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The Brief

The most important stories for you to know today
  • Food
    Guatemalan food
    5 restaurants prove LA was wrong sleeping on it
    By Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa | The LA Local
    Published May 29, 2026 5:00 AM
    A plate of arnachas, enchiladas, taquitos, chuchito, chipilin tamale and maduros.
    An antojitos plate from Amalia’s Restaurant in Koreatown; this plate contains: garnachas, enchiladas, taquitos, chuchito, chipilin tamale and maduros.
    (
    Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa
    /
    The LA Local
    )

    Topline:

    Across L.A., dishes like pepián, garnachas and tapado are moving from the margins to the mainstream. What was once hidden is now defining neighborhoods. These five restaurants capture that shift.

    Why it matters: Los Angeles County is now home to the largest population of Guatemalans outside of Guatemala, with more than 280,000 residents as of 2025 — a roughly 35% increase over the past decade. As the community has grown, so has the visibility of its food, even as many Central American immigrants face increased immigration enforcement and political pressure.

    Puchica Guatemalan Bar & Grill: Walk into Puchica and you’ll likely spot a wall of photographs — Lake Atitlán, Antigua, Tikal. There might be live Chapin music filling the room. There will definitely be some of the best Guatemalan food in L.A.

    Read on... for more Guatemalan restaurants in L.A.

    This story first appeared on The LA Local.

    Four years ago, Adan Matul was selling a Guatemalan sweet bread called pan de Xela, out of a street cart in the San Fernando Valley. Now, Matul and his family run El Sabor Auténtico de Xela, a Guatemalan restaurant and bakery in Chatsworth.

    Matul opened the restaurant in February with his partner, Yolanda Barrios, and her daughters, Hellen Rodas and Selena Barrios. The family works together every day to bring dishes and pastries from their ancestral home of Quetzaltenango.

    “Everything we serve here is a reflection of our roots — the dishes our parents cooked, what we snacked on, the bread we had with our coffee,” Matul told The LA Local. “We want our bread and dishes to evoke memories of home, the warmth that we felt eating our mothers’ food.” 

    A basket of baked bread sitting on a table.
    A basket of Guatemalan breads from El Sabor Auténtico de Xela.
    (
    Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa
    /
    The LA Local
    )

    The demand that led to El Sabor Auténtico de Xela opening its doors reflects a broader shift in L.A. Los Angeles County is now home to the largest population of Guatemalans outside of Guatemala, with more than 280,000 residents as of 2025 — a roughly 35% increase over the past decade. As the community has grown, so has the visibility of its food, even as many Central American immigrants face increased immigration enforcement and political pressure.

    “We’re living in a time where so much systemic harm has been done to our people,” Rodas said between greeting customers at the restaurant. “We’re told we need to assimilate to thrive in this country, and that mindset took so much of my cultural identity when I was a child. Part of my healing has happened through working here.”

    Growing up Guatemalan American in Los Angeles, I know that feeling. For years, food from our homeland was hard to find — even in one of the most diverse food cities in the world.

    That’s no longer the case.

    Across L.A., dishes like pepián, garnachas and tapado are moving from the margins to the mainstream. What was once hidden is now defining neighborhoods.

    These five restaurants capture that shift.

    No. 5 Puchica Guatemalan Bar & Grill

    A white broth in a bowl next to a plate with some rice and salad.
    Tapado, a Garifuna recipe popular among the Guatemalan community residing in the Caribbean coast, served with rice and a Mojarra Frita.
    (
    Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa
    /
    The LA Local
    )

    Walk into Puchica and you’ll likely spot a wall of photographs — Lake Atitlán, Antigua, Tikal. There might be live Chapin music filling the room. There will definitely be some of the best Guatemalan food in L.A.

    Owner Ronan Lurssen, a native of Suchitepéquez, and his wife, Taryn, have made it their mission to bring regional Guatemalan cooking to Los Angeles — and that means going beyond the usual menu.

    Puchica is one of the few restaurants in the area serving tapado, a coconut-based seafood stew from Guatemala’s Caribbean coast. The dish traces back to Garifuna communities — Afro-Indigenous people whose roots come from West African survivors of shipwreck and the Indigenous Kalinago and Arawak people. 

    The tapado here delivers on that lineage. The broth is rich and creamy, the seafood layered with deep umami flavor. It arrives with rice and mojarra frita — a whole fish, scored, garlic-lime marinated and fried until the skin shatters and the meat pulls clean. The plate comes with tortillas to make fish tacos that you should definitely dip into the broth. It’s a dish that demands you slow down and find comfort in the experience of finishing everything on the plate.

    San Fernando Valley
    4523 Sepulveda Blvd., Sherman Oaks 

    No. 4 Mi Cocinita Chapina

    A dish with beans, a stew with meat and veggies, next to rice and a salad. Other dishes are on the table as well.
    Carne Guisada from Mi Cocinita Chapina served with a salad, rice, and mash beans. The Guatemalan dish on the left corner is called Hilachas, a shredded beef stew.
    (
    Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa
    /
    The LA Local
    )

    Mi Cocinita is a little hole in the wall that serves some of the best traditional Guatemalan dishes in the area. Nestled on the corner of Malvern Avenue and Venice Boulevard, it is known for its authentic Guatemalan breakfasts. 

    Put some pep in your step with Mi Cocinita’s desayuno tipico — eggs, savory mashed black beans, fried plantains, queso fresco and your choice of chorizo or puyaso steak, a cut of sirloin with a thick layer of fat. 

    You can also start your day here with carne guisada, a savory stew featuring beef simmered in a thick, rich gravy and potatoes. 

    Pico Union 
    1325 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles

    No. 3 Amalia’s Restaurant

    A borth with seafood in it. A side of rice and tortiallas next to another plate of grilled meats and rice.
    Sopa de Mariscos served with rice and the Plato Amalia’s with rice and homemade tortillas.
    (
    Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa
    /
    The LA Local
    )

    Amalia’s Restaurant is a rarity in L.A. — a Guatemalan spot that’s been holding it down since 1994. Long before the current wave of regional Central American cooking, Amalia’s was serving Koreatown’s Guatemalan community, quietly becoming a neighborhood staple.

    The sopa de mariscos is the move here. Built on a deeply seasoned tomato broth, the soup is loaded with fish, shrimp, crab and mussels, simmered down into something rich and restorative. It’s the kind of dish that hits immediately — briny, citrusy, just enough lime to cut through the depth.

    If you’re hungover, it’ll fix you. If you’re not, it’ll still feel like it did.

    Koreatown 
    4210 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles

    No. 2 Shucos LA

    A plate with beans, rice, a salad, grilled meats and chips.
    Shucos’s churrasco plate offered a variety of assorted meats served with a Russian salad, rice, beans and homemade guacamole. The bistec encebollado at the top with Agua de Jamaica.
    (
    Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa
    /
    The LA Local
    )

    Shucos started as a backyard setup near Jefferson Boulevard and 41st Street in 2020. Within a few years, it grew into a storefront in Commerce, fueled in part by a steady rise on TikTok, where staff showcased their Guatemalan-style hot dogs to a wider audience.

    Those hot dogs — known as shucos — are a staple of Guatemala’s street food scene. Built on a toasted bun, they’re loaded with grilled meats, guacamole, cabbage, grilled onions and the classic trio of ketchup, mayo and mustard. Messy, smoky and fully loaded, they eat more like a full meal than a snack.

    But the menu goes deeper. Shucos also serves a range of traditional dishes, including bistec encebollado, salpicón de res, pollo en crema and churrasco.

    The churrasco features meats that are tender with a strong char, the seasoning pulling everything together without overpowering it. On the side, garnachas — crisp, saucy and so delicious, they were consumed in a matter of minutes. 

    South LA
    753 E. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles
    (closed on Mondays, cash only) 

    Southeast LA
    2470 S. Atlantic Blvd., Commerce

    No. 1 El Sabor Auténtico de Xela

    A sandwich on a foil wrapper next to snacks and plates with food on them.
    A shuco mixto from El Sabor Auténtico de Xela. A shuco is a street food staple from Guatemala that combines multiple meats in a single toasted bun. Above left is carne adobada and above right is Pepián.
    (
    Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa
    /
    The LA Local
    )

    A true one-stop shop for Guatemalan food, El Sabor Auténtico de Xela earns the top spot on this list. The restaurant and bakery showcases dishes from the Quetzaltenango region alongside a lineup of nostalgic snacks like Tortrix chips and Chiky cookies and sodas like Tiky.

    Matul often points first-timers to the Pepián, Guatemala’s national dish. The stew is rich and layered, rooted in both Mayan and Spanish traditions, with slow-cooked meats and vegetables in a thick sauce made from roasted tomatoes, tomatillos and toasted seeds. It’s served with rice and tortillas — simple on paper, deeply complex in flavor.

    Rodas recommends the caldo de res, a hearty beef soup packed with corn, cabbage, zucchini and potatoes. It’s the kind of dish that hits even on a 100-degree day.

    But the standout is the carne adobada. The meat is tender, deeply seasoned, with a subtle smokiness that lingers. It’s served with Russian salad and Guatemalan chow mein — a local adaptation shaped by Chinese immigrants in the late 19th century that has since become a staple of the cuisine.

    San Fernando Valley 
    21818 Devonshire St., Chatsworth

    Guatemalan food: a glossary

    Key terms from this guide, in order of appearance.
    Breads & snacks

    Pan de Xela (bread)

    A sweet bread from Quetzaltenango (nicknamed Xela), Guatemala’s second-largest city. A staple of Guatemalan bakeries, traditionally eaten alongside coffee.

    Tortrix (snack)

    Guatemala’s most beloved snack chip — a crunchy, corn-based curl that has become a national icon. A nostalgic staple for Guatemalan Americans far from home.

    Chiky cookies (snack)

    A popular Guatemalan sandwich cookie, similar in format to an Oreo but with a distinctly local flavor. A comfort food shorthand for Guatemalan childhood.
    Breakfast

    Desayuno típico (breakfast)

    The classic Guatemalan breakfast plate: eggs, savory mashed black beans, fried plantains, and queso fresco, with a choice of chorizo or puyaso steak.

    Puyaso (meat)

    A cut of sirloin with a thick layer of fat, common in Guatemalan breakfast plates. Grilled or pan-fried, it’s prized for its richness and char.

    Carne guisada (stew)

    Beef simmered in a thick, rich gravy with potatoes — a hearty stew served at breakfast or as a main dish. A comforting staple across Central American home cooking.
    Soups & stews

    Tapado (seafood stew)

    A rich, coconut-based seafood stew from Guatemala’s Caribbean coast, rooted in Garifuna culinary tradition. The Garifuna are an Afro-Indigenous people descended from West African shipwreck survivors and the Indigenous Kalinago and Arawak. Served with rice and whole fried fish.

    Pepián (national dish)

    Guatemala’s national dish — a slow-cooked meat and vegetable stew in a thick sauce of roasted tomatoes, tomatillos, and toasted seeds. Rooted in both Mayan and Spanish culinary traditions. Served with rice and tortillas.

    Sopa de mariscos (seafood soup)

    A deeply seasoned tomato-based soup loaded with fish, shrimp, crab, and mussels. Briny, citrusy, and restorative — the signature dish at Amalia’s.

    Caldo de res (beef soup)

    A hearty beef soup packed with corn, cabbage, zucchini, and potatoes. A restorative Guatemalan staple — the kind of dish that works in any season.
    Mains

    Mojarra frita (seafood)

    A whole fish — scored, marinated in garlic and lime, and fried until the skin shatters and the meat pulls clean. Often served alongside tapado with tortillas for dipping into the broth.

    Carne adobada (meat)

    Meat marinated and slow-cooked in a seasoned adobo sauce until deeply tender, with a subtle smokiness. At El Sabor Auténtico de Xela, it’s served with Russian salad and Guatemalan chow mein.

    Ensalada rusa (side dish)

    Literally “Russian salad” — diced potatoes, carrots, and peas bound in mayonnaise, brought to Guatemala through European influence and now fully adopted into the local table. A common accompaniment to grilled and adobo-style meats.

    Churrasco (grilled meat)

    Grilled beef with a strong char and deep seasoning — a staple of Guatemalan grills. At Shucos LA, it arrives tender with seasoning that pulls everything together without overpowering.

    Bistec encebollado (meat)

    Thin-cut steak smothered in grilled onions — a simple, satisfying classic found across Guatemalan and Central American menus.

    Salpicón de res (meat)

    Shredded or finely chopped beef salad dressed with lime, mint, and radish. Bright and refreshing, it’s a common fixture on Guatemalan menus.

    Pollo en crema (chicken)

    Chicken braised in a rich cream sauce, often with peppers and onions. A mild, comforting Guatemalan staple.

    Guatemalan chow mein (noodles)

    A local adaptation of Chinese chow mein, shaped by Chinese immigrant communities in Guatemala in the late 19th century. It has since been fully absorbed into the national cuisine and commonly appears as a side dish.
    Street food

    Shucos (street food)

    Guatemala’s signature street hot dog — a toasted bun loaded with grilled meats, guacamole, cabbage, grilled onions, and the classic trio of ketchup, mayo, and mustard. Messy, smoky, and substantial enough to eat as a full meal.

    Garnachas (street food)

    Crisp fried tortillas topped with a savory sauce — a beloved Guatemalan street snack. At Shucos LA, they arrive alongside the churrasco and disappear quickly.

  • Explore LA
    Heavy Manners Library
    A beloved Echo Park event space is moving
    Dañiel Andres Martinez
    Dañiel Andres Martinez is an associate producer for LAist.
    Published June 21, 2026 10:16 AM
    A man in a black t-shirt stands in front of bookshelves filled with books, more books are laid out in boxes on the table in front of him. There is a rack full of shirts to his left and more books to his right. He wears glasses and stares into the distance.
    Heavy Manners co-founder Matthew James-Wilson organizes library books in the Echo Park shop.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

    Topline:

    Heavy Manners Library, a multipurpose event space in Echo Park, is moving. The organization hosts classes, music shows and more.

    Why now: The library is getting too big for its current space, but still wants to remain in Echo Park. Staff were able to find a place nearby.

    What's next: Heavy Manners will be holding shows and workshops until the end of the month. It plans to reopen at its new location by mid-July and will hold volunteer moving days over the next two weeks.

    Read on to find details …

    Heavy Manners Library, a beloved multipurpose event space on Alvarado Street, is hitting a big milestone. The organization, which hosts classes, music gigs and art exhibits, has outgrown its current location.

    Defying the fate that has befallen many small operations in rapidly changing neighborhoods, Heavy Manners is staying in Echo Park.

    A woman stands at a desk with books in front of her. She is surrounded by shop items like a printer, books on the table that need to be organized, a POS system, t-shirts behind her, and various office supplies.
    Yulia Cymbura, head librarian at Heavy Manners Library.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

    Book by book

    Co-founder Matthew James-Wilson came up with the idea for the space while doing research for a book he wanted to write about the evolution of art in the internet age. During the process, he had an epiphany.

    Why write just one book when you can provide access to hundreds of them? Why not start a library that doubles as an art space too?

    “ You could imagine a gallery show happening in a library, or you could imagine a poetry reading happening in a library,” said James-Wilson.

    A wall with a black illustration that says "How To Be Mean" is seen on a corner wall at Heavy Manners Library.
    An illustration by artist Patrick Kyle.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )
    A wall of mixed media collage illustrations are seen across a white wall. They are stacked in pairs one on top of the other.
    Mixed media collages from artist Patrick Kyle's "How To Be Mean" exhibit.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

    The name “Heavy Manners,” James-Wilson said, pays homage to a concept in reggae music that goes back to '70s deejay Prince Far I’s album Under Heavy Manners.

    “ Sort of in reference to British colonial culture imposing this etiquette, or heavy manners, on Jamaican culture,” said James-Wilson.

    Heavy Manners was just a couple of shelves when it opened in 2021, but through donations by artists and community members, its stacks grew.

    The library has hosted more than 1,000 events, from drawing and sewing lessons to live music shows.

    A room in Heavy Manners Library where events and workshops are held.

    A wide view of a room where workshops and events are held inside Heavy Manners Library. A room with two chalkboards on the wall are seen. Numerous fold up chairs are seen around and in the center of the room. There are black fold up tables in the center of the room.
    Interior of Heavy Manners.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )
    A small stage surrounded by A/V equipment and foldable chairs are seen inside Heavy Manners Library. There are green curtains behind the stage blocking out the sun.
    A small stage where events are held.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

    “The space has taught me, as long as you can keep the calendar full and you can get things that people are excited about, people will share it with more people,” James-Wilson said.

    Keep the calendar full

    Carly Jean Andrews has been teaching nude figure drawing at Heavy Manners since 2023.

    “Yeah, you have all the knowledge in the world on the internet, but it's so much more useful to just come here and have it be really literal,” Andrews said.

    Two women pose for a picture in front of a white wall adorned with art. The woman on the left wears a pink tube top and blue pants, the woman on the right wears a white tank top and carries a white tote bag.
    Carly Jean Andrews and Bijou Karman, instructors at Heavy Manners, posing in front of one of an art show.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

    Bijou Karman teaches clothed figure drawing classes and has published zines and books of her fashion drawings through Heavy Manners.

    “Today, I was here hand-assembling one of the books, and Carly was very kindly helping me assemble. It's a very community-oriented space where you actually meet people and learn new things,” said Karman.

    A display case full of books is seen near the Heavy Manners Library front entrance.
    Bijou Karman's recent art book "Images De Mode" is displayed near the entrance of the library.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

    Changes on the block

    Heavy Manners has been looking for more room to grow its library and event offerings.

    The dream was to stay in the area and keep its relationship to Echo Park, despite the changes to the neighborhood, starting with the very block where Heavy Manners sits.

    A book nook with a green bench and a view of an outside street is seen from inside Heavy Manners Library. There are bookshelves to the right and left of the alcove with the bench.
    A book nook with a bench and a view of the outside street.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

    The nearly century-old restaurant Taix is being demolished, while Silverlake Flea, which ran out of the French Bistro’s parking lot, has moved to Atwater Village.

    “ It's a construction site that may be ongoing for a long time. You can sort of feel the sense of change happening, just on our block in general,” said James-Wilson.

    Heavy Manners Library, 1200 N. Alvarado St., Unit D, Los Angeles

    Days & hours: Mondays, and Thursdays to Sundays, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.

    Membership: $8/month or $75/year. Tickets are available for purchase for individual workshops and events

    Heavy Manners Library will remain at its current location through the end of the month.

    Volunteer moving days are planned for June 23, 26 and 30. Here's how to sign up.

    Luckily, James-Wilson saw a nearby building on Sunset within Heavy Manners' budget and went for it. Their new home, about 400 feet away from the current location, is bigger and more wheelchair accessible. It also has an outdoor area that employees want to convert into a garden, or use for nature-oriented workshops.

    Its current space won’t sit vacant though; Whammy Analog Media, a VHS video store expanding from a small backroom to a full-fledged shop, will be taking over.

    A shelve full of analog media is seen inside Heavy Manners library. A small tv resting on a VHS player is in the bottom right hand corner. A green wall with a thermostat is seen to its left.
    A shelve with analog media available for check out.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

    It takes a village

    Recently, Heavy Manners put out a call for volunteers to help move its many books and zines in time for a planned mid-July reopening.

    A display case with a "Free Zine Library" and "Make a zine, Bring a zine, Leave a zine, Take a zine" labels are pictured with a bookshelf on its left side and a couch with a shelf above it on its right side.
    A "Free Zine Library" inside the space.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

    “Because it's really close by, I'm kinda hoping to have just sort of a parade of people each carrying a box across the street,” said James-Wilson. “It takes a village to foster something like this, that is not lost on me.”

    A shelf with various "Heavy Manners Library" prints sitting on it is affixed to a wall. A cardboard box with books is seen below the shelf. Other miscellaneous items surround the box.
    Various "Heavy Manners Library" prints.
    (
    Dañiel Martinez
    /
    LAist
    )

  • Sponsored message
  • News
    New Air Force One
    Qatar delivers presidential jet ahead of schedule
    By Ava Berger | NPR
    Published June 20, 2026 1:00 PM
    a man in a blue suit with a blue tie stands at the top of staircase that leads into an airplane with the letters "UNITED" painted on it behind the man
    U.S. President Donald Trump pumps his fist after touring the inside of the newest aircraft in the presidential fleet at Andrews Air Force Base on Friday at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
    (
    Alex Wong
    /
    Getty Images
    )

    Topline:

    The newest Air Force One jet, gifted to President Donald Trump from the Qatari government, arrived ahead of schedule Friday to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

    The backstory: The plane was one of the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the U.S. government and raised legal and ethical questions after Qatar offered to replace the presidential jet last year. Trump said last May he'd be "stupid" not to accept the offer. Industry groups originally said the plane could be worth approximately $400 million.

    What's next: The VC-25B Bridge aircraft will now undertake its commissioning flights, what the Air Force calls a "final exam" for the plane. The plane was modified after serving the Qatari Head of State. "Once these flights are successfully completed, the aircraft is officially 'commissioned' into the active executive airlift fleet and becomes available for presidential missions," an Air Force press release said.

    Read on ... for more on the newest presidential jet.

    The newest Air Force One jet, gifted to President Donald Trump from the Qatari government, arrived ahead of schedule Friday to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

    On Friday afternoon, Trump toured the luxury Boeing 747 plane that initially stirred controversy. The plane was one of the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the U.S. government and raised legal and ethical questions after Qatar offered to replace the presidential jet last year. Trump said last May he'd be "stupid" not to accept the offer. Industry groups originally said the plane could be worth approximately $400 million.

    Trump also spoke standing in front of the plane, thanking the Emir of Qatar.

    The president praised the workmanship of the plane, describing it as the "world's most luxurious plane." He also called it the "largest Air Force One ever built," adding, "It flies further and faster than any Air Force One."

    "This plane was transformed into a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody's ever seen before, probably even almost outside of an airplane," Trump said. "Nobody's ever seen anything like this, and in only 10 months, a timeframe no one thought possible."

    The exterior of the jet is no longer light blue, silver and white — a fixture since the Kennedy administration. Trump unveiled the new red, white and blue color scheme.

    "It was time for a change. … Everything was designed good. It was my taste," Trump said, saying that he approved the new color scheme, which reflects the American flag.

    The VC-25B Bridge aircraft will now undertake its commissioning flights, what the Air Force calls a "final exam" for the plane. The plane was modified after serving the Qatari Head of State.

    "Once these flights are successfully completed, the aircraft is officially 'commissioned' into the active executive airlift fleet and becomes available for presidential missions," an Air Force press release said.

    The aircraft from Qatar will "serve as a bridge until the [long-term] VC-25B is delivered," according to earlier communications from the Air Force. The plane was delivered well before expectations. The Air Force originally estimated the plane would be delivered in 2028 but said by modifying requirements it could deliver the first aircraft in 2027. The modifications "were carefully crafted to prioritize mission over aesthetics, leaving much of the previous head of state interior layout minimally changed," the Air Force said.

    Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach praised the delivery.

    "Many thought it could not be done, but the United States Air Force was able to execute and provide a secure, reliable airborne command post on an accelerated timeline," he said.
  • News
    US-Iran deal
    Everything you need to know
    By Ruth Sherlock |NPR
    Published June 20, 2026 12:00 PM

    Topline:

    Vice President JD Vance has delayed his trip to Switzerland to negotiate the terms of a peace agreement with Iran on Friday. It's unclear exactly why the talks were called off at the last minute, but the delay raises questions over the sturdiness of the memorandum of understanding to end the war, signed by Trump on Wednesday.

    The backstory: The short memorandum of understanding also promises to end military operations on all fronts and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway through which much of the world's oil, gas and fertilizer must pass to reach global markets. The agreement prompted President Trump to celebrate on Truth Social writing: "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!"

    What's next: The document doesn't solve the underlying reason for why the United States and Israel went to war with Iran. It creates a 60-day window — extendable by mutual agreement — for the two sides to resolve the enmity that goes back many decades.

    Read on ... for more on the conflict and to read what both sides are saying about the deal.

    Vice President JD Vance has delayed his trip to Switzerland to negotiate the terms of a peace agreement with Iran on Friday.

    It's unclear exactly why the talks were called off at the last minute, with hundreds of journalists already waiting in the alpine city of Lucerne.

    But the delay raises questions over the sturdiness of the memorandum of understanding to end the war, signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

    It came as Israel continued to heavily bombard Lebanon, despite the agreement promising to end all military operations, including in Lebanon.

    Lebanese media said at least 18 were killed in overnight strikes, and Israel said four of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.

    Here are more details about the agreement and challenges they face in this latest effort to end the conflict:

    US lifts naval blockade

    There was immediate progress after the preliminary agreement to end the three-and-half month conflict that has killed thousands of people across the Middle East, rocked the global economy and pushed millions more into poverty around the world, according to the United Nations.

    The United States lifted its naval blockade on Iran.

    The short memorandum of understanding also promises to end military operations on all fronts and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway through which much of the world's oil, gas and fertilizer must pass to reach global markets.

    The agreement prompted President Trump to celebrate on Truth Social writing: "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!"

    But there are still many potential pitfalls. Even before the agreement was signed, Trump made its fragility clear: "It's a memorandum of understanding," he said at the G7 summit in France. "If I don't like it, if they don't behave, we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head."

    The document doesn't solve the underlying reason for why the United States and Israel went to war with Iran. It creates a 60-day window — extendable by mutual agreement — for the two sides to resolve the enmity that goes back many decades.

    Israel remains defiant against the deal

    The preliminary agreement promises to end all military operations, including in Lebanon. Israel has invaded and taken large swaths of southern Lebanon in an offensive it says is targeting the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah, which has killed more than 3,800 people, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

    Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has made clear that Iran considers Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon essential. "Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end," Araghchi said.

    Israel wasn't involved in the negotiations with Iran — though Trump said at a press conference this week that he had sent Israel a copy of the document before he signed it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained defiant, saying his troops will remain in southern Lebanon for as long as Israel's security requires it.

    The conflict in Lebanon is causing an extraordinarily open rift between Trump and Netanyahu. "He's a very difficult guy," Trump said of the Israeli prime minister recently said to The New York Times.

    On Thursday, Israel's military released a new map ⁠showing an expanded area of southern Lebanon occupied by its troops, which it describes as a buffer zone.

    "Trump's agreement does not bind us," Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, wrote on social media on Monday. "We are not partners to this agreement that does not ensure our security."

    Vice President Vance hit back at critics in the Israeli government, warning at a press conference that "Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time."

    Trump signed the deal to avoid 'economic catastrophe'

    The agreement promises "the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts" — including in Lebanon, where Israel has continued its offensive. Iran and the United States also promise "not to initiate" any further war or operation against each other. Not long after Trump signed the memorandum, U.S. Central Command said Thursday it had ended its naval blockade of ships to and from Iranian ports, as promised in the agreement.

    Iranian state media reported the country's national security council will suspend tolls paid by ships for 60 days, per the deal, but that ships must still request Iran's permission — through a newly established Persian Gulf Strait Authority, before passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which was once considered an international waterway.

    Increased ship traffic through the strait will come as a relief to Trump, whose approval ratings have been sliding as Americans see soaring gasoline prices and spiking inflation. Last month Trump insisted he doesn't think about Americans' financial situation in his approach to Iran.

    But this week he acknowledged at a news conference that he had signed this agreement because he "didn't want to see an economic catastrophe."

    The memorandum gives major concessions to Iran

    Trump has repeatedly called the Iran nuclear deal — formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — presided over by President Barack Obama in 2015 the "worst deal ever," and Trump abandoned the agreement in his first term in office. But the framework agreement signed this week hands major financial concessions to Iran that could ultimately go much further than the Obama-era arrangement.

    The document says the U.S. will work with regional partners to create a fund of "at least $300 billion" for Iran's reconstruction and economic development. Vice President Vance has said Gulf Arab nations would invest that amount.

    It also promises that the U.S. will unfreeze Iranian funds and assets that amount potentially to tens of billions of dollars. Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, told CNN Iran wants to see the release of $24 billion.

    These commitments do depend on further negotiations. But the Trump administration also plans to issue sanction waivers to allow Iran to immediately sell its oil. The waiver concedes a major point of potential leverage at the start of these 60-day talks.

    And the interim deal also opens the door to ending all U.S. and international sanctions on Iran. Iran has been under a plethora of U.S. sanctions since the 1979 Revolution. The penalties have kept Iran cut off from the global economy, preventing it, for example, from accessing the international banking sector. This new pledge goes far beyond the JCPOA deal, which removed some sanctions in exchange for Iran reducing its stockpile of uranium.

    The negotiation over Iran's nuclear program

    President Trump has boasted he will achieve a much "better" agreement than the JCPOA. The substantive talks on this are yet to begin, but so far, the commitment Iran has made in the memorandum that it "shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons" is the same promise it has made for years, including in the 2015 nuclear accord.

    The details of Iran's nuclear program are complex and technical. The JCPOA was negotiated over years by the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Russia and China, with nuclear physicists and non-proliferation experts, and ran to 159 pages. Trump's framework was negotiated bilaterally by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — a property developer and the president's son-in-law. An Iranian diplomat who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly told NPR they believed the last round of talks with the Trump administration did not progress because "the Americans at the table did not understand the subject."

    The U.S. had been negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program before abruptly launching the bombing campaign with Israel on Tehran that began this war on Feb. 28. For this latest round of talks, Witkoff and Kushner visited the national lab in Oak Ridge, Tenn., earlier this month for consultations with a team of technical experts that could play a role in nuclear negotiations with Iran.

    Has Iran come out of the war stronger?

    Trump began the conflict promising to set conditions for regime change in Iran. "I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand," he told Iranians in a televised address on Feb. 28. "When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take."

    It was a nightmare scenario for the Iranian regime, to face down the bombardment from two of the world's most powerful militaries. The war killed more than 3,300 Iranians, according to state media, including top leaders, and pounded the country's infrastructure and armed forces. But the regime's survival, and its ability to target U.S. assets in the region and control the Strait of Hormuz, empowered Iran.

    The country has learned "that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works," Bill Cassidy, Republican senator from Louisiana, said in a blistering attack on the Trump administration. He called the offensive against Iran "the worst foreign policy blunder in decades."

    Iran's response forced the Trump administration to set aside the goal of regime change to focus on seeking a way to reopen the vital strait.

    "The only 'achievement' of the ceasefire is the likely reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — which was open before the war started. And we will apparently pay Iran to do so," Antony Blinken, who was secretary of state under former President Joe Biden, posted on X.

    Trump has countered critics by saying on social media that anyone who thinks he hasn't "been tough enough on Iran," when the stock market is high and oil prices are falling, is either jealous, bad or stupid. And Vance called on critics to "have a little bit of faith in the president of the United States."

    But in a hard accounting of the war, the facts are undeniable: Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz gave it the leverage to secure from Trump concessions that unlock vast sums of money — even more, potentially, than under Obama.

    And regarding Iran's nuclear program, the Iranians so far appear not to have offered Trump any more concessions than they did at the Geneva talks two days before the U.S. and Israel launched their offensive in February.

    Now new negotiations are set to begin, and the Iranians will be coming to the table having shown Trump, and the world, the power they can wield over the global economy.
  • News
    Reflecting Pool algae
    Blooms happen no matter who's in the White House
    By Scott Simon | NPR
    Published June 20, 2026 11:30 AM
    a man in a hat and waders stands waist deep in a body of green water and holds a long pole
    A National Park Service employee uses a vacuum to clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
    (
    Mark Schiefelbein
    /
    AP
    )

    Topline:

    The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has witnessed more than a century of American history, in all its heartbreak and majesty. Crowds have gathered around it in protest and in praise, to denounce American wars and hear great voices sing and speak. Today, it's the center of a slimy controversy.

    The backstory: President Donald Trump said in April he found the water in the reflecting pool "filthy" and "disgusting." He authorized a no-bid contract to resurface the basin of the 2,000-foot long pool and paint it "American flag blue" in time for July 4th celebrations.

    What's next: A University of Virginia satellite analysis commissioned by the Washington Post saw more algae in the Reflecting Pool this month than at any other time in the past five years. The Interior Department says workers have deployed "a state-of-the-art ozone nanobubbler filtration system" to banish the algae.

    Read on ... for more on the algae blooms in the Reflecting Pool.

    The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has witnessed more than a century of American history, in all its heartbreak and majesty. Crowds have gathered around it in protest and in praise, to denounce American wars and hear great voices sing and speak.

    Today, it's the center of a slimy controversy.

    President Donald Trump said in April he found the water in the reflecting pool "filthy" and "disgusting." He authorized a no-bid contract to resurface the basin of the 2,000-foot long pool and paint it "American flag blue" in time for July 4th celebrations.

    "I have a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools," the president crowed, before the National Park Service gave out no-bid contracts for sealing and upgrades.

    After weeks of renovation, the project has cost taxpayers more than $14 million and … the reflecting pool looks green. And I mean green. Like the Chicago River on St. Patrick's Day. But that river is dyed green for a day. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is green because of algae.

    Look, algae happens. It's clouded the reflecting pool since it was first filled in 1923. Algae blooms flourish when sunlight falls on warm, sluggish water — like you'd find in a shallow, still pool absorbing the glare and swelter of a Washington, D.C., summer.

    But a University of Virginia satellite analysis commissioned by the Washington Post saw more algae in the Reflecting Pool this month than at any other time in the past five years.

    The Interior Department says workers have deployed "a state-of-the-art ozone nanobubbler filtration system" to banish the algae.

    "President Donald J. Trump is an expert builder who has fixed the reflecting pool for good," spokesperson Kate Martin said in a statement this week, "unlike the failed and extremely costly attempt by Obama and Biden."

    That's a reference to a major project during President Barack Obama's first term to stop the pool from sinking and add a filtration system.

    In these deeply divisive and partisan times, it's good to remind ourselves that many issues aren't just Republican red or Democratic blue. The Reflecting Pool algae doesn't care about our party lines. It's green, and it's not going anywhere.