The U.S. and Iran have postponed talks over a permanent peace deal and Iran’s nuclear program which were due to begin today in Switzerland. The White House announced Vice President Vance had delayed his trip and noted negotiation logistics have not been “simple or predictable.” While Washington cited complex preparations for technical talks, Hezbollah-linked Lebanese media claimed the talks were suspended due to Israel’s overnight strikes killing 18 people in southern Lebanon.
President Trump’s MOU (interim) peace deal is facing withering criticism from Republican leaders and Gulf allies. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) fumed “Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed…This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.” Senate Armed Services Head Roger Wicker (R-MS) said the MOU “negotiates away” U.S. military success. Israeli military analyst Danny Citrinowicz described the agreement as strategic catastrophe, “We went to topple the regime with U.S. backing and ended with Washington effectively giving legitimacy and strengthening the same regime we wanted to bring down.”
At the 2026 Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai (6/17-6/18), China’s top financial regulators announced new measures to promote global use of the yuan, better manage domestic money market liquidity and open up China's financial markets. To promote offshore yuan business in Shanghai, PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng announced six top state banks (including Bank of China and China Construction Bank) have been authorized to conduct offshore yuan transactions in the city’s free trade zone. The PBOC also unveiled a FIMA RMB Repo tool, that would enable overseas central banks and sovereign wealth funds to obtain yuan liquidity more easily by using top-rated Chinese bonds as collateral.
China’s Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX) will open its lithium carbonate futures and options to overseas traders from July 3, giving global investors direct ability to hedge in the world’s largest lithium market and boosting China’s sway over pricing. Thursday’s announcement follows the April internationalization of China’s main nickel future on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Overseas traders who post U.S. dollars as margin for the yuan-denominated lithium futures will be subject to a 5% collateral haircut.
The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announced on Thursday a $725M conditional loan to Energy Fuels (EFR CN) to boost domestic processing of rare earth elements. OSC stated Energy Fuel’s increased production of rare earth oxides "will directly support permanent magnet facilities across the broader U.S. industrial base and improve supply chains for other specialty defense and industrial products." EFR shares rose 8.2% on the news.
The Zambian government announced it had reached agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (a U.S. development agency) to realign portions of the $491M "farm-to-market" grant program (signed in ’24) to support infrastructure for the critical minerals sector. The program will fund projects linked to the strategic Lobito Corridor, connecting copper, cobalt and other critical mineral exports from Zambia and the DRC to Angola’s Lobito port.
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