This is absolutely a real deal — for Iran

This is the June 18, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Knicks forward OG Anunoby at today’s championship ticker tape parade and victory rally, celebrating the 2026 NBA title.

JOE’S NOTE

“Versailles is not gold leaf,” Donald Trump said last night. “Versailles is the real deal.”

Versailles is also where the Germans agreed to pay massive reparations following World War I. Last night, America’s president signed his own unconditional surrender at Louis XIV’s palace.

MS NOW’s David Rohde reports that Iran’s clerics are giddy with the favorable terms they received.

$300 billion in U.S.-backed reconstruction funding.

$100 billion in unfrozen funds.

The lifting of all international sanctions.

Trump’s radical shift to accepting Iran’s need for a nuclear project.

Trump and JD Vance now treat Iran like Luxembourg, assuming for purposes of negotiations that it will act in good faith like any other normal country.

Iran is not a normal country. It is the epicenter of international terrorism, and has been since 1979.

The Wall Street Journal predicts that Trump’s weakness will encourage Iran to demand even more concessions down the road. With Trump desperately working to avoid antagonizing Iran, the Journal rightly concludes that Tehran is now calling the shots.

The people of Israel have been betrayed.

Democracy protesters in Iran also feel betrayed.

Republicans are rightly horrified.

And Marco Rubio has grown as silent as a modern-day Greta Garbo.

But in Tehran, they’re loudly celebrating Trump’s historic collapse because they know the president is right about one thing: Versailles is the real deal. And the deal Trump signed there will come at a great cost to America and the world.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Mistakes are made. War is nasty.”

—President Donald Trump, dismissing questions about the deadly U.S. strike on a girls’ school in Iran on the first day of the war

STEVE RATTNER’S CHARTS

Inflation Up, Job Growth Steady

The Federal Reserve has two responsibilities: controlling inflation and maintaining full employment. On the inflation side, the news has not been good. On the other hand, job growth — which had been a noticeable weak spot in the economy — has shown surprising life.

Rate Hike(s) on the Horizon

Even with higher rates, the Fed does not expect inflation to decline at all in 2026, nor does it forecast it reaching the 2% level by 2028.

ON THIS DATE

On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space, launching aboard the space shuttle Challenger with four other astronauts.

View of American astronaut Sally Ride (1951-2012) in the cockpit of the NASA space shuttle Challenger, June 1983.

WHAT THEY SAID

DAVID ROHDE ON PETE HEGSETH

“President Trump is most responsible for this strategic defeat, but the person second most responsible is Pete Hegseth. He repeatedly lied to the American public about the progress of the war — and refused to give basic information to members of Congress.”

MARC POLYMEROPOULOS ON ISRAEL

“One analyst told me, ‘Benjamin Netanyahu decided to ride the tiger that’s Donald Trump — and the tiger just turned around and just bit him on the rear end.’ Trump was no dedicated saver. He was not the messiah for Israel.”

VALERIE JARRETT ON THE OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER

“Our union is not yet perfected. But we all have the responsibility of continuing to improve this great nation, preparing the next generation of change-makers with respect, compassion, empathy, and goodness of spirit.”

EXTRA HOT TEA

1.3 million

— The number of U.S. households that had pet snakes in 2024, up from 810,000 in 2018. The boom has driven a surge in factory-farmed mice to feed them.

ONE MORE SHOT

Statues of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama outside the Obama Presidential Center, ahead of today’s dedication ceremony in John Lewis Plaza.