Vance defends Trump’s controversial Iran deal

It’s Thursday! New York City is a madhouse today for the Knicks celebration parade. The viewing area hit capacity hours before the parade even began! 💙🧡 

Side note, have you seen the clip of Jon Stewart calling out one of his “Daily Show” writers for having a *prominent* role in the celebrations? It’s very funny. 🎥 Here it is if you haven’t seen it 

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Programming note: The Hill’s 12:30 Report will not publish on Friday for Juneteenth. We will be back on Monday with a recap!  

Vance defends the controversial deal: 

Vice President Vance just fielded questions about President Trump’s controversial peace deal with Iran that many Capitol Hill Republicans are furious about.

If you’re wondering why there is internal opposition to the new deal, keep reading.

💻 Watch the press briefing

What we learned from Vance: 

Millions of barrels of oil have passed through the strait: Vance announced that 12.5 million barrels of oil flowed through the Strait of Hormuz overnight.

The 60-day clock starts today: “Yes, the deal started yesterday,” Vance said at the briefing. “We’re going to start the 60-day clock today.”

Iran got a pretty good deal — for now: 

The U.S.-Iran peace deal is in effect after President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed it on Wednesday. 

🎥 Trump signing the deal at Versailles 

That means Iran will receive an influx of cash — more than $300 billion — to rebuild without having to completely give up its nuclear capacity. The country can also restart its oil exports without sanctions. 

In exchange, Iran has agreed not to build nuclear weapons and hand over its enriched uranium, but those details will be hammered out in the next phase of negotiations. 

All in all, it’s a pretty good deal for Iran. Now, the tougher phase of negotiations will begin on Friday and last for the next 60 days.  

What Iran may have learned from this deal: The Strait of Hormuz is an incredibly powerful leverage point. It controls roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply and shutting it down can cripple the world. News of the preliminary deal sent the stock market soaring and oil prices falling. Gas prices in the U.S. dipped below $4 on Thursday for the first time in months. 

First big effect of the deal: Reuters reports that three supertankers sailed through the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Iran signed the peace deal.  

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