Here’s What Trump Was Doing While Iran Talks Fell Apart

While U.S. negotiators shattered peace talks with Iran, Donald Trump was at a UFC event in Miami, fawning over the body of a Brazilian mixed martial artist.

The president shared some soft words with fighter Paulo Costa cageside Sunday evening, telling the sweaty light heavyweight competitor that he’s a “beautiful guy.”

“You could be a model, you look so good,” Trump can be heard saying in a video clip, gesturing his hands to frame Costa’s image.

“You’re too good lookin’ to be a fighter. You are some fighter,” Trump added.

Costa had previously refused to share the details of their conversation, telling reporters during the post-fight press conference that his exchange with Trump was “secret” and “personal.”

“As for Trump, I just kind of jokingly talked to him and then I said some things that were personal,” Costa said. “So just keep it a secret for now. It was just between us.”

That same evening, UFC dropped the first official promo video for the White House event, expected to take place on Trump’s birthday—June 14—in Washington.

Meanwhile, peace talks were falling apart with Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a social media statement that his country had “engaged with U.S in good faith to end war,” but that U.S. negotiators had instead offered “maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade.”

“Zero lessons earned. Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity,” Araghchi said.

In the wake of the failed peace deal, Trump aggressed the situation yet again, promising to block all imports and exports from Iranian ports out of the Strait of Hormuz starting 10 a.m. EST Monday. As of publication, there has been no confirmation that the blockade is in place.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the Trump administration reports to him every day about the ongoing war in Iran.

In a meeting with Israel’s Cabinet ministers, Netanyahu said, “I spoke yesterday with Vice President JD Vance. He called me from his plane on his way back from Islamabad. He reported to me in detail, as this administration does every day, about the development of the negotiations. In this case, the explosion in the negotiations.”

Netanyahu went on to claim that the U.S. broke off the negotiations because Iran didn’t immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz and wouldn’t commit to getting rid of all of its enriched uranium.

“The explosion came from the American side, which could not tolerate Iran’s blatant violation of the agreement to enter the negotiations. The agreement was that they would cease fire, and the Iranians would immediately open the gates. They did not do that. The Americans could not accept that,” Netanyahu continued.

The idea that the White House reports to Netanyahu daily is not likely to go over well with the growing number of Americans (including Republicans) who see the war in Iran as driven by Israel. Trump’s poll numbers are taking quite a beating over the Iran war, and after ceasefire talks failed over the weekend, those numbers are not likely to improve soon.

With more Americans now sympathizing with Palestinians over Israelis, the Trump administration appearing deferential to Israel could hurt them in the coming midterm elections, and even further down the road in 2028. President Trump and his fellow Republicans show no signs of recognizing this, and that may be at their own peril.

The Cook Political Report adjusted the ratings Monday for four Senate battles in favor of Democrats, as President Donald Trump’s leadership has resulted in an “increasingly sour national environment for Republicans.”

In Georgia, the crop of conservative primary candidates have struggled to distinguish themselves in a crowded field, without a clear front-runner or any endorsement from the president. Meanwhile, incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff has been able to keep his powder dry and maintain a considerable fundraising edge over his opponents. CPR has moved that race out of the “Toss Up” category into “Lean Democrat.”

Another race that has shifted from uncertainty toward blue victory is the Senate battle in North Carolina, where Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley is facing off against Roy Cooper, a Democrat and former governor, for Thom Tillis’s vacated seat. A recent poll by Quantus Insights saw Cooper secure a five-point lead over his opponent, continuing a positive trend since the beginning of the year.

In Ohio, former Senator Sherrod Brown is set to face off with Senator Jon Husted, who was appointed as a replacement for Vice President JD Vance. The Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC for Republicans in the upper chamber, is reportedly planning to spend a whopping $79 million to help Husted hold his seat. Still, CPR has moved that race from “Lean Republican” into the “Toss Up” column.

The CPR’s final leftward rating shift was for the race in Nebraska, where Independent Dan Osborn is back once again to duke it out in an increasingly chaotic primary election. In 2024, Osborn came within seven points of defeating establishment Republican Senator Deb Fischer, a remarkable feat for a progressive independent with zero name recognition in a solidly pro-Trump state. This time around, he will challenge Republican Senator Pete Ricketts. That race has been moved from “Solid Republican” to only “Likely Republican.”

Trump has put Republicans in a tough spot. Gas prices and inflation are up; employment and consumer sentiment are down. Trump’s reckless war in Iran continues to rack up an immense price tag, which will only grow if he makes good on his promise to install a military blockade around the Strait of Hormuz. (He had stated the blockade would begin at 10 a.m. EST on Monday, but as of publication, the deadline has come and gone with no confirmation that the blockade was in place.)

It’s only a matter of time before Trump’s disastrous leadership takes its toll on his own party members, and November is right around the corner.

America’s allies will actually not be joining the White House’s Strait of Hormuz blockade.

NATO has no intention of cooperating in the military endeavor, despite Donald Trump’s repeated insistence that “many other countries” plan to help U.S. forces take control of the vital oil tradeway.

Some of the biggest members in the defensive alliance announced Monday that they will not get involved, including Britain and France.

“We are not supporting the blockade,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told BBC Radio. He added that the U.K. “is not getting dragged in” to the U.S.-Israel war in Iran.

In light of the latest failed peace deal, the U.S. military announced that it would block all maritime traffic in and out of the strait starting at 10 a.m. EST Monday.

“The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Sunday afternoon.

It is not clear exactly how the U.S. military plans to physically block ships from utilizing the waterway. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned that any warships approaching the strait will be considered a ceasefire violation.

The war in Iran has thrust the entire world into an energy crisis, spiking oil and gas prices, stalling movement, and tanking economies. At the time of publication, Brent crude—a global oil benchmark—had once again surpassed $100 per barrel. Before the war in late February, Brent crude was hovering around $65 a barrel.

But the U.K. and France are trying to solve the problem a different way. The two countries are co-hosting a summit with more than 40 nations this week in order to “restore freedom of navigation,” Starmer said in a statement. Its results, however, are dependent on a peace deal.

“The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz is deeply damaging. Getting global shipping moving is vital to ease cost of living pressures,” Starmer said. “This week the U.K. and France will co-host a summit to advance work on a coordinated, independent, multinational plan to safeguard international shipping when the conflict ends.”

Gas prices in the U.S. have surged beyond $4 a gallon, with some areas of California seeing prices as high as $7 a gallon. But the cost is even worse abroad: In the U.K., gas has hit the equivalent of roughly $7.50 per gallon, while in France, the price has soared beyond $8 per gallon. In the Netherlands, another NATO member, gas costs more than $10 per gallon.

A federal judge has tossed out President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over their reporting on his salacious birthday letter to infamous sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.

The Journal successfully argued that Trump “fail[ed] to adequately allege that the statements in the Article are false or defamatory, actual malice, or special damages for his defamation per quod claim,” the judge noted, as he dismissed the case.

The infamous letter showed the silhouette of a woman containing a poem addressed to Epstein, in which Trump allegedly wrote “a pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret. Donald J. Trump.”

There is also a signature at the bottom of the woman’s figure, potentially mimicking pubic hair. It reads “Donald.”

This is a developing story.