Trump Signs Initial Deal With Iran, Trump Withholds DNI Nominee, Trump Approval Poll
June 18, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readTrump Signs Preliminary Iran Deal, Withholds Intelligence Nominee, Approval Numbers Slide
President Trump signed a preliminary agreement with Iran’s president on Wednesday, intended to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz for oil shipments. The deal came as a last-minute surprise, bypassing a planned signing ceremony in Switzerland. Trump signed at the Palace of Versailles in France—historically where the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I was signed, a treaty widely considered a failure. Iran’s leader signed in his home country.
Under the memorandum, the U.S. lifts sanctions in exchange for Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and repeating its decades-old promise not to build a nuclear weapon. Both conditions existed before the war, raising the question of what the U.S. gained from the conflict. NPR’s Greg Myrie noted that Trump said he wanted to avoid being “another Herbert Hoover,” the president who presided over the Great Depression, and claimed oil supplies would be depleted in four more weeks if the war continued. Despite ending hostilities, Trump used belligerent language at the press conference, saying he reserves the right to resume the war and mentioning bombing Iran a half-dozen times.
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Up First from NPR
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (00:02) **Trump Signs Initial Deal With Iran** - President Trump and Iran's president sign an agreement intended to end the war, reopening the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief and a promise from Iran not to build a nuclear weapon.
- 2 (02:54) **Analysis: What the Iran Deal Means** - NPR's Greg Myrie breaks down the details of the preliminary agreement.
- 3 (06:02) **Trump Withholds DNI Nominee** - President Trump is blocking his full-time pick for Director of National Intelligence, J. Clayton, from moving forward with Senate confirmation.
- 4 (07:01) **Trump's Demands Strain Relationship With Senate Republicans** - The president's two demands show a breakdown in his relationship with GOP senators.
- 5 (09:03) **Pattern of Conflict with Senate Republicans** - This standoff follows previous clashes where the president made demands that put Senate Republicans in a difficult position.
- 6 (10:02) **NPR Poll: Trump Approval at New Low** - A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows President Trump's approval rating is at its lowest point, with 36% approval and 59% disapproval.
- 7 (11:28) **Economic Pessimism Deepens** - Americans' feelings about the economy are even worse than their view of the president, with only a third approving of Trump's handling of it.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
President Trump is once again putting Senate Republicans in a tough spot, he's holding back his pick for Director of National Intelligence until his demands are met, leaving his temporary pick Bill Pulte to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies, with Trump threatening to block a key spy tool until he gets his way.
And a new NPR/PBS News/ Marist poll finds Americans still aren’t happy with the economy or with President Trump, his approval numbers at the lowest they’ve been, even dropping among groups that helped put him in office.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Tina Kraja, Jason Breslow, Megan Pratz, Mohamad ElBardicy, and HJ Mai.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Ava Pukatch.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
And our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:57) Trump Signs Initial Deal With Iran
(05:42) Trump Withholds DNI Nominee
(09:31) Trump Approval Poll
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
More from this podcast
Up First from NPR →