El presidente Donald Trump afirmó este domingo que Estados Unidos está dispuesto a trabajar junto a Irán para retirar y destruir su uranio altamente enriquecido si logra cerrar un acuerdo de paz, pero advirtió que en ausencia de un pacto continuará degradando militarmente al país hasta poder hacerlo de forma unilateral. Las declaraciones se producen cuando la guerra entre ambos países cumple 100 días y las negociaciones parecen estancadas, en medio de una nueva escalada de hostilidades en el estrecho de Ormuz.

“Si hacemos un trato y somos amigos, iremos juntos. Usaremos nuestro equipamiento. Lo sacaremos y lo destruiremos, ya sea en el lugar o fuera de él”, dijo Trump en una entrevista con el programa Meet the Press de NBC News grabada el 5 de junio en Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. “E iremos con ellos o sin ellos. Pero no vamos a tener gente disparándonos”.

Trump señaló que las negociaciones están “muy cerca” de producir un acuerdo, pero insiste en incorporar una cláusula que prohíba a Irán no solo desarrollar armas nucleares sino también adquirirlas por cualquier vía. “Tienen que tener eso también, porque eso no es desarrollar”, explicó. Según el presidente, Teherán resistió inicialmente esa exigencia pero terminó cediendo: “Empujaron un poco. Y después no”.

Sin embargo, las posiciones de ambas partes siguen alejadas en al menos cuatro frentes: el conflicto en el Líbano, los activos iraníes congelados en el exterior, la energía nuclear y el control del estrecho de Ormuz. Irán exige que cualquier acuerdo con Washington incluya el fin de las hostilidades entre Israel y Hezbollah en territorio libanés, mientras que EE.UU. prefiere tratar ambos temas por separado. En ese contexto, el mediador paquistaní Mohsen Naqvi realizó este domingo una nueva visita a Teherán, donde entregó una “carta especial” al canciller iraní con un “mensaje muy importante” dirigido al líder supremo Mojtaba Khamenei, según la televisión estatal iraní, sin revelar su contenido.

Trump describió al nuevo liderazgo iraní — encabezado por Mojtaba Khamenei, hijo del líder supremo Ali Jamenei, muerto durante la ofensiva estadounidense e israelí — como “más racional, muy inteligente” y se mostró abierto a mantener conversaciones directas con él, aunque aclaró que hasta ahora no ha hablado con él directamente. Sobre su estado físico, señaló que está “gravemente herido” pero que eso implica “cierta valentía” seguir negociando en esas condiciones.

Esta madrugada, el Mando Central de EE.UU. en Oriente Medio (Centcom) anunció haber derribado dos drones iraníes que amenazaban el tráfico marítimo en el estrecho de Ormuz. El viernes por la noche, el Centcom ya había derribado cuatro drones iraníes lanzados hacia el estrecho y atacado emplazamientos de radares de vigilancia costera iraníes. En represalia, Irán lanzó una andanada de misiles contra instalaciones militares en Kuwait y Baréin, aliados de EE.UU., que denunciaron una “peligrosa escalada”.

El estrecho, ruta de tránsito de alrededor del 20% del suministro mundial de petróleo, permanece cerrado desde el inicio del conflicto y su impacto se siente tanto en los mercados internacionales como en la economía iraní. “La vida se ha vuelto cada vez más difícil, incluso antes de esta guerra. Cosas que hace solo unos meses habríamos podido plantearnos comprar son ahora sueños o cuentos de hadas”, dijo a la AFP Farhad, un chef de 35 años en Teherán.

A pesar de afirmar que Irán conserva apenas entre el 21% y el 22% de su arsenal de misiles previo a la guerra, Trump descartó retirar a los 50.000 soldados estadounidenses desplegados en la región. “Sería una imprudencia hacerlo porque quizás los necesitemos” para presionar en la mesa de negociaciones, dijo. “Los mantendremos allí hasta que tengamos una conclusión”.

Trump también descartó cualquier descongelamiento inmediato de activos iraníes como parte de un eventual acuerdo, a diferencia del pacto nuclear de 2015 negociado por la administración Obama. “Eso viene después. Si se portan bien, si hacen un buen trabajo, empezamos a hablar”, señaló.

La guerra, desatada el 28 de febrero por los ataques de Israel y EE.UU. contra Irán, es consistentemente impopular en el país: una encuesta Economist/YouGov publicada esta semana indica que el 68% de los adultos quiere que Washington cierre un acuerdo “lo antes posible”, incluido el 55% de quienes votaron por Trump en 2024.

“Lo principal es que no podemos permitir que Irán tenga un arma nuclear”, cerró Trump. “No podemos hacerlo. Y no lo haremos”.

Jonathan Bush, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Maine who has been vying for President Donald Trump’s endorsement ahead of this week’s June 9 primary, previously ran a network of birthing clinics in the San Diego County area that often catered to migrant women, a Fox News Digital review found.

«Here we were, the largest obstetric practice in San Diego County and our business was mostly Medi-Cal, the state welfare program, and migrant workers. We needed their business and even appealed to them with Spanish-language ads on local TV,» Bush, who was referring to Athena Women’s Health, commonly known at the time as Athena Health, recounted in Where Does it Hurt? — a 2014 book he co-authored.

At its height, Athena Health helped give birth to thousands of children, according to Bush, who opened a network of birthing clinics with his business partner, Todd Park, who would go on to serve years later as the chief technology officer during the Obama administration.

«We actually owned a birth center. And at the height, we were doing 3,000 babies a year,» Bush told the audience on the Venture Fizz Podcast in 2022. «If you multiplied our monthly run rate, maybe 3,300. So really big, prosperous, not prosperous. A lot of low-income families with very low couldn’t, not on Medicaid, had to pay cash, migrant laborers, all kinds of people.»

FED AUDIT, EMERGENCY MEDICAID U.DERCUT DEMS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTH COVERAGE

Bush’s resurfaced comments about his business raise questions about whether he had knowingly helped women, who may not have been American citizens, secure U.S. citizenship for their children through birthright citizenship and come as he wages a campaign to become the Republican nominee for governor in Maine.

When pressed by Fox New Digital with questions about Athena’s work with immigrants, the Bush campaign pushed back, arguing that Athenahealth had never offered birthing services and that, as a healthcare software company, it would have been illegal to provide them. 

«To distract from his flailing campaign, 25-year DC lobbyist Bobby Charles continues to lie about my record of creating hundreds of Maine jobs,» Bush said in a statement to Fox News Digital. «Ironically, Lobby Charles – who lied about his military service – lobbied for a liberal pro-illegal immigrant, pro-gun control, pro-birthright citizenship California Democrat Attorney General. Here’s the truth without the Lobbyist Lies: athenahealth/Athena Women’s Health provided software, billing, and management services to 116,000 American doctors.» 

«They have never provided any medical services of any kind. And as I’ve said consistently, I agree with President Trump — illegal immigrants should be deported,» Bush, a first cousin to former President George W. Bush, added.

While Bush’s statement about Athenahealth not providing medical services with birthing clinics is accurate, the failed venture, Athena Health, that Bush was initially involved with for less than 2 years was operating birthing clinics.

«Our new company started out with twelve clinics scattered through San Diego County,» Bush said in his 2014 book, referring to Athena Health. «The six doctors and thirty-five midwives were doing two thousand births a year. The midwives were all Latinas. They were warm and friendly and supportive, just what our business plan called for.»

A 2005 profile piece also reveals the early days of their main birthing clinic, where they were «listening to the urgent and beautiful sounds of a baby’s first gulps of air from the birthing room nearby.»

«Jonathan Bush and Todd Park sat in their offices in a San Diego birthing clinic in 1997, listening to the urgent and beautiful sounds of a baby’s first gulps of air from the birthing room nearby. The cries were music for the two fresh-faced former Booz Allen Hamilton health-care consultants, 28 and 24, respectively, who had decided they’d learned enough to run a physician’s clinic better and more efficiently than the doctors could,» the article reads. 

The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity also describes Bush’s work with Athena as a «birthing clinic in San Diego.» 

GOP GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL BLASTED BY CRITICS FOR ‘LYING’ ON STAGE ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HIRES

Jonathan J. Bush Jr., president and CEO of athenahealth Inc., expresses enthusiasm during a tour of the Watertown, Mass., company before announcing its expansion into Maine on Nov. 28, 2007. (Gordon Chibroski/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

It’s unclear what portion of his clients were migrant women. But from his own comments, the volume appears to have been a significant volume of business.

«‘All migrants all the time.’ It was a laugh line for us, but not a very funny one. This was not the thriving business we envisioned. We were hemorrhaging money,» Bush said in his book.

«A lot of low-income families had to pay cash — migrant laborers, all kinds of people,» he continued.

Bush, who has been a healthcare technology entrepreneur for decades and is best known for co-founding Athenahealth, a cloud-based software and services company marketed to medical practices, has touted this experience on the campaign trail.

«I’ve made my career disrupting the status quo, creating jobs and helping people achieve their American dream,» Bush, who announced his candidacy for governor in October, said in an announcement video.

During his race, he has positioned himself as a Maine-first candidate, promising to make Maine more of a destination state for businesses and investors by cutting taxes, auditing local government, and increasing energy supplies by tapping into natural gas reserves.

While he has distanced himself from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party on some issues, he recently told Fox News that «everybody wants endorsements, a giant endorsement like Donald Trump would be phenomenal. He’s held off. This is a purple state…we’d love one.»

Although he has leaned heavily on his business experience to make his pitch to voters, his top GOP opponent, Bobby Charles, believes his birthing clinics and the pitch to migrant women goes against the pro-America, pro-Maine message he’s pitching now.

«It is not surprising to hear Bush now may also have been involved in facilitating illegal immigration. The contrast couldn’t be clearer. I am a pro-Trump conservative who will remove illegals out of the state and ban sharia law. Jonathan ‘Never Trump,’ Bush simply can’t be trusted to do what most Mainers want,» Charles said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

The Bush campaign strongly pushed back against Charles’ characterization that Bush facilitated illegal immigration or birthright citizenship.

According to the National Immigration Law Center, undocumented immigrants are not eligible to enroll in insurance programs, prompting them to search out services where they can find lower costs and payment flexibility. 

According to Bush, as Athena continued to take on a higher volume of  those clients, the business’s stability weakened.

MINNESOTA MEDICAID OPERATOR’S BANKRUPTCY-TO-RICHES RISE CRASHES INTO FRAUD PROBE

Demonstrators hold up a banner during a citizenship rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington on May 15, 2025. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

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«Our popularity worked against us… Pretty soon, most of our remaining clients were indigent. They were either on Medicaid or they had no insurance at all and paid in cash or promised to pay in cash,» Bush wrote in his book.

«I’m probably not giving away anything to tell you that it floundered, and then failed,» he continued.

Maine holds its primary election for governor on Tuesday, June 9.

This is part six of a series examining the challenges confronting the NATO alliance.

As President Donald Trump presses NATO allies to shoulder more of Europe’s defense burden, countries closest to Russia are moving fastest — while some of Western Europe’s biggest economies face growing pressure to catch up. 

Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former deputy director for strategy, policy and plans at U.S. European Command, said the shift is already visible across the alliance.

«Europe is clearly stepping up, but they’re stepping up by geographic variation,» Montgomery told Fox News Digital.

«If you ask me who’s doing the most, the Eastern Europeans are clearly.»

RUSSIAN DRONES TEST NATO’S ARTICLE 5 DEFENSE GUARANTEE AHEAD OF FRIDAY SANCTIONS DEADLINE

Montgomery pointed to the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria as countries moving aggressively to strengthen deterrence against Russia.

His assessment comes as NATO allies work toward a new defense spending benchmark agreed at the 2025 summit in The Hague, which calls on members to invest 5% of GDP in defense and security-related spending by 2035, including 3.5% for core defense requirements and 1.5% for defense-related infrastructure and security investments.

John Deni, a research professor at the U.S. Army War College, said the trend shouldn’t be surprising. 

«Given the threat of Russia, allies in the East are acquiring capabilities more quickly, and they’re spending even more than allies in the West,» Deni told Fox News Digital. «This shouldn’t surprise us because they’re the ones closest to the threat.»

Deni noted that many eastern allies are rapidly purchasing equipment already available on the market rather than waiting years for domestic defense programs to mature.

UK, GERMAN DEFENSE OFFICIALS DEFEND MILITARY BUILDUP UNDER RUSSIAN THREATS

President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte attend the start of a NATO leaders summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025. (Ludovic Marin/Pool via Reuters)

The transformation is visible across NATO’s eastern and northern flanks. Poland has become one of the alliance’s largest military spenders, Romania is increasing defense investments, and Finland and Sweden have added advanced military capabilities to NATO following their accession.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Finland and Sweden Thursday at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, using them as examples of allies strengthening the alliance.

«Sweden and Finland have actually contributed because they brought their own defense industry, their own advanced technology,» Rubio said. «They have been great partners.» 

Romanian Foreign Minister Oana-Silvia Ţoiu echoed that message in an interview with Fox News Digital following an emergency U.N. Security Council session convened after a Russian drone strike injured civilians in the Romanian city of Galați.

«We do agree with President Trump on the need to increase budgets,» Ţoiu said.

Ţoiu said Romania raised defense spending to 2% of GDP during Trump’s previous term and plans to allocate «an average of 3.4 percent» next year through military procurement and strategic infrastructure investments.

POLAND SEEKS ANSWERS AFTER PENTAGON SCRAPS PLANNED US ARMORED BRIGADE ROTATION

«Europe is clearly stepping up, but they’re stepping up by geographic variation,» Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery told Fox News Digital. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

«We have launched initiatives that are directed at the eastern flank because it is increasingly more clear that that needs to be protected,» she said.

She argued that Romania’s role extends beyond national defense.

«We need better deterrence, better defense capabilities there in order to ensure our responsibility in protecting not just the Romanian border, which is the longest border to the war, but also it is in the same time a European border and the border of the Allied territory,» Ţoiu said.

For frontline states, the urgency is driven by geography as much as politics. Romania shares a border with Ukraine and repeatedly has dealt with Russian drones entering its airspace. Poland has become one of NATO’s top military spenders, while the Baltic states are racing toward defense expenditures approaching 5% of GDP.

Montgomery said the eastern flank’s urgency contrasts sharply with the pace in much of Western Europe.

Among the continent’s five largest economies, and despite a slight decrease in military spending in 2025, the U.K. remains the largest investor relative to GDP, with 2.4%, trailed by Germany (2.3%), Spain (2.1%), France (2%) and Italy (1.9%), according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

WHY NATO’S DEFENSE SPENDING IMBALANCE LASTED FOR DECADES

Oana-Silvia Toiu, Romania’s minister for foreign affairs, speaks during an emergency Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York on June 1, 2026, after a Russian military drone entered Romanian airspace and exploded, injuring civilians. (Lev Radin/Sipa USA)

«The Germans are the one country, I think, with a large economy that is starting to make the right kind of investments.»

Germany, he argued, could become the backbone of Europe’s future defense industrial base.

«Germany developing a large, impressive defense industrial base is good for NATO, it’s good for Western security, and it’s even good for our primes,» Montgomery said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has embraced higher defense spending and backed NATO’s new spending goals, positioning Berlin as a potential hub for Europe’s future defense industrial base as allies seek to reduce long-term dependence on the United States.

But despite rising defense budgets, experts warn Europe remains heavily dependent on American military capabilities.

Barak Seener, a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said Europe still relies on the United States for many of the systems required to fight a modern war.

NATO CHIEF WARNS EUROPE CAN’T DEFEND ITSELF WITHOUT US AS TENSIONS RISE OVER GREENLAND

Despite rising defense budgets, experts warn Europe remains heavily dependent on American military capabilities.  (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP, File)

«Europe is heavily dependent on NATO for its strategic airlift and sea lift, its air-to-air refueling, its cyber capabilities, its space assets, its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,» Seener said.

Without those capabilities, he warned, European forces would struggle to maintain situational awareness during a major conflict.

Montgomery said Europe faces three major challenges: expanding military capacity, rebuilding its defense industrial base and developing high-end support capabilities that have long been provided by the United States.

PENTAGON CUTS BRIGADE COMBAT TEAMS IN EUROPE AS TRUMP PRESSURES NATO ON SPENDING

Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery pointed to the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria as countries moving aggressively to strengthen deterrence against Russia.  (Kuba Stezycki/Reuters)

«When you are freeloading for 30 years, you create enormous deficits in terms of people, equipment, technology and know-how,» he said.

«The primary forces to defend Europe should be European,» he said. «The United States should provide additional forces that allow maneuver and offensive operations.»

Montgomery also criticized reported Pentagon deliberations over delaying long-range strike deployments to Germany and reconsidering future Tomahawk missile sales, arguing the systems are critical for deterring Russia.

«The goal here is not to fight Russia in the Baltics or in Poland. The idea here is we want to deter Russia from even trying to attack.»

Looking ahead, Montgomery remains optimistic about NATO’s future.

Montgomery predicted Europe will continue increasing defense spending and expanding its defense industrial base, while the alliance benefits from steadier transatlantic relations.

«I think you’ll have a U.S. president that probably doesn’t provoke the Europeans as much. You’ll have Europe that’s investing more,» he said.

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U.S. Army M1 Abrams tanks take part in the Armed Forces Day parade in Warsaw, Poland, Aug. 15, 2025.  (Artur Widak/NurPhoto)

He also predicted NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte would be remembered for helping hold the alliance together through a period of significant change.

«I think five years from now, NATO will be stronger,» he said. «And I hope we have Ukraine in there.»