Iran Just Sent Its Counter-Offer — And Gold Jumped $1.3 Trillion in a Single Day

So what's actually in Iran's response?

As of this briefing, the specific terms of Tehran's counter-offer have not been made public. What we know is that it exists, it's coming through intermediaries, and the White House has been told to expect it today.

Whatever Iran says next will determine whether this conflict de-escalates — or takes a turn that pushes oil, food, and fuel costs even higher for you.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, a different kind of standoff was breaking.

**Trump signed a new executive order today to ensure TSA agents get paid**, after a congressional stalemate left transportation security workers in limbo. The dispute stems from a larger fight over DHS funding — Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on a single bill because Trump has demanded that any DHS funding package include a voter ID requirement, and Democrats have refused.

So rather than let TSA agents miss paychecks, Trump used executive action to cut through the gridlock.

Supporters say this is exactly what decisive presidential leadership looks like — using the tools of the office to protect workers when Congress can't agree. Critics, including some Democrats in Congress, argued that Trump himself created the crisis by tying TSA funding to the voter ID fight in the first place.

The voter ID standoff itself isn't going away. As Reuters reported, **Trump told Republicans not to strike any DHS deal until Democrats pass legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote**, along with approved ID at the polls. That's a high bar, and both sides are dug in.

On the legal front, Jack Smith's revised January 6th indictment continues to generate debate. The revised filing retains all original charges but **narrows the case around Trump's use of the DOJ** to advance election fraud claims — adjusting to comply with the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling on presidential immunity. The case is still moving, but more slowly, and through a much tighter legal keyhole.

DOGE, meanwhile, made another public-facing move. Newsmax reported that the Department of Government Efficiency released a large trove of **seven years of Medicaid spending data** — covering 2018 through 2024 — and made it searchable by the public. The explicit message: find the fraud yourself. The political message is equally clear: the administration wants Americans to see why it believes the system needs cutting.

And in the crypto world, a significant regulatory signal emerged. Trump tapped Michael Selig — an SEC crypto task force insider — to chair the **Commodity Futures Trading Commission**, the agency that oversees derivatives and futures markets. The SEC and CFTC also reportedly launched a joint "crypto sprint" aimed at fast-tracking the administration's digital asset roadmap, with the stated goal of making the U.S. the "crypto capital of the world."

So here's where things stand as of this afternoon.

Iran is writing back to America. Markets are moving on every word. TSA workers got an executive order instead of a budget deal. A major fraud transparency push just went live on Medicaid. And the Trump administration is rewiring the rules on crypto regulation in real time.

**Every one of these stories connects to your money** — your groceries, your taxes, your savings, your investments.

And the Iran counter-proposal, whatever it says, may be the single most consequential document released in months.

Watch this space.

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