Washington, June 23: US President Donald Trump said any sanctions relief granted to Iran would be tied to purchases of American agricultural products, while insisting that Tehran would never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon under an emerging agreement being negotiated between the two countries.

Speaking at the White House after signing executive orders on quantum technology, Trump offered his most detailed public comments yet on the state of ongoing negotiations with Iran, describing the talks as productive and saying shipping through the Strait of Hormuz had returned to normal levels.

“We have an open strait and we have a country that will never have a nuclear weapon, will never, ever have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

The remarks came as Vice President JD Vance and a US delegation continued negotiations with Iranian officials in Switzerland, where discussions have focused on the future of Iran’s nuclear programme, maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz and regional deconfliction mechanisms.

Trump said the administration was considering sanctions relief, but indicated that any unfrozen funds would be channelled towards food purchases from the United States.

“One of the things that we are doing also, and it came up last night, is money that’s being unfrozen is going to be used to buy food,” he said. “And the food’s going to be bought exclusively through the United States from our farmers.”

He added: “Corn, soybeans, all of the things they need are going to be bought from our farmers.”

Asked whether easing sanctions could allow Iran to rebuild its military capabilities, Trump said the understanding was that the money would be used for humanitarian purposes.

“They’re supposed to use money to buy food for their people, because right now their people are very hungry,” he said.

The President also expressed confidence that the negotiations were moving in the right direction.

“We’re doing very well in terms of negotiating a fair and reasonable deal,” he said.

While declining to discuss specific enforcement mechanisms, Trump warned that the United States would respond if Iran failed to comply with any agreement.

“If Iran doesn’t live up to their agreement or if they’re not behaving, I will do what I have to do,” he said.

Trump rejected suggestions that Tehran had gained leverage in the negotiations and argued that recent military operations had significantly weakened Iran’s capabilities.

“Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their leaders are all dead. Their whole country is a mess. Their economy is shot,” he said.

He also praised Vance’s role in the talks.

“I think that they’re doing a fantastic job,” Trump said. “I watched his news conference from Switzerland. He’s a very smart guy. He did a great job.”

The President further claimed that energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz had rebounded strongly following recent tensions.

“We took in more oil yesterday than has ever gone through the strait,” he said. “The strait is totally open.”

Washington, June 23: A US federal judge struck down a Trump administration database containing US citizens’ private information, ruling it unlawful after several states used it to mistakenly purge eligible citizens from voter rolls.

“The federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote. This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens,” Judge Sparkle Sooknanan from the US District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in a ruling, Xinhua news agency reported.

Federal agencies were scrambling to comply with an executive order aimed at reshaping federal elections, so they “haphazardly combined and repurposed the private information of millions of Americans, including citizenship data that they knew to be unreliable,” Sooknanan said.

“Since then, states have partnered with the federal government to access the database and are actively removing United States citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information,” she continued.

“This case implicates two fundamental rights that protect Americans from government overreach: the right to privacy and the right to vote,” according to the US district judge.

The latest ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed in September by a coalition of voting-rights and privacy advocates, led by the League of Women Voters, challenging changes to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, a system maintained by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to verify citizenship and immigration status.

In March 2025, Trump signed a sweeping executive order to overhaul US elections that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, claiming that the United States has not adequately enforced federal election requirements.

Executive Order 14248 instructed certain federal agencies, including the DHS and the Social Security Administration, to put systems in place for state and local authorities to verify the citizenship or immigration status of registered voters or individuals registering to vote, according to the ruling.

In a statement Monday, the League of Women Voters said that “a Trump-Vance administration attempt to unlawfully meddle in elections was struck down today, as a federal judge ordered the administration to end and disentangle a massive government database.”

The database “consolidates millions of Americans’ sensitive and legally protected personal information, leaving them vulnerable to baseless investigations and being unlawfully purged from voter rolls,” the statement said.

Doha, June 22: An explosion ripped through Qatar’s key natural gas export infrastructure injuring at least 54 people while 18 others remain missing, according to official reports.

The blast occurred in the Ras Laffan industrial area on Sunday night, one of the world’s most important energy hubs, during ongoing efforts to resume operations at the facility following earlier disruptions linked to regional conflict.

The incident triggered a major fire at the Barzan gas supply facility, prompting emergency response teams to rush to the site.

State energy giant QatarEnergy confirmed the incident, saying operations were underway to restart parts of the export terminal when the explosion took place. On Sunday night, that work sparked an explosion and fire at the Barzan gas supply facility, according to the company.

The scale of damage remains unclear, but Qatar’s Interior Ministry later confirmed significantly higher casualty figures than initially reported. Authorities said at least 54 people were injured in the explosion, while search operations were ongoing for 18 missing workers hours after the incident.

The Barzan facility is a major component of Qatar’s gas infrastructure, with a production capacity of nearly 1.4 billion standard cubic feet of sales gas per day. The output is primarily used for domestic electricity generation and to power desalination plants that supply water across the arid Gulf state.

Officials said the explosion came as technical teams were attempting to restore operations following earlier disruptions in the region. The Ras Laffan complex had previously been affected during the recent conflict, including reported missile strikes that caused damage and forced partial shutdowns of operations.

The facility is jointly operated by QatarEnergy and international partners, including a minority stake held by energy major ExxonMobil, which has not yet issued a detailed public response.

Ras Laffan has long been considered a strategic backbone of global liquefied natural gas supply, and any prolonged disruption could have implications for international energy markets, particularly in Asia and Europe, which rely heavily on Qatari exports.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion, while emergency and security teams continue search-and-rescue operations at the site. Officials have not yet confirmed whether the blast was accidental or linked to external factors.

The incident follows a period of heightened instability in the region, with previous attacks on energy infrastructure raising concerns about the vulnerability of critical Gulf energy facilities amid broader geopolitical tensions.