Iran talks on the rocks as time runs out on ceasefire

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Iran talks on the rocks 

DHS reconciliation push 

Louisiana mass shooting 

Salazar invites immigration blowback 

The clock is ticking on the U.S. and Iran reaching a permanent deal to end their weeks-long war ahead of the conclusion of a two-week ceasefire that expires on Wednesday.  

The U.S. seizure on Sunday of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship trying to get past its blockade in the Hormuz Strait has drawn threats of retaliation from Iran, sent oil prices back up and cast a second round of talks into doubt.  

Iran’s state news agency on Sunday slammed the U.S. side for “excessive demands and unreasonable, unrealistic requests,” while citing officials saying “no clear prospect for productive talks is envisaged.” 

Iran has also pledged to retaliate for the seized oil tanker once the lives of the crew are safeguarded. A spokesman for Iran’s military told the state broadcaster said Monday it would “take the necessary action against the U.S. military” in due time.  

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told Reuters there was “no plan for a second round of negotiations with the U.S. for now.” 

President Trump, in a post on Truth Social Sunday, said of the operation, “The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom.”  

The renewed tensions reversed a drop in oil prices after Iran on Friday said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen, a move that was revoked after Trump said a U.S. blockade of the crucial trading corridor would remain in place.  

Markets signals growing fears of a return to war in futures trading on Monday morning: Brent crude was trading at about $96 per barrel, Treasury yields edged higher and stocks fell before markets opened for the week.  

Trump earlier on Sunday announced a second round of talks, saying in a post the U.S. is offering a “very fair and reasonable DEAL.” If no deal comes together, he renewed threats to destroy all of Iran’s power plants and bridges. 

“NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years,” Trump said. 

A White House official said Vice President Vance, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, will lead the negotiations. 

The talks would take place in Islamabad, Pakistan, where a first round of talks took place earlier this month. Trump told the New York Post in a phone call that Witkoff would arrive in Pakistan on Monday night ahead of the talks on Tuesday. 

Iranian sources familiar with the negotiations told CNN that a delegation including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf will represent the Iranian side.  

Iran was also skeptical the first round of talks until ultimately taking part. While Vance described that first meeting as productive, more than 20 hours of negotiations didn’t yield a breakthrough.  

The current ceasefire is set to expire in about 48 hours unless the two sides agree to an extension or a more comprehensive deal to end the war. CNN reported that Iran was expecting a symbolic joint announcement of extending the ceasefire on Wednesday. 

But the White House has previously ruled out the idea of an extension, and Trump is seeking to add pressure on Tehran to agree to U.S. demands. 

Momentum seemed to be rising for a resolution toward the end of last week, with Iran signaling a reopening of the Hormuz strait and Israel and Lebanon agreeing to a 10-day ceasefire that Trump said also includes the militant group Hezbollah.  

But the optimism was short-lived, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday firing on two vessels that tried to “bypass Iran’s authority.” 

Still, Trump told ABC’s Jonathan Karl that he expects the U.S. and Iran will reach a deal. 

“It will happen. It’ll either happen the nice way or it’ll happen the hard way,” he said. 

▪ The Hill: Energy secretary says strait will stay closed until war ends. 

▪ The New York Times: War forces a reckoning in Qatar. 

▪ The Guardian: Trump brings chaos, confusion to talks. 

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY   

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee plans to investigate the deaths and disappearances of 10 American scientists with links to U.S. nuclear or space research programs. Officials haven’t confirmed any official link between the group members. 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking 2024 election ballots from the Detroit area in the latest development of its investigations into alleged voter fraud, The Washington Post reported. It comes after officials seized ballots in Georgia and election records in Arizona from the 2020 election. 

Two officials at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico were killed in a car accident in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Two Mexican officials were also killed in the crash. 

DHS RECONCILIATION: Senators Republicans are expected to put forward a funding measure to cover immigration enforcement agencies this week, eyeing a vote to move along efforts to end the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

Senate leadership hopes to pass the legislation, which would fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, through reconciliation, which would allow it to advance without needing any Democratic votes. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is planning to keep the package small to get it through both chambers of Congress quickly. But hard-line conservatives want to make additions, including defense funding, elections reform and a proposal to modify capital gains taxes to reflect inflation. 

Adding additional measures to the package could complicate its passage and potentially cause a delay. 

The reconciliation measure is part of a two-step process envisioned by the GOP to reopen DHS, which has been without funding for more than two months. 

The Senate has already passed a bill to fund all of DHS except for ICE and Border Patrol, but House conservatives have lashed out at the two-part strategy. The right-wing House Freedom Caucus has called for the entire department to be funded through reconciliation, adding an obstacle for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). 

The lower chamber has not yet taken up that funding bill. 

Read more from The Hill’s Sudiksha Kochi about what to watch on Capitol hill this week here. 

▪ The Hill: Senate GOP hopes Supreme Court ‘surprise’ could save majority. 

PATEL VS ATLANTIC: FBI Director Kash Patel said he plans to sue The Atlantic for defamation after the outlet published a report alleging he has engaged in heavy drinking and frequently been absent from the bureau. 

Citing conversations with more than two dozen people, the outlet reported Friday that Patel has consumed alcohol “to the point of obvious intoxication” in front of White House and other Trump administration staff. Patel’s security detail has on multiple occasions in the past year “had difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated,” according to the outlet. 

Patel said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that he “absolutely” plans to sue for defamation. He said he would “fight back against the fake news.” 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche both defended Patel in statements to The Atlantic. Blanche said Patel has “accomplished more in 14 months than the previous administration did in four years.” 

“See you and your entire entourage of false reporting in court… But do keep at it with the fake news, actual malice standard is now what some would call a legal lay up,” Patel wrote on the social platform X. 

▪ The Associated Press: FBI, DOJ scramble to rebuild. 

MASS SHOOTING: A Louisiana man allegedly killed eight children, seven of them his own, and shot three other people in a mass shooting in Shreveport on Sunday, officials said. 

Police fatally shot the suspect, identified as Shamar Elkins, and authorities said they’re investigating what they’re calling a “tragic domestic violence incident.” The Shreveport Police Department said Elkins shot a woman at one home before traveling to another residence where he carried out the “heinous act.” 

Elkins then fled the scene, carjacked a man at gunpoint and left in the stolen vehicle, officials said. Officers tracked down the vehicle and pursued Elkins, eventually killing him. 

The children range in age from 1 to 12 years old. Two women, believed to be the suspect’s wife and girlfriend, were seriously injured and were sent to a local hospital for treatment, while a teenager sustained non-life-threatening injuries. 

Officials did not immediately identify a motive for the shooting. The New York Times reported Elkins had mental health issues and recently expressed suicidal thoughts, based on interviews with family members. 

The Associated Press reported the shooting is the deadliest in the country since January 2024. 

▪ KSLA: Neighbors describe ‘chaos’ as shooting went on. 

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE: Initial tsunami waves of two and a half feet were reported in parts of Japan after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck off the northern coast of the country Monday. 

Local officials warned residents in affected areas to quickly seek higher ground. The Japanese broadcaster NHK reported waves up to 10 feet could hit the coast, and the second and third waves to hit can sometimes be higher than the initial one. 

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government has set up an emergency task force, which is assessing the damage. The operators of Japan’s nuclear power plants say they are operating normally. 

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center said no tsunami is expected on the U.S. West Coast or in British Columbia, Canada. 

The president will participate in executive time at 8 a.m. He will participate in a policy meeting at 1:30 p.m. and sign executive orders at 3 p.m. 

The House will convene at noon. 

The Senate will meet at 3 p.m. 

BRING IT ON: Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) welcomes the conservative backlash she has received in recent weeks over her immigration reform and border security bill, calling it the “rules of the game.” 

“I like that game. It’s better than the Cuban game or the Venezuelan or the Iranian,” Salazar told The Hill’s Emily Brooks. “It’s not pretty, it’s not perfect, it’s not comfortable, but it’s the American way of doing business.” 

Salazar has proposed the Dignity Act, legislation that would allow migrants in the country illegally before 2021 who do not have criminal records to pay $7,000 in restitution and any back taxes owed to gain a new legal status. They would not be eligible for welfare programs, and their legal status wouldn’t provide them a path to citizenship. 

The bill would also boost funding for border security and technology and require the use of E-Verify, a system that verifies immigration status in employment. 

Conservative critics have argued any new legal status would amount to amnesty, a claim that Salazar has rejected since the bill doesn’t include a path to citizenship. 

Salazar recently approached Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), one of the most staunch conservative opponents of her bill. She said she pitched him on doing a public, possibly televised debate on the topic. 

“I said, why don’t you explain to me what is it that you know that I don’t about immigration?” she said about the conversation, calling it “very nice.” 

▪ The Washington Post: Anti-immigrant bills fail in red states. 

▪ NPR: DHS shutdown, immigration policies could hinder World Cup. 

MISSILE LAUNCH: North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, days after the United Nations’s nuclear watchdog warned the regime was making advances in building up its nuclear weapons. 

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from North Korea’s Sinpo area and flew almost 90 miles each toward the country’s eastern waters. The launches happened just hours before South Korean President Lee Jae Myung left the country to visit India and Vietnam. 

The Japanese Defense Ministry said Tokyo strongly protested the launches to Pyongyang, arguing they threaten regional and international peace. 

The U.S. military said it also detected the launches. 

The launches also come weeks ahead of a scheduled visit by Trump to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The Associated Press reported some observers believe North Korea’s recent tests are likely intended to increase its leverage in future interactions with the U.S. 

▪ The Wall Street Journal: North Korea advances with world focused on Iran. 

▪ Business Insider: Analysis says North Korean missiles used outdated methods. 

Eric Swalwell was knifed by the party that long sheltered him, William Liang writes in The Hill. 

Democrats are closer than you think to upending the Electoral College, Jason Willick writes in The Washington Post. 

And finally … Former President Obama and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) met for the first time over the weekend, coming together to read to preschoolers in the Bronx. 

They read to students at the Learning Through Play Pre-K Center in the South Bronx and led a sing-along of “Wheels on the Bus.” The center is part of the city’s free preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds. 

Clips shared online showed Obama and Mamdani joking with each other. 

While the former president and mayor hadn’t met face-to-face before, they have previously spoken. Obama reportedly called Mamdani ahead of his election win in November, saying his campaign had been impressive and offering to be a “sounding board” in the future. 

Politico reported Mamdani’s aides had been working for months to set up a meeting. 

We want to hear from you! Email me at jgans@thehill.com and suggest this newsletter to friends! 

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