U.S., Iran Reach Peace Deal. But Israel Won’t Withdraw From Lebanon.

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0:33Global markets rise after the U.S. and Iran agree to an interim peace deal to be signed later this week. Plus, Anthropic races to resolve new AI export restrictions imposed by the Trump administration. And the U.K. unveils a social media ban for kids under 16. I am not prepared to compromise on the safety and happiness of our children. And that is why this ban must happen. And that is why this ban will happen. It's Monday, June 15th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. And here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

1:16The U.S. and Iran say they have reached an interim deal to open the Strait of Hormuz and extend a fragile ceasefire. President Trump and Pakistani mediators say the deal will officially be signed on Friday when the Strait of Hormuz is also expected to reopen, restoring global oil flows. However, Journal-Middle East correspondent Benoit Foucault says more needs to be ironed out this week. As far as we know, the Memorandum of Understanding mostly agrees on really low-level demands. For instance, cessation of fighting on both sides, the fact that Iran would not have a nuclear weapon, the fact that both sides will respect each other's territorial integrity, won't interfere in their domestic affairs, and most crucially that Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S.

2:04stop blockading ports. But beyond that, the most fundamental points, which is what we do about nuclear program, the sanctions, the release of cash, and even who controls Hormuz, are not resolved. Meanwhile, Pakistan's prime minister has said the ceasefire would also include the end of Israel's military action in Lebanon, which Benoit says was key to Iran agreeing to move forward with talks on a more permanent ceasefire. The fact that the U.S. told Israel to stop attacks on Lebanon, that was what Iran needed as a piece of comfort to show Hezbollah, they are part of that deal, that the cessation of fighting is not just in the Persian Gulf, but it's also in Lebanon.

2:42And that's where you really have a problem, because if you have talks that are disrupted by potential return of war in Lebanon, That's going to be a problem for the overall bigger negotiation. The second one is that Iran claims that Israel will pull out of Lebanon, and Israel says that's not the case at all. So you already have a fundamental point where they're not on the same page. Those hurdles are likely to dominate talks this week, with Israel's defense minister saying this morning that Israel will not withdraw from land it's seized in Lebanon. Trump's peace deal will also face scrutiny when he joins G7 leaders meeting in the French Alps today with many U.S.

3:22allies critical of the conflict and its impact on global energy prices. That said, oil prices have dropped on news of the deal, with WTI now trading around$80 a barrel and natural gas prices also tumbling. While analysts know this is the first time they've seen real prospects for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, oil markets are expected to remain tight, while the industry looks to restore shipping lanes, damaged infrastructure, and crude inventories.

3:52President Trump marked his 80th birthday last night with a series of UFC cage matches on the White House's South Lawn. The military was closely integrated into the programming, with troops in attendance, the U.S. Marine Band performing throughout the night, and the Navy's Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds conducting a joint flyover during the National Anthem.

4:17While Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the event as a gift to the American people, it was exclusively streamed on Paramount +, which requires a monthly subscription. White House reporter Alex Leary. Paramount +, exclusively aired this event. Paramount has a$7.7 billion deal with UFC. Paramount just won a major victory just days ago. The Justice Department signed off on its takeover bid for Warner Brothers Discovery, a massive entertainment deal in the works. CEO David Ellison was there, fresh off that victory. One of the other really striking things was how vivid the corporate tie-in was.

4:58UFC said it spent about$60 million on this event, half of which it's going to get back to advertising and corporate sponsorships. Advertising seen on the Octagon and around the arena came from Ram Trucks, Bud Light, Crypto.com, and Polymarket, just to name a few. The event comes as Trump contends with an approval rating near a career low and amid a drop in support among young men who make up the core UFC audience. Meanwhile, in Washington, AI company Anthropic sent top staff to the nation's capital over the weekend in a bid to end export restrictions on its most powerful AI models. That's after the Trump administration on Friday banned foreign governments, companies, and individuals from using Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, prompting the company to fully shut off access to all users in order to comply.

5:49On Sunday, a group of leading cybersecurity experts called for the administration to lift the export controls, citing the dangers of taking away powerful AI tools from cyber defenders, in addition to saying the move created market uncertainty and jeopardized America's AI leadership. Anthropic has said it has adequate safeguards in place and is known for giving priority to safety. And the U.S. could soon lose its status as having eliminated measles, which it earned back in the year 2000. That is pending a determination from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that an outbreak in Utah has been spreading for more than a year.

6:27Journal reporter Jennifer Kalfas has more. The outbreak itself started in June of last year before really taking off later that summer along the Utah-Arizona border. At this point, it's spread across the state with exposure reported, you know, at children's sports events, Walmart stores, an aquarium, a ski resort. And it's really kind of spread beyond just these close-knit communities along that Utah-Arizona border across the state. In Utah, 98 % of kindergartners in the 2012 school year got their measles shots. But in the 2024 to 2025 year, just over 88 % did. That may still sound like a lot, but really infectious disease kind of requires 95 % coverage as a threshold to achieve herd immunity.

7:13You know, I've been talking to, you know, infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists about measles outbreaks since they really started picking up last year in the U.S. To a lot of them, they believe it's already clear that the U.S. has lost this measles elimination status. We had more than 2 ,000 measles cases reported last year, and we already have at least 2 ,000 reported this year. In some recent years, we've had under 100 reported across an entire year. Several countries have lost their measles elimination status, including Canada last year and a number of European countries this year, including the UK, Austria and Spain.

7:50Coming up, correspondent Caroline Cameo takes us inside the U.S.'s new aid strategy in Africa, in which assistance comes at a cost. That and more after the break.

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8:22In the year since President Trump closed the U.S. Agency for International Development and set new conditions for governments to receive U.S. aid. Nearly two dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa have assented to those demands and struck new deals with Washington. But as the Journal's Caroline Cameo reports from Nairobi, a handful of countries on the continent, including Zimbabwe, Ghana, and Zambia, are pushing back against that America-first approach to foreign assistance. And Caroline joins me now with more. Caroline, what's occurring here? What are these three countries in particular taking issue with?

8:56What we're seeing right now is a situation where African countries are bridling at the conditions of some of the Trump America first policies, where some of the huge sticking points for a country like Zambia is that the health aid was attached to the signing of a separate agreement for critical minerals. So, you know, at least according to statements that Zambian officials have put out there, that was a term they considered to be unacceptable, as well as terms regarding preferential access for American companies or terms requiring private health data. Zimbabwe was one of the countries that was sort of taking a leading role in African countries' talks for fairer access to vaccines and treatments in exchange for the health data that they share that results in these treatments.

9:48But some of the issues that countries like Zimbabwe have raised is that this could weaken African countries' bargaining position to sign away their data bilaterally in this way. On this health data, Caroline, what are we really talking about here? Is this like people's private health records, their genetic information? Do we have any more specifics? Zambian officials, for instance, described the health data as being private. Other countries have used terms like sensitive. So it's not clear what the data is exactly, but it's clear that it's quite extensive. And it's also clear that some of these countries, according to our health groups that we've spoken with, are being asked for nearly two dozen or more years of health data for what's essentially a five-year agreement.

10:32So I think that's also been a bit of a bone of contention. are we giving away a bit too much? And Caroline, potentially this health data would be a benefit for American industry? So there's some opacity in these agreements. And, you know, analysts have spoken to suggest that America wants this health data first to give its pharmaceutical companies a competitive advantage in developing vaccines and treatments by having this data early on. And officials that we spoke with also mentioned that, you know, they're looking to have this data. I mean, having exited from the WHO, they need this data to be able to respond very quickly to some of these outbreaks that are happening around the world, like we're seeing right now in DRC.

11:16So I think it's also a way for the U.S. to sort of stay luped in on what's happening with outbreaks without being in the WHO. Okay, so some pushback on this one point. And yet you report that nearly two dozen countries have made deals and assented to some of these terms. Yes, we've got three pushing back here, but is it safe to say that on balance, this has actually worked out relatively well for the White House? I absolutely think that it's a win for the U.S. It's a win for the Trump administration as far as the huge number of agreements that have been signed. The majority of the African countries, analysts say, quite frankly, a number of them couldn't turn down the aid.

11:54They were reeling already from the USAID cuts, many of them needing to plug in some of these holds and the Trump administration is looking to reduce the aid dependency of countries, to reduce how much the U.S. is forking out in terms of aid. And we are already seeing that happening because already the amounts that are being given under these agreements are much less than were given in the previous five years comparatively. I've been speaking to the Journal's Caroline Cameo in Nairobi. Caroline, thank you so much for bringing us this story. Thanks very much, Luke. Voters in Switzerland have rejected a high-stakes proposal to impose a population cap, which was targeted at managing immigration.

12:38While the majority of voters opposed the No to a Switzerland with 10 Million initiative, led by the right-wing Swiss People's Party, Party VP Thomas Asche said the results were a signal to the government that things need to change. 45 % of the Swiss population said yes to limit immigration, to do something against those big problems that we have with illegal and criminal asylum seekers. So a very strong sign to our government to change its policies. The vote's polarizing nature has drawn comparisons to the UK's Brexit referendum, with opponents warning that a population cap would have invalidated a web of bilateral treaties with the EU and other trading partners and triggered acute labor shortages.

13:22And meanwhile, in the UK... Today, I can announce that the government will ban access to social media for all children under the age of 16. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK learned from Australia, which imposed a similar ban at the end of last year. The UK plans include social media giants like Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, X and other platforms, while AI chatbots that simulate sexual relationships or role play with users will have to enforce a minimum age of 18. Social media is making children unhappy. It's making it easier for bullies to harass and abuse them. And it could even be harming their mental health, exposing them to content that is dangerous, because that's what grabs the attention.

14:13It's designed to be addictive. Of course it is. features like the infinite scroll. They're designed to lock you in for hours. And if nothing else, there's an opportunity cost to that. It stops children doing their homework, reading, playing with their friends outside, going to bed at decent hour. Now, that may not sound like much, But these are the activities that help a child develop into an adult. Starmer is hoping for a vote in Parliament on the restrictions before Christmas, with an aim to enforce the ban by next spring. And that's it for What's News for this Monday morning. Additional sound in this episode was from Reuters.

15:02Today's show was produced by Daniel Bach and Hattie Moyer. Our supervising producer is Sandra Killhoff. And I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. And until then, thanks for listening.

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