite like this, I'm sure. But Richard, talk about just what this win meant to New York. I don't know that I've ever seen anything like it.

You know, this is Joe, as you know, this is a city that's known for many things, but community may not be one of them. This was as spontaneous and as broad as I've seen. Look, it was 53 years in coming. For me, it's a big chunk of my life. I was in college the last time the Knicks won. And suddenly strangers, people who you'd never talk to, much less touch, much less dance with. This was going on everywhere.

There were, I don't know, tens of thousands of things like this, watch parties that broke out into spontaneous celebrations. I've never quite seen it. You know, Joe, I live in a city. You may have noticed this where, like, there's a baseball team that's won a lot of championships. I think you've heard of it, the Yankees, a few times a football team that plays in New Jersey, the Giants. But I've never quite seen this where a city adopted a team, and I think identified with it. And in part, I think it's because of the nature of the Knicks. This was in some ways the greatest team victory.

Not one Nick got a vote for the, I think out of the 50 people who voted for MVP. No Nick made the first All-Star team. Look at this team. What did they lose? Three games in the entire playoffs. The differences were remarkable. The comebacks were remarkable. So I just think this was a team that the city identified with, the greediness, the resilience, and fell in love with.

Well, and Jonathan Amir literally did keep shouting throughout the night. Kids, get the hell off my lawn and put up the Boston Celtics flag. But no, it was from everything I've heard, it's unlike anything, a New York scene connected to a sporting event in quite some time, and it was widespread. So we'll keep talking about that throughout the show. But first, David, I want to get your impression as well as Richards on this temporary deal we've reached. And we don't really know exactly what's in it. My concern is if you look at the language of the deal on nukes, which Donald Trump said, this is why he was fighting the war, it is identical, as in plagiarized, as in lifted straight off of Obama's deal.

They used the same words. They lifted it off of the Obama deal and put it on this deal on nukes. So the whole idea that Obama was weak on nukes and he's going to be tougher. If you even read the language of this memorandum of agreement, it's identical. Then you can talk about the strike. Okay, well, here's Obama. Iran affirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons? That's July 14th, 2015.

Republicans melted down. Donald Trump said it was the worst plan ever that Iran was going to get a nuclear weapon because of this deal. And this is what Donald Trump says. Iran cannot develop or purchase a nuclear weapon. And actually, it's actually closer than that. I will get it. But it's the identical language.

And then you have Donald Trump saying, I know the straight will be open forever for free. Well, no, that's not what the Iranians are saying. There's a 60-day period, and then they expect to start receiving tolls. Regime change, the president had said earlier that we had regime change. Now he's saying he doesn't care about regime change. This regime tougher than the one before, which was pretty bad. And you can just go down the list of what I'm waiting for, talking about.

The other shoe to drop is, is there going to really be Reconstruction money for the Islamic Republic of Iran? It sure sounds like it. What does this sanctions relief look like? Because the Trump team told me that Biden giving sanctions relief to the Iranians was the worst thing he ever did. So again, a lot of confusing things that I hope we have a. a good solid deal that keeps Iran contained right now I'm seeing nothing in here but that would do that but maybe you can assure me that I haven't read deep enough into the memorandum of understanding so Joe it's always a good thing when a conflict ends this is one that's really

harmed the global economy so yeah if the straight of hormones is reopened and that seems to be the basic top line of this deal that will that will be a good thing for the global economy so yeah economy it is a long way to go for what appears to be very little in terms of locked-in promises from Iran it does look very similar to the JCPOA which Trump scrapped some of the provisions may even be somewhat weaker it's hard to tell because we're just going to begin those negotiations this week and over the next 60 days. But I think in some ways the thing that's most important but but seems most unrealistic in this deal is this idea of a broad change in the Middle East, a process where the U.S.

over time, if Iran responds positively, begins to pump development money, not just reconstruction, but to build Iranian businesses and has a vision. for Iran becoming over time a country more like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates than like the very closed and really impoverished country it's been. If they can do that, if the Iranians are really prepared to make those changes, that would be a significant move into the future. But right now in terms of what's actually agreed, actually on paper, it's pretty thin.

The main achievement is one that I don't want to discount, opening the Strait of Hormuz, but otherwise, not a lot there yet. Yeah, and let me say, if by some miracle, and it would truly be a miracle going back to 1979, this deal somehow brought Iran into the League of Nations, how wonderful that would be. Also, if the Atlanta Falcons win the next 10 Super Bowls, what a wonderful, wonderful run. will be for all of us who have been suffering with Atlanta since, well, before 1979. But Richard Haas, I want to read you now. I have the exact language. Here is the language in the understanding that was signed. Iran affirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek,

develop, or acquire any nuclear weapons. Got that? That sounds pretty tough. Here is a preamble to the 2015 JCPOA that Trump tore up. Iran affirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop, or acquire any nuclear weapons. You are literally looking at the same exact words. And as far as the straight goes, Donald Trump says, well, it's going to be toll-free forever. No, no, that's not what the Iranians believe. They believe that after 60 days, they're going to be able to start charging insurance, start charging other fees. That's at least what they're saying. And regime change, we've all talked about it.

The regime is actually more hardened. They're angrier. They have more of a reason to seek and build out their military capabilities than they did before. Because the United States did attack. I guess my question is, can you find a single area where, if you look at the strength, if you look at regime change, if you look at nukes, where we're in a better position today than we were under Barack Obama's deal before the war? The short answer, I'm sorry to say, Joe, is no.

And let's just break it into those three parts. The straight, yes, will be reopened. That's a good thing. But you'd have to believe in the tooth fairy to think it will remain open unconditionally to all without a toll. I think it's a question of when, not if, not only. to the Iranians start adding a toll. But at some point, they'll deny access.

Just say there's a new crisis with Israel and a country is shipping arms to Israel. I expect it's quite possible that Iran will close the straight to the ships carrying oil or goods to that country. So, you know, that's one thing. On the nuclear where you read the language, it's not just that it's similar, that is nothing more than a statement of intention.

And as we've learned over the years in arms control, what really matters is not statements of intention, its capabilities. So the real question with the nuclear is what is Iran going to be sign up to, and can it be verified? And there's been a remarkable lack of conversation here about the verification capabilities. What about international inspectors? What kind of information is Iran going to be required to provide on a regular basis so inspectors have the access they need? And so there's that entire detailed area. the people of Iran are really among the big losers here. Why? Because we're going to be transferring enormous sums of money. Either we're going to release frozen assets, ease sanctions. Iran is going to

make a lot of money. That's going to shore up, as you said, Joe, this even harder-line regime. So I actually think the Iran is going to be farther away from the kind of broad systemic regime change that actually it wasn't that far away from before this war broke out. Yeah, you know, Jonathan, it's one of the many reasons why Israel is so dead set against this. What they see is an enraged Iran with more radical leadership. You have the Revolutionary Guard now running it and the most hardened elements of the Revolutionary Guard. They believe, and as Richard said, everybody around these talks believe that 60 days in, they're going to start charging tolls. And then you look at the sanctions relief they're going to get, which again, the Trump administration, as you know, constantly berated Joe Biden's administration for lifting sanctions against Iran from time to time.

They're going to do it. And we have talk of reconstruction if Iran behaves well down the road. I mean, as Richard said, and again, the devil's in the details, we're really glad there's a possibility that this war, which should have never started, comes to an end. But let's just tell it like it is. If people want to be lied to, go to another channel. Because I can tell you which channel will go to. They will be lying through your teeth to you right now, telling you how wonderful this is. But if you want to know the truth, we've watched. happening right in here. The fact is, Jonathan, people in the neighborhood around Iran

have every reason to be scared to death right now because this is a more radical, a more enraged, and soon to be richer Iran thanks to this war. Yeah, we'll tell it like it is. This is a defeat for the United States. Iran is stronger now than they were at the beginning of the war. We heard How often do we heard, not just President Trump complaining about the sanction relief that the Biden administration gave Iran, but think about all the pallets of cash, you know, that he would blast the Obama team for sending to Tehran. That's going to be dwarfed by the amount of money that's likely going there now. On the Strait of Hormuz, not only is, A, after 60 days Iran has indicated they believe they'll charge for tolls, but B, despite President Trump's celebration last night about the straight being open and free for everyone to use,

A, that obviously that's temporary, but also it already was before the war. That was the status quo. That's how things existed. He made things worse. We now have a hardline regime embittered and certainly no reason to ever trust the United States again because we keep bombing them during the midst of negotiations. Let's think about the cost here, not just the billions upon billions in terms of dollars the United States spent, but also the lives lost, you know, civilians, including a girl's school

in the first hours of. of the war. This is a significant, you know, the United States looks significantly weaker right now in that region than before. And Iran's ability to close the straight-upor moves and hit its neighbors seems unchecked. And, and Caddy, the other subplot here is the relationship with Israel. Joe just voiced the concerns that many in Jerusalem have with this deal. Well, let's go even further. President Trump gave a series of interviews, quick phone calls with people yesterday, really blasting Prime Minister Netanyahu in extraordinary blunt terms. Criticizing the attacks yesterday in Lebanon,

telling the New York Times, he's a very difficult guy. And to be honest with you, he should be very thankful for us for this. You know, just completely eviscerating, you know, the man who went into this war with because Trump was so desperate to get a deal, get a deal done as quickly as can, and ideally before his UFC birthday party last night. Yeah.

The president seemed to have woken up to the fact, that the US aims and the Israeli aims when it comes to the Middle East at the moment are not aligned. And although Prime Minister Netanyahu may have sold a more optimistic version than many, even the Israeli cabinet believed, to President Trump, he's now realized

that actually they are not on the same page. And it looked over the weekend like this was an attempt, both by perhaps Hezbollah, but also by the Israelis, to scuttle this deal. and that infuriated clearly President Trump. I think one, we don't know what the longer-term deal is going to look like, but one of the things I think we have to all focus on is the detail. The JCPOA was 150 pages long.

It took 20 months to negotiate, and it was that long and that detailed because they didn't want to leave anything to chance. And the main thing they didn't want to leave to chance was the inspection program around the nuclear program. At the moment, there's no discussion of an inspection program, And without an inspection program, this is just the Israelis signing on to, as you say, an idea of not having nuclear weapons, which most of the people I've spoken to who know Iran much better than I do say, at the moment they wouldn't trust the Iranians to stick by what they sign.

So there has to be a much more detailed program. There has to be a much more detailed inspections program. Otherwise, this is just wishful thinking. And we are back to February the 27th, having spent an enormous amount of money and done a lot of damage. to other countries' economies around the world. Yeah, and going to the specifics, we don't have the specifics. There's been some reporting of the language

that I was reading earlier. Right now, all we have actually. So let me clarify. He is that Donald Trump said that Iran can never develop or purchase nuclear weapons. As far as going in and getting nuclear weapons or getting the nuclear dust,

David Ignatius, that obviously would be difficult. But once again, you have the president saying, oh, well, there's no rush on that. Just like you have the president saying on regime change, oh, we were never for regime change when, of course, the president was talking about how regime change had been made. And again, the same thing with the Strait of Hormuz. A great point brought up by Jonathan Amir that the strait was open before the war. Now the president says it's going to be open and free forever. That certainly is not what we're hearing from the negotiations.

Iran believes 60 days in, they're going to be able to start making money off this trade again. So in each of these terms, Joe, we have aspiration for fixed terms that would be beneficial. But what we have really is no more than a promise from Iran to negotiate. to talk about them. On the removal of the highly enriched uranium, the 440 kilograms that Iran has, it seems to me, as I read this closely, that Trump has basically stepped down

from his demand that this be removed from Iran by the United States and instead accepted what was Iran's offer before this ever began. Back on, February 27 to dilute this down so it was no longer threatening. That was my understanding the final Iranian offer. So it's one more example of going a long way to get very little.

Again, when you have a war in the Middle East, the terms are always going to be messy, and it's going to take a while back and forth to figure out exactly what they mean. The interesting thing behind the scenes has been the process of negotiation. The principal mediators have been the Gattaris. They've had contacts, I think, with elements the Revolutionary Guard we haven't been reading about, that the Trump administration is trying to move into positions of greater responsibility.

But for now, we have this simple declaration that goes to the number one issue, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and even there, we're not. not sure exactly that's going to work. Yeah, and I think that's the biggest challenge. When we do find the language and get all of the details, if we do within the next 60 days, whenever we get that, I think the burden's going to really be on the White House to show how we're in a better position after this deal than we were before. before we spent billions and billions of dollars on this war.

Before there were thousands of civilians killed, including over 150 at a girl school on the opening night of the war. And also working Americans who have been struggling since this war began with inflation at its highest level in years, gas prices at its highest levels in years. Let's hope that moves forward. and Americans get back to being able to afford their gas and their groceries and their rent. But that's not where we are right now. This war has made it worse.

And on top of that, I'll just say as an Iran hawk on top of that, are we supposed to just trust Iran? Because that's what Barack Obama was attacked for by Donald Trump, because we were left in a position to trust them on nukes, except actually the Obama administration, and those negotiators actually went into great detail and actually held them to a much higher standard than apparently where we are even now.

We'll see what happens. Devils in the details. Let's hope it breaks the way the president says it's going to break. There's no reason to believe that's going to happen right now, but we will see soon enough. The Washington Post, David Ignatia, thanks so much and still out of the morning show. We're going to be digging into brand new reporting

by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan on secret White House memos that show how top Trump administration officials were weighing for a good while, suspending a constitutional right for undocumented immigrants and, well, habeas corpus, talking about the insurrection act and enacting that,

you're not going to believe who was pushing for that. And as we go to break, a quick look at the Travelers forecast this morning from Accuethers, Bernie Rano. Bernie, how's it looking out there? Joe, it's a marvelous Monday in the Northeast and Midwest. Marvelous a Monday don't usually go together, but the weather says absolutely it does today. Accuether says 84 in Boston, 75 New York City with sunshine. beautiful day in Chicago, but boy, is it wet. San Antonio Austin toward Houston today.

Also some thunderstorms in New Orleans, lingering clouds in Atlanta and Charlotte. If you're doing any traveling, watch Miami. San Antonio, Austin, Houston, major delays today. To help you make the best decisions and be more in the know, download the acuether app today. 6.29 in the morning and a beautiful shot of the White House as dawn breaks in Washington, D.C. Yep, the claw is still there. No, I did not stay awake.

to watch the UFC match last night. Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan of the New York Times have new reporting on the debates inside the White House's last year over suspending habeas corpus for undocumented immigrants. The reporting comes from their new book, Regime Change, which will be released next Tuesday. They detail a memo dated April the 29th of 2025

from Will Scharf, an arch-conservative lawyer serving as the White House staff secretary, with the subject line of the writ of habeas corpus. The Constitution, Mr. Schaff wrote in his memo to Susie Wiles, the White House Chief of Staff, permits suspension of habeas corpus only in cases of rebellion or invasion. Courts have almost uniformly held that only Congress can do it.

Mr. Schaff did not say what Mr. Trump should do, but the implication was plain. Suspension of habeas rights without congressional authorization would almost certainly be found unlawful and the court fight would become a huge self-inflicted distraction. Suspending habeas corpus was one of two radical ideas that Stephen Miller, yes, that Mr. Miller had been pushing that alarmed Mr. Schafe. The other was invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy the military to enforce the law on American streets as protests grew against deportation sweeps. That discussion came to a head in late January after federal agents had shot and killed two U.S. citizens who had been voicing their opposition to the administration's deportation

policies in Minnesota. Paperman and Swan report that days after the killing of Alex Prettie, Susie Wiles had a meeting in her West Wing office where Vice President J.D. Vance said the administration needed to invoke the Interaction Act swiftly to crush the unrest in Minnesota. The meeting broke up without a decision, a vague consensus to keep thinking about it, but it'd been clarifying in its own way. Even after the administration's posture had helped escalate tensions in Minnesota, even with the blowback mounting,

the vice president and Mr. Miller were still searching for a reason to put federal troops on American streets. Joe, we know that Stephen Miller has wanted to invoke the insurrection. We know from General Millie that President Trump wanted to do it in the first administration as well. What's been amazing about Jonathan and Maggie's reporting is to get right in the room where these discussions were taking place. They were, as the song goes, they were in the room where it happened.

And what is so shocking is what actually was said inside those rooms time and time again. And Jonathan Amir, you actually have the vice president of the United States talking about invoking the Insurrection Act. Talk about an unconstitutional use of power, invoking the Insurrection Act to crush American citizens protesting in American streets. And as Maggie and Jonathan wrote, this was after they had already gunned down to innocent Americans for doing just that, for protesting. And yet they're still talking about enacting, the Insurrection Act. They're still talking about suspending habeas corpus through this entire period. You know, maybe it's just a lawyer in me. But excerpts from this book are reading whether you look at Todd Blanche trying to cover up

one of the biggest pedophile rings in the history of America, or you have the vice president and Stephen Miller, talking about suspending habeas corpus and the insurrection act, that sure does look like a place where a lot of lawyers in the future are going to start discovery in their investigations, whether it is with a Democratic Congress, whether it is with prosecutors, because the president may try, may try to pardon

a lot of people it's not going to be able to pardon the entire government and these these are these just seem to be clearly illegal acts or a conspiracy to commit illegal acts no wonder and I know you've heard this like I've heard this

no wonder the White House is melting down over this book because there's so many people who are exposed who are going to have to hold up the right hand at some point and take an oath and tell everybody what happened behind those closed doors. Because even the glimpse we're getting from this book is ugly.

Yeah, ugly, as you say, illegal and deeply un-American. I mean, this is extraordinary both of these revelations in this new piece. I mean, as the Times writes about the Insurrection Act debate, that Vance says it needs to invoke the Insurrection Act to crush the unrest of Minnesota. And this is because he says that this is because outside agitators and the like are, even though at that moment, of course, the White House is already realizing that neither Alex Pretti nor Ms. Good. Neither of them were paid. These were not, you know, Antifa or whatever nonsense they wanted to put out there. These were just average Americans who were trying to

protest what they saw was un-American behavior by these ICE agents on the streets of Minneapolis. You're right to say that the White House is freaking out about this book. There was even an Axios report over the weekend that there's fears that perhaps the Times reporters have recordings from inside the situation room, which would be an extraordinary step, and they're worried about that. And let's also remember here, these are floated. They were not acted. Doesn't mean they won't be down the road. And I think that's some discussion even this morning we're having here is like if the insurrection act was floated then, who's to say it can't come back at some point, perhaps, in front of the midterm election? So we're still sifting through this new reporting from

Maggie and Jonathan on the Times website dropped this morning. That new book, coming out this month. Undoubtedly, there will be more in it. Coming up here on Morning Joe, we're going to talk with Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia as his state prepares for a special session to redraw its congressional maps. Morning Joe. We'll be right back with that and more. Four point lead. Here comes Fox. Five seconds remaining. Fox to Wemby. Wemby tries a three, puts it up, off the mark. Ananovi, the rebound. It's over. It's over. Nick Vans, this is not a dream. Your long, long wait has ended. 53 years.

The Knicks are finally NBA champions once again. The New York Knicks clinched their first NBA championship in 53 years on Saturday night, clinching the title with a 94 to 90 win over the San Antonio Spurs. And Jonathan Amir, obviously an incredible, an incredible outpouring of support in New York. I mean, this is, after all, a city. that I think they've only been able to enjoy one World Series championship this entire century. So, I mean, they were really hungry, hungry for something to cheer about. And everyone out there is thinking, well, if the Yankees can't ever win a series,

at least we can cheer on this basketball team, right? And Joe, you know that I'm a sucker for teams and fan bases that haven't tasted a championship in decades. So I was really happy this weekend. for the Carolina Hurricanes who won the Stanley Cup last night. It had been 20 years since they won a championship. It had been 20 years for the hurricanes. That's the real story this weekend. Congrats to the Carolina Hurricanes who beat the Golden Knights of Las Vegas last night.

Okay, yes, the Knicks are champions. Let's bring in Pulitzer Prize winning host. A Pablo Tori finds out MS now contributor Pablo Tori. It has been, and I will say, you know, I was not rooting for the Knicks, but I am happy for my friends who won a championship. I know as a Red Sox fan, as a long time, a Patriots fan, they were terrible for decades. I get it what it's like to finally get there. Joy, we covered already the joyous scenes.

Let's turn to the actual basketball. And Pablo, it has to start with Jalen Brunson, who, you know, many had, he had a sort of a meh series to this point. But he delivered in game five one of the great clutch performances we've ever seen on this stage. Basically had half the team's points and put the Knicks on his back. and willed them single-handedly to that championship. He had 45. The rest of the team had 49 to give you a sense of how important Jaylen Brunson was. And the mythology that is now reality around Brunson was he's too small, right?

He's a small guard. You can't have that guy as your best player. You can't win a title with a player of that stature. And of course, what you're seeing is Jalen Brunson, the guy who was too small, taking a knife into his teeth and going into the pain against the tallest, most fearsome young, star in sports and Victor Rubiniam. So just the idea of him disproving every possible criticism while putting the entire city of New York onto his back. I mean, it's hard not to delve into cliches, but that's, that is a guy in Jalen Brunson, who is as beloved in this city,

I dare say, as Derek Jeter. As Derek Jeter. Because I do think what the, where the Knicks occupy in this city is we know in New York, baseball leansches are split, Yankees and Mets, football agencies are split, Giants and Jets. I mean, apologies to the Brooklyn Nets, but this is a Knicks city. And now, Brunson is going to be in that pantheon. Much was made of the fact he wears number 11.

Mark Messier wore number 11. Messier ended the Rangers championship drought. Brunson now ends the Knicks championship drought. Right. I mean, the comparison, say, to Patrick Ewing. I mean, Wolf Frazier, you're talking about the greets of modern Nick history. He is clearly there. Also, two other things, the teammates.

Just extraordinary. You have a bit role players. It just came together. The other guy who deserves enormous credit, both the general manager, Leon Rose, for piecing together this team, not through draft, but through trades. And then the coach. Mike Brown was able to be adaptive, be creative. Jalen Brunson deserves the Lions or more than any other single person. But actually, there's a lot of credit to go around here. Yeah, and Pablo, let me ask you, is somebody that doesn't follow the Knicks closely, other than hearing people for decades attacking them and their ownership and, you know,

their coaches and their general managers. I mean, it's just, it's just been a terrible, terrible story for the Knicks for decades, one of the richest franchises ever, and they've never been able to get their act together. I'm fascinated. What changed here? When did this turnaround begin to bring the Knicks from perpetual losers or perpetual also rands to being one of the great sports stories over the past several years. Yeah, let's be very clear about this. This has been an exorcism. The New York Knicks, as a franchise, they get to feel like the rare is the most special combination of things in sports, which is David and Goliath. Goliath, because it's New York bleeping city, and because, yes, the demand for tickets at the garden are inelastic. regardless of whether the team is any good or not, right? That is the natural set of advantages the Knicks have.

The David part speaks to, yes, a history of mismanagement by James Dolan, the owner, and just by a series of rakes that the Knicks set out and then stepped on like they're, you know, Krusty the Clown. It is something that has been, of course, a running joke to the point where I did not think I would see this. Scenes like this. So what changed?

Frankly, you have an ownership group that decided, to step back and let Leon Rose, the executive, who runs the team, make these decisions around talent. And you, look, it starts with who's our best player? They picked Jalen Brunson. Correct. The right answer. Carl Anthony Towns, you got to acquire him, right?

You trade away guys who are otherwise beloved. That works. And it goes down on the line like that. Every move worked, including the coaching change last offseason. And the other piece of this story, which will get a lot of play in the days and weeks ahead, the collapse of the San Antonio Spurs. They blew 10-point leads in the second half every game, some of the great, frankly, chokes we have ever seen on this stage.

The fear going in for Spurs fans that they were too young, they were too young, and they were not ready to step into this moment. The Nix did. Congrats again to Nix fans. Richard Hoss, congrats to you. Thank you for joining us this morning. Pablo, stick around. Still ahead here on Morning, Joe.

We're going to have much more on this agreement between the United States and Iran. MS now, senior national security reporter David Rode, will join us to discuss how it fails to meet basically all of President Trump's war goals. We'll be right back. Okay, time now for a look at some of the other stories making headlines today. The UK is banning social media companies from offering services to children under the age of 16. The new restrictions could take effect as early as next year and will likely target major platforms like TikTok, Instagram, X, and Facebook. The United Kingdom's new rules go further than similar laws.

in other countries, also banning features deemed harmful to children like live streaming and chatting with strangers. In Switzerland, voters have rejected an unprecedented far-right proposal to limit the country's population to 10 million people. Early results show roughly 55% of voters opposed the initiative, while 45% were in favor. Had the proposal passed, it would have been one of the most drastic measures taken by a European country, to stem the arrival of new immigrants. And here at home, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized. A spokesperson for the former Senate Majority Leader announced the news yesterday without providing any details about his condition.

McConnell, who is 84 years old, has experienced multiple health issues in recent years, including falls, and several on-camera freezing episodes. The senator is set to retire when his term ends in January. Okay, still ahead on the program. President Trump is on his way to France this morning for the G7 summit. We're going to take a look at how the Iran war will impact that meeting of world leaders as well as other top items on their agenda. Morning Joe is coming right back.