• United States
• Iran

July 7, 2025, 4:57 PM View Comments ()

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting the White House, the United States issuing new trade threats, and Poland reinstating temporary border controls.

Sweetening the Deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touched down in Washington on Monday to discuss U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, including Israel-Hamas cease-fire negotiations and strategies to counter Iran’s nuclear program. The trip’s centerpiece will be an evening meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House—their third such face-to-face talk since Trump returned to office in January.

The conversation is expected to focus on cementing a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza. Under the latest U.S.-backed proposal, Israel and Hamas would abide by a 60-day truce, during which Israeli troops would partially withdraw from Gaza, Hamas would release 10 living and 18 deceased hostages in exchange for some number of Palestinian prisoners released by Israel, and Israel would allow more humanitarian aid into the territory. More than 57,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

“We are working to achieve this deal that is being talked about,” Netanyahu said on Sunday before departing for the United States, adding that Trump “can definitely help advance this outcome, which we all hope for.” Trump appeared to agree with this assessment, saying on Sunday, “We are close to a deal in Gaza.”

Last Wednesday, Israel agreed to the proposal in principle, and on Friday, Hamas said it had responded to the deal in a “positive spirit.” However, several sticking points remain unresolved. Hamas has said that it wants the United Nations to oversee aid delivery into Gaza instead of the Israeli- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The group has also demanded that Israeli forces retreat to the boundaries established from before the last cease-fire collapsed in March and urged both sides to agree to a permanent end to the war. But Israel maintains its demand that some of its troops must remain in the territory, and it said that Israel would only agree to end the conflict if Hamas fully disarms and dismantles, which the militant group refuses to do.

A separate Israeli negotiating team traveled to Qatar on Sunday for indirect talks with Hamas. Netanyahu said he instructed his delegates to achieve a cease-fire deal under the terms that Israel has agreed to, but Reuters cited unnamed Palestinian sources in Doha who said Israel’s refusal to allow humanitarian aid to freely and safely enter Gaza is holding up progress.

U.S. officials are hoping to sweeten the cease-fire deal by linking the end of the war to a broader set of agreements that would also see Saudi Arabia and potentially other countries in the region establish formal diplomatic ties with Israel, as well as a leadership overhaul within the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Normalizing relations with Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia, is a key goal of Netanyahu’s, and the White House has suggested that a permanent end to the war could convince Arab countries to do so. According to White House envoy Thomas Barrack Jr. last week, the United States is already mediating “meaningful” talks between Israel and Syria.

Such sweeteners could help Netanyahu sell a cease-fire deal to his right-wing coalition—particularly his far-right cabinet ministers who have pushed against ending the war. This is an opportunity “to expand the circle of peace far beyond what we could have imagined,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Netanyahu and Trump are also expected to celebrate their joint military efforts against Tehran’s nuclear program while discussing how to move forward from last month’s 12-day Israel-Iran conflict. “We’re working on a lot of things with Israel, and one of the things is probably a permanent deal with Iran,” Trump said on Sunday while reiterating the demand that Tehran must give up its nuclear ambitions. Iran maintains that its uranium enrichment work is for civilian purposes.

Today’s Most Read

• China Is Not Ready for Global Leadership by Jo Inge Bekkevold
• The End of Modernity by Christopher Clark
• Why Compare the Present to the Past? by Ivan Krastev and Leonard Benardo

The World This Week

Tuesday, July 8: French President Emmanuel Macron begins a three-day trip to the United Kingdom.

Wednesday, July 9: Malaysia hosts a three-day foreign ministers’ meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Taiwan begins a weeklong annual military exercise simulating a Chinese invasion.

Thursday, July 10: Equatorial Guinea hosts the two-day African Union foreign ministers’ meeting.

The European Parliament holds a no-confidence vote for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Monday, July 14: China hosts the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization foreign ministers’ meeting.

What We’re Following

Trade letters. Trump signed letters to 12 nations on Monday outlining various tariff threats that they could face if they do not come to an agreeable trade deal with the United States by Aug. 1. The letters are part of Trump’s larger trade war that kicked off in April, when he issued a 10 percent baseline duty on virtually all trading partners; additional higher tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on April 9 were suspended for 90 days to allow time for negotiations.

Among the countries to receive the letters were Japan and South Korea, which were told that they will face a 25 percent tariff starting next month. In the letters, pictures of which Trump posted to his Truth Social account, he warned, “If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25% that we charge.” He added that Washington would only consider adjusting these amounts if the countries eliminate their trade surpluses with the United States.

A day earlier, Trump threatened to impose an extra 10 percent tariff on “Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS.” The bloc of developing nations—which includes China, Russia, India, and Brazil, among others—has championed an alternative vision to the U.S.-led international order. On Sunday, the bloc raised “serious concerns” about Trump’s warning, saying that raised tariffs could “reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty.”

Restricting Schengen’s borders. Poland reinstated border controls with Germany and Lithuania on Monday for 30 days to discourage asylum-seekers from entering the country. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the measures last week in response to allegations from far-right Polish protesters that Berlin was transporting migrants into the country, which Germany denies. The move is part of an ongoing effort to temper far-right concerns that have hindered Tusk’s government and led to the defeat of his preferred, centrist candidate in the country’s June 1 presidential election.

Poland, Germany, and Lithuania are all part of the Schengen Zone, a visa-free travel area that allows citizens in most EU countries to move easily across much of the continent. Earlier this year, though, Berlin reimposed temporary border restrictions to curb asylum-seekers, prompting worries from its neighbors that such controls could become more widespread.

“Such measures must undoubtedly be temporary and must achieve results as quickly as possible and be terminated,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Sunday, adding that his country is preparing for possible traffic jams along their shared border.

Deadly flooding. Flash flooding across Pakistan has killed more than 70 people and injured roughly 130 others, local authorities reported on Monday. Even with emergency services on maximum alert since last month and the country’s National Disaster Management Authority warning tourists to avoid affected areas, the aftermath of 10 days of heavy monsoon rains continues to devastate communities across several provinces.

The latest wave of extreme weather began on June 26 and gained international attention when flooding in the northwest Swat River swept away 17 tourists from the same family; only four members of the family were rescued alive. Now, officials are warning that they cannot rule out a potential repeat of Pakistan’s 2022 superflood, which killed more than 1,730 people and inundated a third of the country.

Meanwhile, search-and-rescue efforts in central Texas continued on Monday after weekend flooding killed more than 80 people, including more than 27 people at an all-girls Christian camp on the Guadalupe River, and left dozens of others missing. The devastating flooding is among the worst in the United States’ history, and experts warn that more is likely still to come.

Odds and Ends

Even the pope deserves paid time off every now and then. On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV journeyed to the Italian town of Castel Gandolfo for a two-week summer vacation, restarting a more than 400-year-old tradition that his late predecessor, Pope Francis, abandoned during his 12-year tenure. Leo has decided not to stay at the traditional papal residence in town. But local officials are still hoping that his return could reignite tourism to the lakeside getaway.