DEAL OR NO DEAL: Negotiators for Iran and the US are working on a peace agreement that both sides say could re-open the Strait of Hormuz for shipping. The Washington Post reports that the two sides re reaching a “framework” to extend the ceasefire for 60 days. 

  The Post reports according to an anonymous diplomat that, “Upon signing the memorandum of understanding, Iran would immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz and take steps to ensure traffic returns to prewar conditions within 30 days.”

  The price of oil dropped on hopes for a deal, but President Trump is playing down hopes for an immediate breakthrough. 

  Among several screeds Trump posted on social media trashing Democrats and Barack Obama in previous dealings with Iran, Trump said, “The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side.” Trump has laid down the conditions that the strait must be opened and Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon or the ability to develop one.

  Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters following him in New Delhi that, “what I think is a pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the straits, get the straits open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter, and hopefully we can pull it off.” 

THE WAR ROOM: Russia pounded Ukraine’s capital Kyiv with a wave of missiles and drone attacks early yesterday, shaking and destroying buildings for hours.  At least two people were reported killed and 77 injured, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, who said there was damage in “every district of the city.”

  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement posted to social media that, “Russia’s massive attack on Ukraine last night shows the Kremlin’s brutality and disregard for both human life and peace negotiations.”

  Ukraine has not been just sitting there and taking it. The Institute for the Study of War reports that Ukrainian forces undertook a  mechanized counterattack in the direction of Borova,  south of Kharkiv, possibly penetrating up to five kilometers into Russian defenses. 

  The ISW also reports that “Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign continues to exploit degraded and overstretched Russian air defenses, targeting Russian oil infrastructure and military assets on the night of May 22 to 23.” 

  The Ukrainians hit a major Russian chemical plants1,700 kilometers from the front, as well as the  Sheskharis oil terminal and Grushova oil depot in Novorossiysk, about 340 kilometers from the front. 

BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMICALS: Thousands of residents in and around Garden Grove, California southeast of Los Angeles are evacuated from their homes as firefighters and chemical experts attempt to reduce the threat of a chemical tank in danger of exploding. 

  A tank filled with 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate, a chemical used in making acrylic plastics, has been warming and expanding, posing the possibility of a catastrophic explosion and spread of a toxic cloud.

  Authorities say the temperature in the tank has reached 100 degrees, the maximum reding on its thermometer, but they have not said at what temperature the tank would explode.

INFINITE SCROLL:

— The Trump administration continues to erase the history of the violent January 6^th insurrection to block Joe Biden from taking the presidency. 

  Federal prosectors Friday evening heading into the holiday weekend quietly filed motions to formally dismiss the most serious criminal cases stemming from the insurrection involving leaders and members of far-right groups tried and convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy.

  The Justice Department scrubbed its online archives of news releases that publicized cases filed against January 6th rioters.

  President Trump posted on his social media: “I’ve watched prosecutors try to turn ordinary convictions into life-destroying sentences. I’ve watched families get crushed while the media shrugged because the defendant’s politics made them easy to hate. Some were innocent. Some were clearly overcharged.”

— President Trump ominously posted a meme of his face looming over the mountains and a colorful village in Greenland with the message, “Hello Greenland!”

  He also posted a map of the Middle East with Iran covered in the US stars and stripes under the title, “United States of the Middle East?” 

— Trump posted a Memorial Day greeting saying, “Happy Memorial Day to all, including the Dumocrats, who disrespect our Military and all of the tremendous success that it has had over the last year.”

OUTER LIMITS: China launched its massive Shenzhou 23 spacecraft yesterday with three astronauts heading to its space station,. One of them is expected to stay in space for a year in a test of “human adaptability and performance limits” in long-term spaceflight, state media reported.

  The US is planning to land astronauts on the moon once again in 2028.

THE SPIN RACK: Inmates at an ICE detention facility in Newark New Jersey are on a hunger strike as family members outside call for their release and closure of the facility. Families say they’ve been threatened with curtailed visitation if the strike doesn’t end. — A man previously known to the Secret Service approached the White House complex on Saturday evening, took a gun out of a bag and opened fire before being shot dead by Secret Service police officers. A bystander was also struck in what witnesses described as a flurry of gunfire. — NASCAR’s most wining driver Kyle Busch died suddenly of pneumonia and sepsis last week, according reports from the family. Busch had just kept going despite being sick for weeks. He had still been planning to drive the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte yesterday. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Donald Trump Jr. and Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson were married over the weekend. This puts her in line to one day be made ambassador to a sunny country.

-30-