President Donald Trump agreed to pause attacks on Iran on Saturday, citing “perimeters of a deal” that would end Tehran’s “nuclear threat” and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to,” Trump said on Truth Social.
He said that the U.S. was “locked and loaded and ready to go” against Iran but that he agreed to cancel attacks “subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” He added that Israel “joins me in this commitment.”
Trump made the announcement after the State Department urged Americans across the Middle East to consider leaving the region or be prepared to depart on short notice. It also warned of flight disruptions and security risks as the conflict with Iran appeared to be escalating.
More than 600 structures damaged in Washington state wildfires
A wildfire burning northwest of downtown Spokane, Washington, has damaged more than 600 structures as officials continue to assess the destruction.
The fire was listed at 5,390 acres Sunday, according to Benjamin Cossel, a spokesperson for the U.S. Agriculture Department, who told NBC News officials were still working to determine the full scope of the damage.
Authorities have not yet determined how many were homes, businesses or schools.
The blazes, officially called the Spokane Area Fires, are being managed as three separate incidents: the Old Trails Fire, the Fairview Fire and the Autumn Lane Fire.
Europe’s wildfire crisis shifts as 200,000 French residents return, but new blazes force thousands to flee
Firefighters contained a vast wildfire in southwestern France on Saturday, allowing about 198,000 people to return home after what may have been the country’s largest peacetime evacuation.
But as residents returned in the Gironde region, renewed blazes forced thousands from their homes elsewhere in France and Greece.
Two firefighting helicopters collided battling wildfires west of Athens on Sunday, prompting a search-and-rescue operation for their crews in the Psatha area, Greece’s fire department said.
Meet the Press
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he would not provide the Trump administration with a “blank check” for the proposed “anti-weaponization” fund and that rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, should not be allowed to benefit from it.
In a separate “Meet the Press” interview, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said progressive Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is “someone I need in the Senate” ahead of the state’s primary and called out America’s “corrupt” campaign finance system.
Politics in brief
- Reflecting blame: Trump criticized Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., after she agreed to drop a case against a former Olympic canoeist who was accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying, “I don’t know what she was thinking.”
- Blocking Blanche: Trump said he will revive the “anti-weaponization” fund if Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general is blocked.
- Calls to resign: Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said his former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller should not serve in Congress following abuse allegations made by Miller’s ex-wife, who is Moreno’s daughter.
- Subscribe to Truth: A new subscription service allows financial firms and other organizations to get alerts for new Truth Social posts made by Trump and other top accounts before general users do.
Armed bystander distracted gunman in fatal In-N-Out shooting
An armed bystander may have saved lives by distracting a gunman who had opened fire at an In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday, according to a witness.
Lane Koehn, 34, was at a stoplight just outside the fast-food restaurant when he saw a person with an AR-style rifle emerge from the drive-thru. Bullets struck a car in front of Koehn, and he watched the shooter move through the drive-thru toward his own car, he told NBC News.
“I could tell he was trying to figure out where to go, and somebody in the drive-thru line with a handgun was shooting at him,” Koehn said.
He described the shooter as “panicked,” looking around and moving “kind of erratically.” Koehn believes the armed bystander kept the gunman from shooting at more people.
Three people were killed and seven others were injured, two of whom were in critical condition Sunday, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said at a news conference.
The shooter was identified as Chad Williams, 24. He fatally shot himself, Hicks said. Williams’ family is cooperating with police, he said. “Their hearts are also broken at this time,” he said.
Hicks said that in addition to the armed bystander, an off-duty state trooper was also there and engaged the shooter “by returning gunfire towards him.”
Spain to put containment fence on Ceuta’s sea border with Morocco
Spain announced plans to install a 500-meter-long containment barrier along the sea border between its North African territory of Ceuta and neighboring Morocco after 50,000 to 60,000 migrants breached the frontier last week.
The death toll rose to 67, including migrants who drowned and others killed in a stampede trying to cross a breakwater barrier, the Spanish government said Saturday. Authorities in Ceuta told Sky News on Saturday that 86 people had died.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez criticized some European Union leaders’ responses to the crisis in Ceuta, saying in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that calls to suspend Spain from the E.U.’s borderless Schengen zone were “driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance, or political interest.”
A handful of exhausted migrants who swam to Ceuta’s Tarajal beach early Saturday were met by soldiers and escorted back across the border. Spain’s Interior Ministry said most of those who entered the territory had already returned to Morocco.
Notable quote
When I walked on the field I started crying because of how much this moment meant and how much it meant to everybody.
Maggie Foxx, professional baseball player
Fans poured into Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois, to witness history Saturday: the inaugural game of the Women’s Professional Baseball League. The Los Angeles Queens rallied for a 10-8 victory over the New York Heights, but perhaps the most exciting moment of the night came during the ceremonial pitch.
At 99 years old, Maybelle Blair threw out the first ball, a full-circle moment from her time playing in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which ran from 1943 to 1954 and inspired the movie “A League of Their Own.”
In case you missed it
- A heat wave gripped large swaths of the Western U.S. as temperatures hovered near record highs, heightening wildfire risks in areas that already are dry or burning.
- Vincent Pastore, who played Tony Soprano’s best friend-turned-informant on HBO’s mob drama “The Sopranos,” died at 80.
- Israeli airstrikes continued in Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 13 Palestinians, despite Trump’s announcement of a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year’s Gaza ceasefire agreement.
- Authorities ended a massive dayslong search-and-rescue operation Saturday at a collapsed shopping mall in southwest Japan following an earthquake that killed 34 people.
- Nepali climber Nirmal Purja, who set a record for the fastest ascent of the world’s 14 highest mountains, died in an avalanche during an expedition in Pakistan, his company said.
- Hungary is bracing for a full shutdown of a nuclear plant as the Danube River hits record lows.