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1. Good news: The cost of diesel in the US fell below $5 a gallon for the first time since mid-March, offering some relief for one of the global economy’s most important fuels. The national average retail price declined to $4.98 a gallon on Wednesday, according to the American Automobile Association. That’s down from a peak of $5.69 a gallon in April, though still well above the $3.76 a gallon recorded on the eve of the US-Iran war. Diesel prices surged at the outset of the conflict, partly because the Strait of Hormuz is a critical transit route for fuel produced at refineries across the Gulf region. The increase raised costs for businesses and consumers worldwide, who rely on diesel for freight transportation, power generation and heating. (Sources: bloomberg.com, gasprices.aaa.com)
2. Congress passed a major housing bill in a rare bipartisan moment as Republicans and Democrats scramble to show voters they are serious about addressing affordability concerns ahead of the midterms. The House approved the legislation Tuesday 358-32, sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk. The Senate on Monday voted 85-5 in favor of the bill, which is aimed at increasing housing supply and lowering costs, and represents the most significant piece of housing legislation since the financial crisis. (Source: washingtonpost.com)
3. The top 20% of income earners in the U.S. hold about 87% of stocks and mutual funds — that amounts to $55 trillion as of June, up from $45 trillion a year ago, per RSM’s analysis of data from the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts overview. The bottom 80% holds about $8 trillion and has seen less of a gain in dollars — up from $7 trillion last year. (Source: axios.com)
4. ISW/CTP Iran Update, 23 June 2026:
> Iran is taking steps to establish a joint mechanism with Oman to try to exercise long-term authority over the Strait of Hormuz. Such a mechanism would enable Iran to regulate transit through the strait and decide to restrict passage at its discretion. Recent increased vessel traffic through the strait does not eliminate the threats that Iranian control over the strait poses to US interests and global commerce.
> Iranian regime officials have continued to deny that the United States could control how the regime spends any funds it obtains from the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU). Any economic relief that the regime obtains could support Iranian efforts to reconstitute its military capabilities and the Axis of Resistance.
> Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s Telegram channel reiterated the primary objectives that Iran seeks to achieve in the current conflict. These objectives include ending US military operations against Iran, making the United States lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports, consolidating Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, receiving US compensation for Iranian reconstruction, the lifting of all sanctions, “the resolution of nuclear issues,” and Iranian access to frozen assets. (Source: understandingwar.org)
5. Iranian officials said they have no plans to allow international inspectors access to their country’s damaged nuclear facilities, just a day after Vice President JD Vance said Iran had agreed to allow such inspections, which would restore a safeguard from President Barack Obama’s deal with Tehran that President Donald Trump threw out. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tuesday that there was no plan for the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities damaged by the war and that officials had not met with the director general of the nuclear watchdog. “There is simply no established procedure for this matter,” Baqaei said in comments reported by state media, adding that Iran would “adhere to the standard procedures, which are already well-defined and transparent.” (Source: washingtonpost.com)
6. Russia’s closest ally, Belarus, has emerged as a potential new front in the Kremlin’s confrontation with the West, as Moscow seeks to strengthen its military union with the country and Ukraine threatens strikes on its territory. Earlier this year, Moscow started a pressure campaign on Belarus in hopes of using it as a springboard to expand Russia’s war in Ukraine or to launch nonconventional operations against members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said former and current Russian and European officials. The move signals that Moscow might be weighing a risky escalation in the war as its army struggles to advance in eastern Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin faces faltering domestic support more than four years into the conflict. (Source: wsj.com)
