What’s Happening in Ukraine? Gaza? Venezuela? And More.
Taking a look at the stories that have been overshadowed by Iran.
The news from Iran has never been more confusing or harder to follow.
Last week, as the war there neared its 60-day mark, President Trump penned a letter to lawmakers saying that congressional authorization for the conflict was unnecessary because the hostilities had been “terminated” by a ceasefire. “There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026,” he wrote.
That statement already may not have been the full truth — Iran had attacked U.S. forces at least 10 times since the start of the ceasefire — but now it is certainly no longer operative.
Yesterday, according to U.S. Central Command, Iran launched multiple missiles, drones, and small boats at three U.S. warships that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. (None of the vessels were hit.) In response, the U.S. struck multiple Iranian military facilities responsible for the attack.
So … has the war restarted?
President Trump says no. He told ABC News that the U.S. attacks were “just a love tap” and insisted that the ceasefire remains in effect. “They trifled. I call that a trifle,” he told reporters this morning while visiting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, one of several projects in Washington, D.C. he is overseeing.
Iran may see it differently. “Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure,” the Iranian foreign minister wrote on X. (Before the exchange of fire, the two sides had reportedly been closing in on a memorandum of understanding to end the war.) One Iranian official wrote last night that the U.S. had now “crossed the point of no return, and the response will be commensurate with the crime and more.”
The back-and-forth capped off a dizzying week in the region. The three U.S. warships that were attacked had been there in the first place as part of a short-lived U.S. effort to “guide” ships through the Strait of Hormuz. That initiative, called “Project Freedom,” had been announced by Trump on Sunday and aborted by Tuesday, reportedly due to tensions with Gulf allies who worried the operation would spark attacks from Iran.
Trump paused the effort just hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio trumpeted it from the White House briefing room, a whiplash-inducing turnaround. (Add it to the list of Trump efforts that have been announced on Truth Social and quickly petered out.)
Meanwhile, Iran still is attacking our Gulf allies: the United Arab Emirates reported an Iranian missile barrage this morning. And the Strait of Hormuz remains closed: no ships have crossed the channel in the last two days, the longest stretch since March without any traffic at all.
So, Iran is attacking the U.S., the U.S. is attacking Iran, Iran is attacking U.S. allies, and the Strait of Hormuz is closed — but a ceasefire remains in effect, according to the president. Got it? Got it.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, we can move on to our main business of the day. Over the last few weeks, I’ve received a bunch of questions from readers that have taken a similar form: basically, With Iran dominating so many of the headlines, what’s going on with Issue X that seems to have completely fallen out of the news?
See for yourself:
Q: Why do issues come and go when they are not resolved? The media doesn’t seem to follow up on older news, e.g., I hardly see anything about Ukraine.
Q: Where did the Palestine-Israel conflict go?
Q: With the war in Iran capturing all the headlines, Venezuela seems to have fallen off the map - what is happening there since Maduro’s capture?
Q: What else is going on these days? It seems like action in Iran has consumed all of the administration’s resources the last month. Is ICE still working at the same level? DOJ is stalled? SAVE Act? DOGE gone? Tariffs in place or removed?
So, let’s dive in. In this week’s mailbag issue: an update on everything else that’s going on — around the world, and here at home (including a major decision on redistricting just this morning)…