Hook Weekly Wrap | 27.06.25
Trump brokers "complete and total" ceasefire between Israel and Iran
Of course, we have to start with everyone’s favourite - US President Donald Trump. The week kicked off with reactions to Trump's unprecedented and surprise overnight attack on three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
In another instance of Truth Social diplomacy, Trump put out the possibility of regime change in Iran in direct contradiction to what US Vice President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had said.
Anyway, Iran retaliated by launching a barrage of ballistic missiles at the US base at Al Udeid in Qatar but didn’t manage to inflict any damage and there were no casualties.
Eventually, calmer heads prevailed and Trump announced a "complete and total" ceasefire between Israel and Iran ending what he called the “12-day war”. Minor violations followed which led to Trump lambasting the two countries. The fragile ceasefire has since held up.
But Khamenei, in his first public address since the ceasefire, declared that Iran had “delivered a slap to America’s face” referring to the missile attack on the US base in Qatar. Furthermore he claimed that the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites “did not achieve anything”, that Donald Trump had “exaggerated” their impact and vowed never to surrender to the US.
Trump, Hegseth and many others from the Trump administration have consistently maintained that the US strikes had “decimated … obliterated” the country’s nuclear program. Though Hegseth also said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium.
NATO members pledge to up defence spending to 5% of national GDP
Moving on, NATO held a high-stakes summit at The Hague this past week. Top of the agenda was making sure Trump was happy and stayed aboard the alliance.
To do that, beyond NATO chief Mark Rutte buttering Trump up, 31 of the 32-member bloc pledged to allocate up to 5% of their national GDP to defence and related sectors by 2035. Spain was the only one who abstained. A joint statement described the move as a “quantum leap” in collective security.
The pledge seems to have worked with Trump describing the decision as a "big win for Europe and... Western civilisation" and notably reaffirmed his commitment to NATO’s Article Five saying “that's why I'm here”.
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