First Thing: Trump backs G7 statement on Iran deal as domestic criticism grows

Emmanuel Macron gives a thumbs up as Donald Trump looks on at the G7 summit in France. Photograph: Christian Hartmann/Reuters View image in fullscreen Emmanuel Macron gives a thumbs up as Donald Trump looks on at the G7 summit in France. Photograph: Christian Hartmann/Reuters First Thing: Trump backs G7 statement on Iran deal as domestic criticism grows Republicans question details of deal set to be signed later in the week as European leaders seek to join talks. Plus: can we refreeze the Arctic? Donald Trump, facing severe criticism from some domestic supporters for conducting a war against Iran that has met hardly any of its original objectives, has backed a joint G7 leaders’ statement that welcomes his proposed peace deal. The statement calls for further talks involving European leaders about Iran’s ballistic missiles, which is bound to be rejected by Iran. Iran’s top diplomat, meanwhile, has said a peace deal with the US would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon – something the Israeli side appears to have ruled out. Europe has been excluded from talks between the US and Iran since Trump became president, with some claiming the US negotiating team has lacked the expertise to match an Iranian side that has deep knowledge of nuclear issues and has been strengthened by its chokehold on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. What is the domestic criticism of the deal? Many Senate Republicans said there were still unanswered questions and they needed thorough briefings before it was finalized. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump and a longtime hawk on Iran, said: “The way Iran describes it, it’s awful. The way we describe it, it makes sense to me. Let’s look at it and see what it actually is.” How do people in Iran feel about the deal? The Guardian’s Deepa Parent found a shared sense of exhaustion, and anger that nothing has really changed. What does the deal mean for US-Israeli relations? The strategic interests of the US and Israel appear to be diverging and Benjamin Netanyahu has been left in a political bind, facing an election having led Israel in three wars – in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran – without a clear victory in any of them. ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees relocated as 15 charged over ICE protests in Minnesota View image in fullscreen A police car guards the gates of the Alligator Alcatraz detention center. Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPA Detainees from Florida’s notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail have been relocated to other facilities, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The detention facility in the remote Everglades, celebrated by Donald Trump for its harsh conditions, has been widely expected to close. It quickly attracted headlines for the brutal treatment of detainees after opening last year. ICE announced on Tuesday that all detainees at the state-run site had been moved, but did not specify how many or where they had been taken. How are authorities cracking down on protests against ICE? Fifteen people in Minnesota have been charged with conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers over their response to a deadly immigration enforcement crackdown in the state earlier this year. The prosecutors allege the defendants were part of two Minneapolis-based “antifa” groups that “violently oppose immigration law enforcement”. Russian warship incident in English Channel deeply concerning, says UK prime minister View image in fullscreen A British vessel (in the distance) monitoring the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich on 4 June. Photograph: Royal Navy/UK MoD crown copyright/Reuters Warning shots fired by a Russian warship sailing across the Channel between France and the UK on Tuesday morning were “deeply concerning and reckless”, Keir Starmer said, as he warned that the UK was dealing with proxy attacks from Russia “every single day”. The prime minister said the Ministry of Defence had assessed that the Russian vessel was drifting and fired the shots within a few hundred metres of a British pleasure yacht. What other incidents in the UK has Russia recently been accused of? Two men were found guilty on Monday of conspiring to carry out arson attacks on property connected to Starmer and appear to have operated under the instruction of an online handler with links to Russia. On Tuesday, the captain of a Russian shadow fleet vessel intercepted in the Channel was remanded in custody charged with breaching sanctions. In other news … View image in fullscreen Mike Collins will run for senator in November. Photograph: Colin Hubbard/AP Georgia’s Republican voters chose US representative Mike Collins to lead the party’s challenge to the rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff in November’s midterm election for senator. The Trump administration is coming to the defense of Elon Musk in a lawsuit over claims that his artificial intelligence company xAI is polluting residential neighborhoods in north Mississippi. The investigation into a US air force bomber’s deadly crash at a California base on Monday could take up to six months, officials said. The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s son has been sentenced to four years in jail for seeking US interference in his father’s coup trial. Stat of the day: California’s tectonic systems in ‘critically loaded state’ and at highest levels of stress in 1,000 years View image in fullscreen ‘Critically loaded’: the San Andreas fault. Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images Californians have long been preparing themselves for the “big one”. Liliane Burkhard, the lead author of a study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, said: “Our results show that stress levels on multiple fault segments are now at or above the highest values seen in the past millennium.” Well actually: Midlife is the perfect time to start trail running – here’s how to get into it View image in fullscreen Trail running takes place on dirt trails as opposed to paved roads or measured tracks. Photograph: Getty Images I’m a big fan of running, when I can make the effort to get going. In this piece, Sarah Lavender Smith extols the health benefits and community feel of going out in nature and getting into trail running. Don’t miss this: Ghana to advance reparatory justice at first major gathering since landmark UN resolution View image in fullscreen Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama, addressing parliament earlier this year. Photograph: Enyk Koomson/Ghanaian presidency press service/Reuters Ghana is hosting a conference to advance the African continent’s push for reparatory justice after the adoption of a UN resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. Heads of state, government ministers, civil society representatives, historians, researchers and legal experts representing more than 80 countries are gathering in Accra for the three-day event. … or this: Lives and incomes lost as Ebola takes toll on Bunia’s public-facing workers View image in fullscreen A medical worker carries a child cleared of Ebola in Bunia town, DRC. Photograph: Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/Reuters As the Ebola outbreak continues, medics in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are struggling with shortages of basic equipment to protect themselves and prevent the spread of the virus, partly due to aid cuts, logistical challenges and the large size of the outbreak. Climate check: Meet the scientists trying to refreeze the Arctic View image in fullscreen The Real Ice research team are engaged in a bold geoengineering experiment. Photograph: Brodie Larocque/Icepik Media/The Guardian Sea ice is melting fast, worsening the climate crisis, but a bold attempt to rethicken it is showing early signs of success. Damian Carrington reports from Cambridge Bay in Canada. Last Thing: Algae thwart Trump’s $14m attempt to turn reflecting pool ‘American flag blue’ View image in fullscreen An employee removes algae from the newly painted Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images The latest defiance of Donald Trump comes from algae in the Lincoln Memorial pool, which is green again. The administration had claimed “residual” algae would be cleared after a renovation that the US president promised would turn what he described as a “filthy” and “dirty” site into a “beautiful” monument. Instead, the algae have proliferated in warm weather. If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com Explore more on these topics US news First Thing newsletter news Share Reuse this content