Headlines June 1, 2026 from Democracy Now!

The U.S. attacked Iranian radar and drone sites and the island of Qeshm over the weekend, while Iran said it launched a retaliatory attack on a U.S. base in Kuwait. This comes as Iran’s Foreign Ministry claims that it is not currently engaging in talks with the U.S. on the details of its nuclear program, and that Iran and Oman are the only two countries that have a right to “exercise sovereignty” in the Strait of Hormuz. Despite this, President Trump claimed on social media that “Iran really wants to make a deal.” On Saturday, President Trump said during an interview with his daughter-in-law Lara Trump on Fox News that the U.S. should not have waged war on Iran.

President Donald Trump: “You look at what happened with Iraq. We did so bad. That was such a foolish thing, what we did. Shouldn’t have been there in the first place, by the way, and shouldn’t have been in Iran, but Iran has the capability. If we didn’t hit them with the B-2 bombers nine months ago, they would have a nuclear weapon right now.”

In southern Lebanon, Israeli troops captured the medieval Beaufort Castle over the weekend, raising the Israeli flag over the fortress in what the army described as its deepest incursion into Lebanon in over 26 years. That’s despite an April ceasefire brokered by the U.S. between Israel and Lebanon. This comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered strikes on southern Beirut, targeting Hezbollah. Overnight, Israeli attacks killed six people in a village near the city of Nabatieh. This is a local resident.

Ali Jaafar: “Over there in the area where we are, the shelling is towards the Ali al-Taher hills, around the Beaufort Castle. We’re in these valleys over there, sitting in an orchard. You never know how the drones might carry out some airstrikes on us. They’re not sparing anyone.”

In Gaza, Israeli attacks have killed two Palestinians and injured several others. On Saturday, Dr. Jamal Abu Aboun, head of the anesthesia department at Al-Yafa Medical Hospital in central Gaza, was killed in an Israeli drone strike that injured three other civilians, including a 2-year-old girl. Since last October’s U.S.-brokered so-called ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed at least 922 Palestinians.

The House Armed Services Committee has unveiled its proposed 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which would see a record-shattering $1.15 trillion spent on the U.S. military over the next fiscal year. Among the bill’s many provisions is Section 224, entitled the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.” The provision would bring the U.S. and Israel into an unprecedented partnership covering technology sharing, the co-production of weapons systems, and bilateral research and development across multiple domains of warfare, including biotechnology, autonomous systems, AI, cyberwarfare and more.

During a closed-door testimony with the House Oversight Committee on Friday, former Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed she lacked real authority in overseeing the release of the Epstein files. Instead, she blamed her successor, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer. Bondi also reportedly told committee members that Blanche was managing “the entire investigation” and determined which documents would be released — that’s according to Congressmember Robert Garcia of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee.

A federal judge has ordered a temporary halt to the Trump administration’s efforts to set up a nearly $1.8 billion slush fund for Trump supporters who say they were wrongly investigated or prosecuted by previous administrations. The so-called anti-weaponization fund was announced by the Department of Justice last month as part of a settlement between the IRS and Donald Trump and his family, after the President sued his own administration for $10 billion over the leaking of his tax returns by an employee of a federal contractor. The Wall Street Journal reports more than a dozen Republican senators have privately urged top Trump aides to abandon the fund over concerns it could award millions of dollars to Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol and its police on January 6, 2021. Former Vice President Mike Pence also condemned the fund.

Mike Pence: “Let’s get rid of this fund. I mean, I mean, it’s deeply offensive to me that you could have a fund that could even possibly compensate people who assaulted police officers or vandalized the Capitol on January 6th. And I think that’s broadly held by most Republicans.”

In Newark, New Jersey, today marks 11 days since hundreds of immigrants detained at the ICE jail known as Delaney Hall began a hunger and labor strike demanding their immediate release. Protesters and organizers continued to gather near the facility Sunday after New Jersey State Police erected a barricade about half a mile long around Delaney Hall’s perimeter. Activists have denounced New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill for deploying state police against protesters, with some officers wearing riot gear. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has imposed a nightly curfew around Delaney Hall until further notice. There were reports of more arrests Sunday night as some protesters defied the curfew. Baraka’s move came after another weekend of clashes between protesters and law enforcement. New Jersey Governor Sherrill said family visitations at Delaney Hall were partially restored Sunday after the Department of Homeland Security suspended visits, citing the protests. Many organizers and relatives of detainees said they were denied entry to the facility after waiting for hours. This is Karen Merino, whose uncle Gabriel Merino has been jailed at Delaney Hall since August of last year. She said her uncle has lived in the U.S. for most of his life after migrating from Oaxaca, Mexico, as a teenager.

Karen Merino: “My uncle is starving to death in there. His molars have fallen out. It is chaotic in there. It is hell. … This is just like Auschwitz. It is history repeating itself. … My uncle is in one of the hunger-striking detention units. He is in there supporting this, but my uncle is feeling very weak, and I feel that he is dying in there. … He is in the detention unit where guards have beaten and assaulted detainees.”

Karen Merino’s uncle Gabriel has been at Delaney Hall since last August. She was speaking to Democracy Now!’s María Taracena. We will have more on Delaney Hall after headlines.

In Texas, police have arrested an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who faces charges of felony assault and falsely reporting a crime during an immigration raid in Minneapolis in January. Hennepin County prosecutors allege 52-year-old Christian Castro shot Venezuelan immigrant Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg through the door of a home, then lied by claiming the assault was in self-defense. Castro was booked into the Cameron County jail in Texas on Friday. If he challenges his extradition, Democratic Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota will have to make a formal request from Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, a Trump ally.

The U.S. military says it struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three men. U.S. Southern Command claimed the vessel was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” providing no evidence. Since September, the Pentagon says it has killed more than 200 people in strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific. The attacks have been widely condemned as unlawful extrajudicial killings.

In Colombia, a pro-Trump lawyer and businessman took the lead over an ally of outgoing leftist President Gustavo Petro in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday. Far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella took nearly 44% of the vote, compared to 41% for Iván Cepeda, who has vowed to continue Petro’s progressive agenda and negotiate peace deals with armed groups. De la Espriella has promised to crack down on crime and build mega-prisons inspired by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. The two candidates will head to a runoff later this month.

A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s name to be removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled Friday that Trump’s rebranding of the center to include his own name constituted an illegal act, writing, “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.” Judge Cooper also temporarily barred Trump from closing the Kennedy Center for what Trump has claimed are “renovations.” Trump announced a two-year closure after a wave of artists and performers resigned or canceled performances.

Meanwhile, President Trump has lashed out at prominent artists who’ve canceled plans to perform at the Great American State Fair — a series of events on the National Mall to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Several of the performers say they were misled by organizers and did not know of the event’s connections to Trump and his MAGA movement. Among those canceling are Young MC, Morris Day, Martina McBride, C+C Music Factory and The Commodores. In response, President Trump blasted the artists who dropped out as “third-rate” and said he might replace their performances by delivering a “major speech.” On social media, Trump referred to himself as “the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime.”

Brooklyn Rivera, a prominent Nicaraguan Indigenous leader, died in prison over the weekend. He was 73 years old. Rivera was a former lawmaker and leader of the Miskito people, the largest Indigenous group in Nicaragua. In the 1980s, Rivera fought against the Sandinista government alongside the CIA-backed Contra rebels. He was imprisoned three years ago by Nicaraguan authorities. Three days before his death, the government published photos of Rivera bedridden, intubated and emaciated, prompting outrage from human rights groups.

Here in New York, family and friends gathered at Riverside Church on Saturday for a memorial service celebrating the life of Assata Shakur, the legendary Black Panther and Black liberation activist who died last September at the age of 78 in Cuba. Assata Shakur was convicted in the May 2, 1973, killing of a New Jersey state trooper during a shootout that left one of her fellow activists dead. She was shot twice by police during the incident. In 1979, she managed to escape from jail and flee to Cuba, where she received political asylum. She long proclaimed her innocence. This is the renowned abolitionist, author and activist Angela Davis speaking at Saturday’s memorial service.

Angela Davis: “And so, when we defend Assata Shakur today, we are defending all radical movements, antiracist movements, abolition feminist movements, anti-Zionist movements, antiwar movements, anti-capitalist movements.”