• United States
• Iran

June 24, 2025, 5:34 PM View Comments ()

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a fragile Israel-Iran cease-fire, day one of the NATO summit, and Thailand’s new border restrictions against Cambodia.

Trump Seeks Calm

Israel and Iran upheld a fragile, U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal on Tuesday, ending a 12-day conflict that risked pulling the wider Middle East region into all-out war. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian congratulated his country on a “great victory” in a war that he said Israel started and Iran successfully ended. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, declared that Israel had achieved a “historic victory” against Iran. The Israeli government also lifted emergency restrictions imposed during the strikes in a “return to routine.”

But hazy details surrounding how the deal came about signals a difficult path ahead for peace between the two adversaries.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the truce in a Truth Social post late Monday local time, congratulating both countries on “having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence” to end the conflict. In a later post, he argued that the United States’ decision to strike three key Iranian nuclear sites with B-2 bombers over the weekend helped pave the way for the deal’s creation. The U.S. attack, which resulted in no casualties, marked the first time that Washington had become directly involved in the conflict since Israel launched initial strikes at Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities on June 13.

Trump, however, did not publicly specify when the cease-fire would begin, leaving experts confused as to the deal’s logistics; Israel lies seven hours ahead of the United States, and Iranian time is half an hour ahead of Israeli time. It took several hours before Israel and Iran even acknowledged that such a truce had been accepted by both parties.

Within hours of the cease-fire reportedly going into effect, Trump returned to Truth Social to warn Israel not to launch new strikes against Tehran. “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” he wrote. Trump also told reporters that he is “not happy” with Israel and that the country needs to “calm down now.”

“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” Trump said. His criticism was a rare rebuke of one of Washington’s closest allies and comes at a time when the White House has backed Israel’s efforts to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, which Israel argues are an existential threat.

Netanyahu’s office maintains that Iran fired several missiles at Israel after the cease-fire took effect and that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck a radar system near Tehran as part of a limited response. According to the leader’s office, Netanyahu vowed to refrain from tougher strikes after speaking with Trump over the phone. Iran denies violating the cease-fire.

Whether the conflict is truly over, though, remains to be seen. Pezeshkian has promised that if Israel “does not violate the cease-fire, Iran will not violate it either.” And Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel will respect the deal with Iran “as long as the other side does.” However, IDF Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir warned that while a “significant phase” of the conflict has concluded, “the campaign against Iran is not over. We are entering a new phase based on the achievements of the current one.” It is unclear what that new phase might look like.

Trump, for his part, seems content to declare victory and move on. Aboard Air Force One on the way to the Netherlands to attend the NATO summit, Trump was asked by a reporter whether Iran had made any new commitments about uranium enrichment. Trump responded: “They’re not going to have enrichment, and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. And they know that. They’re going to get on to being a great trading nation.”

“The last thing on Iran’s mind right now is nuclear weapons,” he added.

Today’s Most Read

• How Trump Could Lose This War by Daniel Byman
• Why Trump Changed His Mind on Iran by Steven A. Cook
• Why a Wider War With Iran Is Unlikely by Matthew Kroenig

What We’re Following

The elephant in the room. A lot is at stake for NATO members, whose leaders gathered in The Hague on Tuesday for the first day of the alliance’s annual summit. From threats to European security amid Russia’s war against Ukraine to ongoing animosity between Israel and Iran, the alliance must address several conflicts to reinforce the bloc’s standing on the world stage.

However, according to FP’s Situation Report writers—who are in the Netherlands for the two-day event—the biggest elephant in the room is Trump’s often contentious relationship with the alliance. Asked by a reporter en route to the summit whether the United States remains committed to NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense guarantee, Trump equivocated: “Depends on your definition. There are numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right? But I’m committed to being their friends.”

“I’m committed to saving lives. I’m committed to life and safety. And I’m going to give you an exact definition when I get there. I just don’t want to do it on the back of an airplane,” he added.

Meanwhile, the summit’s biggest agenda item—getting all NATO members to agree to a Trump-led push to increase the alliance’s defense spending target from 2 percent to 5 percent of a nation’s GDP—is still up in the air. Spain remains opposed to upping its spending past 2.1 percent; it is currently one of eight countries failing to meet the 2 percent target, though some have since pledged to increase their spending. And Trump has said that while he wants other countries to match the 5 percent proposal, he believes that the United States should not be required to also do so, arguing that Washington does not need to invest in its infrastructure for military purposes to the same extent that Europe does.

Tourists excluded. Cambodia accused Thailand on Tuesday of escalating border tensions by imposing heightened restrictions on land crossings. Under the new Thai order, only students, medical patients, and those with essential needs can enter or leave Thailand through Cambodia—excluding thousands of tourists.

The weekslong diplomatic spat began late last month, when a border clash that both sides blame the other for killed a Cambodian soldier. In response, Cambodia has boycotted Thai movies and films; fruits and vegetables; electricity and fuel; and some internet services. And Thailand has increased restrictions on border crossings as well as issued measures targeting online scam operations in the neighboring nation.

Recent efforts to de-escalate have only worsened the tit-for-tat. Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra continues to face heavy criticism for appearing to appease former Cambodian leader Hun Sen in a leaked phone call of their negotiations. Paetongtarn has called her demeanor a “negotiation technique,” but some argue that her tone made Bangkok look weak. The Thai government on Monday said it would complete a cabinet reshuffle later this week to address these concerns.

Striking a hospital. More than 40 people were killed in an attack on al-Mujlad Hospital in Sudan over the weekend, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday. Ghebreyesus did not specify who was to blame for the assault, which killed several children and health care workers. But both the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have denied responsibility.

“We cannot say this louder: attacks on health must stop everywhere!” Ghebreyesus wrote on X, with UNICEF adding that the “attacks do not only kill and injure but also severely impede the communities’ ability to receive lifesaving services.” Several grassroots humanitarian groups have claimed that a military drone hit the facility.

Al-Mujlad Hospital is located near the front lines between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which have been embroiled in a devastating civil war since April 2023. The United Nations has accused both sides of committing human rights violations, and the resulting chaos has triggered a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, including threats of famine.

Odds and Ends

Swimming enthusiasts are hoping for Berlin to follow in Paris’s footsteps by allowing residents to swim in the local river. Around 200 swimmers with the Fluss Bad Berlin group dove into the slow-running Spree River last Tuesday to protest a city ban preventing people from enjoying the once-polluted waterway. “For 100 years now, people have not been allowed to swim in the inner-city Spree, and we no longer think this is justified because we can show that the water quality is usually good enough to go swimming during the season,” said Jan Edler, a board member of the group. However, local authorities maintain that boat traffic, historical monument protections, and heavy rain make the Spree River dangerous for swimmers.