Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday declined to rule out a return to full-fledged combat in Iran, saying the decision depends on Iran’s actions during the current negotiation period.

“Well, I can’t commit to anything, because obviously it depends on what the Iranians are ultimately going to do,” Vance told reporters after speaking to service members at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.

But Vance said he can commit that Trump will not send troops back into combat in Iran “unless he has to, unless there’s a clearly defined purpose for it.”

“If we’ve gotta do more, of course, that’s kind of up to the Iranians,” Vance said. “If they try to rebuild their nuclear program, if they try to start shooting at commercial vessels again, that’s going to change our calculus.”

— Kevin Breuninger

The Trump administration said Wednesday it will not renew its trilateral trade pact known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA.

The decision — announced on the deadline for the trade partners to determine whether to renew the deal for another 16 years — won’t invalidate the agreement, which will stay in effect for another decade. But it triggers yearly reviews that could result in the renegotiation of major parts of the treaty and undermines its premise.

Trump “chose not to rubber stamp a USMCA renewal without addressing existing issues,” a senior administration official told reporters in a call Wednesday announcing the move.

Trump’s “primary” concern with USMCA centers on the U.S.′ trade deficits with Canada and Mexico, according to the official.

—Kevin Breuninger

Trump’s insistence on Congress’ adoption of a controversial voter-identification and proof of citizenship bill has derailed action in both the House and Senate in the past week and threatens other GOP priorities.

Republican hardliners jammed up the House floor this week, in part because of congressional leadership’s refusal to attach a version of the election bill, dubbed the SAVE America Act, to the National Defense Authorization Act. In the face of stiff opposition, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent the House home early for its July 4 recess.

The House advanced the SAVE America Act in February, but the legislation lacks the 60 votes it would need in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. Trump and his supporters have repeatedly pushed Senate leaders to abolish the filibuster to pass the election bill, but there’s also insufficient support to drastically change the chamber’s procedures.

—Justin Papp

The Trump administration and OpenAI are engaging in preliminary and ongoing talks about a possible government stake in the AI company, according to a source close to the discussions, who asked not to be named because the details are confidential.

The talks have been in progress for more than a year, as CNBC previously reported, but nothing official has been decided and the specifics are still subject to change. Altman first shared the idea with the Trump administration in 2025.

OpenAI has reportedly discussed giving the government a 5% stake in the company, according to a report from the Financial Times on Thursday. That potential holding would be worth roughly $42.6 billion at the artificial intelligence startup’s recent $852 billion valuation.

—Ashley Capoot

Trump‘s idea to restrict defense contractors from buying back their own stock and paying dividends is picking up steam in Congress. The Senate Armed Services Committee incorporated a provision to write it into law into its version of the National Defense Authorization Act — a must-pass defense bill.

As written, contractors would need Pentagon approval to execute buybacks or pay dividends. The legislative text closely resembles an executive order Trump issued in January. An amendment to add a similar provision to the House version of the NDAA didn’t make it into the final bill.

Trump has not publicly leaned on Congress to approve the measure yet, but if he does, it would greatly improve its chances of becoming law. Advocacy groups representing Pentagon contractors are lobbying hard to kill the proposal.

—Garrett Downs

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced Thursday that a grand jury had indicted Olympian canoeist David Hearn on a felony charge for allegedly destroying a piece of liner from the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall.

“This was a deliberate act to damage the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall that members of the National Park Service actually have worked hard to restore, and have witnessed,” Pirro said. “National Park employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands.”

Hearn, 67, has said, “I didn’t vandalize anything.” He claims he reached down into the pool on June 19 to touch a piece of liner that had become partially detached.

Trump has made the renovation of the Reflecting Pool a top priority, and has claimed that its new “American flag blue” liner was intentionally damaged by vandals.

— Dan Mangan

The White House in late June sent Congress an $87.6 billion supplemental funding request for the Iran war, a proposal that raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill and may be meeting with some opposition — and not just from Democrats.

Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., immediately slammed the request, which would require congressional approval.

“President Trump launched a reckless and costly war with Iran — without authorization from Congress or the support of the American people — that he should never have started, and now, instead of doing anything to help families get by, he is asking taxpayers to pick up the tab and give him billions more to wage wars overseas,” Murray said in a statement at the time.

Politico reported on Wednesday that even some key Republicans are alarmed at the supplemental, claiming the administration hadn’t provided enough information.

—Justin Papp

Iran is intent on charging fees for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital trade route that was choked off during the U.S.-Israeli war and remains at the center of ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran, according to multiple reports.

The U.S. has floated the possibility of relinquishing some frozen Iranian funds in exchange for the Islamic republic abandoning its claims over the waterway, but Iran has so far refused, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The monthslong war in Iran, launched by the U.S. and Israel in late February, led to last month’s signing of a 60-day memorandum of understanding that paved the way for further talks on a permanent deal. But tensions remain high, with the sides exchanging fire at one point and continuing to publicly disagree about key issues.

Axios on Wednesday cited a U.S. official saying discussions in the Persian Gulf currently center on “how the Strait should be managed after [the memorandum expires].”

—Kevin Breuninger

Trump’s interview with CNBC has been teed up by some unwelcome economic news: The Labor Department reported a sudden slowdown in U.S. job growth last month.

Nonfarm payrolls for June increased by a seasonally adjusted 57,000 for the month, less than half of the Dow Jones forecast of 115,000. Job creation in May was also downwardly revised to 129,000, according to the government’s latest monthly report.

The unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% — but that was largely due to a decline in the labor force participation rate, suggesting fewer people in the U.S. are actively looking for work. The rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 61.5%, its lowest point since March 2021.

—Kevin Breuninger and Jeff Cox