Daily Briefing June 16 – What’s in and out of Iran deal: A war of narratives

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode.

WATCH the full episode here:

Iran and the US will start a new round of negotiations on Friday in Switzerland to reach a final agreement, after the official start of an interim agreement that day, Iran’s foreign minister says. This announcement comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a rare press conference last night, outlining his narrative on Israel’s stance in Lebanon following the memorandum of understanding.

Israel was sidelined entirely throughout the negotiating process, a fact that was highlighted when Netanyahu informed a reporter that Israel does not yet know the details of the deal, which is to be formally signed in Switzerland on Friday after a digital signing on Sunday night. Berman unpicks this knotty issue.

US Vice President JD Vance and a pair of top officials in Trump’s administration shed some light on how the deal will be implemented and what it contains. Berman discusses how their version differs from the narrative being pushed out by Iran.

And finally, after Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar opened Somaliland’s embassy in Jerusalem on Monday — the eighth top-level diplomatic mission in the capital — Berman assesses Israel’s standing on the global diplomatic stage.

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Netanyahu avoids criticizing US-Iran deal, claims war’s main goals have been achieved

Ministers say Israel won’t be bound by Iran deal, as opposition castigates Netanyahu’s ‘absolute failure’

US says Trump, Vance and Iran’s Ghalibaf ‘digitally’ signed Iran deal on Sunday

Visiting Somaliland president opens embassy in Jerusalem

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yitzhak Ledee filmed and edited this episode.

Check out yesterday’s episode here: