Reuters World News - Iran crackdown, NATO promises, Mamdani and vaccines

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Updated to include: Iran's stance on renewing talks with the U.S., Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's public appearance, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on South Carolina's effort to defund Planned Parenthood and Israel stopping aid deliveries from entering northern Gaza. Iran looks inward and intensifies an internal security crackdown with mass arrests, executions and military deployments. NATO’s European members promise to spend 5% on defense to appease Trump, but can they afford it? U.S. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s newly reorganized vaccine advisory panel threatens to upend vaccine policy, and possibly coverage. And Zohran Mamdani’s stunning upset in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary has excited both sides of the political aisle. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Iran reconsiders diplomacy with the U.S. as Ayatollahominy warns of further retaliation if the U.S. strikes again. The Supreme Court rules that states can block public funding for Planned Parenthood. And Europe placates Trump with NATO promises it can ill afford. It's Thursday, June 26. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaksin Liverpool. And I'm Sharon Reich Garson in New York. Iran's foreign minister Abbasarachi says Tehran is weighing weather negotiations with the U.S. is in its interest.

He says there is currently no understanding about renewing talks with the United States. That's despite President Donald Trump's announcement earlier this week, that talks were back on the table. The speech comes as Ayatollah Khomeini delivers a televised address for the first time since a ceasefire was reached with Israel. In his speech, Chominee reassures Iranians that Tehran will strike American military bases if it's attacked again. He also dismisses President Trump's claims that the U.S. has obliterated Iran's nuclear program. Authorities across the country, meanwhile, are intensifying an internal security crackdown. Sources tell us that this includes mass arrests, executions, and military deployments, particularly in the restive Kurdish.

region. Many of those arrested have been accused of spying for Israel. Iranian state media has reported that three were executed on Tuesday near the Turkish border. Iran's foreign and interior ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. U.S. President Donald Trump says he'll likely seek a commitment from Iran to end its nuclear ambitions at talks between the two countries next week, who is speaking at a NATO summit, where leaders agreed to his long sought-after increase in defence spending. The commitment by European allies to reach 5% of GDP is seen as a win by the Trump administration. As our European economics editor, Mark John has reported, the details are a bit more nuanced. Yeah, so they're committing to 5% of GDP on defence spending, and that's going to get

broken down into 3.5% of what's called core defense spending, which is fruit and weapons, and 1.5% of what is termed defense-related spending. Now, that's where a lot of this, the detail lies in what you define as defense-related. So, for example, in France, there's a discussion as to whether you can include gendarmes, the policemen that you see on country lanes in France, whether or not they can be included in military expenditure, believe it or not. In the hierarchy, they actually report into the Defence Ministry, but their budget at the moment is outside defence spending. Now, if you were to bring in items like that, you're making that target a lot easier. And the other thing we know is that the, should we say the deadlines for

meeting these commitments, in some cases, quite vague. So we're talking about years going through 2030, 2035. So essentially it's something that they will be meeting over the next decade. So are these spending increases as meaningful as what the Trump administration is portraying? The reality is that the vast majority of European countries simply can't afford this. They have debt mountains already at around 80% of GDP. One notable exception is Germany, which after years of fiscal frugality has got pretty solid public finances. But for the rest of them, this is going to squeeze their public finances in such a way that is politically untenable. We're talking about either very hefty tax hikes or cuts to spending that will be extremely unpopular with their voters.

So these are in many ways cuts that are simply politically not doable. And while we're on NATO, we can't ignore the so-called Daddy exchange. Here's Trump on Iran and Israel, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutter, adding his two cents. They've had a big fight like two kids in a schoolyard. You know, they fight like hell. You can't stop them. Let them fight for about two, three minutes.

Then it's easy to stop them. And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language. Now later sit down interview with Reuters, Grutter denied calling the US President daddy. The daddy thing, I didn't call him daddy. What I said is that sometimes in Europe are here sometimes countries saying, hey, Mark, will the US stay with us? And I said that sounds a little bit like the small child asking his daddy,

hey, are you still staying with the family? So in that sense, I use daddy, not that I was calling President Trump daddy. Trump later said he appreciated the term of endearment. The Supreme Court says that Medicaid recipients can't sue the state of South Carolina for trying to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. This decision effectively allows states to block federal funding for Planned Parenthood and similar providers of medical treatment, contraception, and abortions. Israel is halting aid deliveries into northern Gaza after images circulated of masked men

riding on aid trucks. Hamas denies any involvement. locals say the men were protecting the aid, not trying to steal it. Supplies are still reaching Gaza from the south. And Jeff Bezos and his fiancé, Lauren Sanchez, have arrived in Venice for their wedding, kicking off three days of lavish VIP parties despite protests from locals. Let's head to New York, where temperatures have been high, and political surprises have sparked heated debate.

Progressive Democrats have been energized by Zerner, Gilran Mamdani's unexpected victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary. But the surprise outcome has also generated excitement from a very different group of people, national Republicans. Reporter Joey Axe is looking at how Mamdani's victory could shape future elections. So firstly, Joey, what does Mamdani's win mean for the Democrats more widely? While it's true that Mamdani is a progressive, a democratic socialist, it's also the case that his candidacy represented a generational shift. He's only 33. And so he's quite youthful, and I think he ran a campaign that emphasized that. He used a lot of viral videos. He went around, he talked to a lot

of New Yorkers. He had an enormous amount of volunteers fanning out across the five boroughs. And I think all of that helped convince a lot of New Yorkers that he could be a new generational voice for the party. And I think that's really important to emphasize that this wasn't merely about political ideology. This was also about a shift between one generation of Democrats to the next. So what does this win mean for upcoming races? I think it's fair to say that there are some national Democrats that are a bit uneasy about Mondani's victory. Republicans have already made it clear that they're going to do everything they can to tie vulnerable Democrats in competitive races in the midterms next year to Momdani. And so you can't really overstate the importance of

those midterms. And I do think that there are some Democrats who are going to look at Mamdani, particularly if he wins in November, as a possible political liability. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vaccine Advisory Committee is meeting this week. For the first time, since Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., fired the entire body and appointed eight new members. Caroline Humor is in New York. So the meetings this week have really scaled back in terms of their scope.

They will look at some of the items that we were expecting that had been on the agenda for a while, including things like use of the RSV vaccine. So that's sort of one piece of the agenda. And another piece then is new, and that is adding discussions that are key for

health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., such as looking at a preservative called thiamersol in flu shots and also looking at the MMRV vaccine, that is the mumps, measles, rebella, and varicella vaccine in its use in children under four years of age. So what are the ramifications of the decisions this committee makes for Americans? One thing to consider is how much the change in the makeup of this, committee has begun to create confusion about what insurers will cover.

It's unclear that they still have confidence in these decisions and that the committee makes because, for one thing, the committee is now only seven people. It was just weeks ago. It was 17 people. And also because of the makeup of the committee. And so there is an idea now that insurers may turn to other groups, medical groups, perhaps a new project that's underway to create an independent vaccine advisory group, that these groups will make their own recommendations.

And insurers may decide that they want to cover vaccines that are not on this ASIP recommendation list simply because the point of vaccines is that they are life-saving. And they can be cost-lowering. An RSV vaccine that keeps a baby or an older person out of the hospital is saving an insurer money. and so sources we're telling our reporters, that could be something that insurers decide to cover. And for today's recommended read, a selection of Trump voters and where they stand five months into his second term. Broiters has interviewed 20 men and women monthly since February about the president's changes from everything from U.S. trade policy to immigration enforcement.

The bottom line, most of them still back him, but not on everything. There's a link to the story in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player and we'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.