U.S. sanctions Cuban state banks and mining firms.
Today's events
Cuba sanctions.
The State Department blacklisted five Cuban state firms and a Castro relative under Trump's Cuba order — two banks in the military-run GAESA conglomerate, the state miner GeoMinera, a steelworks, and a Mariel port operator.1Jun 23 · StateIran talks.
In the United Arab Emirates, Secretary of State Rubio said Washington knows what Iran agreed to on inspecting its bombed nuclear sites and warned that if Tehran balks, “the President will have some decisions to make.”2Jun 23 · StateSudan warning.
The State Department warned that Sudan's Rapid Support Forces and their allied militias are threatening to commit atrocities against civilians in and around the city of El Obeid.3Jun 22 · StateCambodia crackdown.
The State Department sanctioned nine people and 26 entities tied to Cambodia's Prince Group crime syndicate and moved to bar Huione's H-Pay from U.S. dollar accounts; the Justice Department seized the servers behind Huione's money-laundering marketplace.4Jun 23 · StateFraud takedown.
The Justice Department charged 455 defendants — including 90 doctors and other medical professionals — over $6.5 billion in alleged health-care fraud, its largest such takedown; regulators suspended 1,079 providers and agents seized $182 million in assets.5Jun 23 · DOJExploited flaws.
CISA added four actively-exploited software flaws to its catalog — three in Ubiquiti's UniFi network software and one in Lantronix EDS5000 devices — and ordered federal agencies to patch them on a deadline.6Jun 23 · CISAProcurement rewrite.
The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council proposed twelve rules rewriting the entire Federal Acquisition Regulation under Trump's procurement order, stripping requirements not mandated by statute to speed federal buying.7Jun 23 · Fed. Reg.Bolivia blockades.
The United States and fifteen other governments condemned seven weeks of violent road blockades aimed at toppling Bolivia's elected President Paz, blaming them for civilian deaths caused by blocked access to food, fuel, and medicine.8Jun 23 · StateShell companies.
Auditors reported that Treasury's beneficial-ownership registry, built to unmask the shell companies used for money laundering, has largely stalled after a 2025 rule exempted roughly 99% of the firms once required to name their true owners.9Jun 23 · GAO
This week
The Iran deal moved to enforcement.
The White House on June 18 defended the nuclear agreement Trump signed — it bars a weapon, reopens the Strait of Hormuz, and starts a 60-day clock to a final accord. Secretary of State Rubio then toured the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain on June 22–23 to turn it into site inspections and guaranteed transit, telling reporters in Abu Dhabi that the U.S. knows what Iran agreed to do.1Jun 18–23 · WH / StateA U.S. general went to Caracas.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made his first official visit to Venezuela on June 18, meeting the interim government and endorsing Trump's three-phase plan for a country “aligned with the United States.” It was the most direct U.S. step yet toward a post-Maduro order in the nation holding the world's largest proven oil reserves.2Jun 18 · Joint ChiefsA $35 billion container cartel was indicted.
The Justice Department's antitrust division on June 18 unsealed charges against four of the world's largest shipping-container makers and seven Chinese executives for fixing prices on roughly $35 billion of global trade. The named firms control about 95% of the world's standard containers — the steel boxes nearly all seaborne cargo moves in — so the alleged price-fixing reached almost the entire global container market.4Jun 18 · DOJTwo quantum executive orders.
Trump on June 22 signed paired orders — one to build the first quantum computer powerful enough to drive scientific discovery, the other to move federal systems onto post-quantum encryption before adversaries can break today's codes. They landed days before the State Department's June 25–26 Pax Silica Summit, which gathers partner economies and technology executives to build trusted AI, chip, and compute supply chains.5Jun 22 · WHA century of lithium under the Carolinas.
The U.S. Geological Survey on June 18 estimated 1.43 million metric tons of recoverable lithium oxide in the southern Appalachians — enough to cover roughly 200 years of U.S. imports of the battery metal. Domestic supply matters because China dominates global lithium processing even for ore mined elsewhere, the dependence the find could help ease.6Jun 18 · USGS
Allied Governments
Ukraine arms.
The UK Ministry of Defence said it is accelerating delivery of long-range strike capability to Ukraine.aJun 22 · UK MoDUK–Poland pact.
Britain published the text of its new bilateral Treaty on Security and Defence Partnership with Poland.bJun 23 · UK FCDO
Voices
“We know what they agreed to do, and now they’ll either do it or they won’t.”
Sec. of State Marco Rubio, Abu Dhabi · Jun 232
“Our message is simple: if you put profit over patients, you should expect to be put in prison.”
AAG Colin M. McDonald, DOJ National Fraud Enforcement · Jun 235
“Prince Group TCO members own and profit from scam compounds that target victims in the United States and around the world.”
U.S. Dept. of State, Press Statement · Jun 234
“A violent minority attempts to disregard the will expressed by the majority of Bolivians at the polls only months ago.”
Joint Statement of 16 Governments · Jun 238
“These types of vulnerabilities are frequent attack vectors for malicious cyber actors and pose significant risks to the federal enterprise.”
CISA Advisory, Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog · Jun 236
“[The order] resets the foundation for Federal buying by requiring the FAR Council to produce a streamlined FAR that is simpler, clearer, and structured for speed.”
Executive Order 14275, via Federal Register · Jun 237
Sources
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Further Sanctions on the Cuban Regime's Revenue Generation Network,” June 23, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/cuban-regime-revenue-network
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio Remarks to the Press” (Abu Dhabi), June 23, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/rubio-remarks-to-the-press
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Threats of Atrocities Around El Obeid by the Rapid Support Forces and Their Allied Forces,” June 22, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/el-obeid-rsf-atrocities
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Dismantling Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization and Huione Group,” June 23, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/prince-group-huione
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in 455 Defendants Charged in Connection with Over $6.5 Billion in Alleged Fraud,” June 23, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/health-care-fraud-takedown
- CISA, “CISA Adds Four Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog,” June 23, 2026. cisa.gov/news-events/…/four-known-exploited-vulnerabilities
- Federal Register, “Federal Acquisition Regulation: Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul Parts 5, 24, and 29” (Executive Order 14275), June 23, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/revolutionary-far-overhaul
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Joint Statement on the Negative Impact of Road Blockades on Human Rights and Democracy in Bolivia,” June 23, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/road-blockades-bolivia
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Illicit Finance: Status of Treasury's Safeguards for Providing Access to Information on Corporate Ownership,” June 23, 2026. gao.gov/products/gao-26-108182
- UK Ministry of Defence, “UK Accelerates Long-Range Strike Capability for Ukraine,” June 22, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/long-range-strike-ukraine
- UK Foreign Office (FCDO), “UK/Poland: Treaty on Security and Defence Partnership” [CS Poland No.1/2026], June 23, 2026. gov.uk/government/publications/…/uk-poland-security-treaty