No nukes: “President Trump made a decision to defend the American people tonight by ending the Iranian nuclear program,” said Heritage President Dr. Kevin Roberts in the wake of the successful U.S. attack on three key nuclear sites in Iran.

• Victoria Coates, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, added that “President Trump is now on the cusp of ending one of the longest conflicts the United States has ever faced—the unrelenting attacks Iran’s Ayatollahs have launched against Americans since 1979.”
• But “What follows must not culminate in another regime-change quagmire. We learned that lesson in Iraq,” Roberts said.

Read their statements here.

Nukes: On the “Heritage Explains” podcast, Rob Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security, discussed the situation in Iran and what precipitated Israel’s attack. 

• “All of this was really initiated by the revelation…that Iran was in fact pursuing a nuclear weapon and has gotten to the threshold, all of that enabled by the hundreds of billions of dollars that came in the form of appeasement in the Biden and Obama administrations.” 

Listen to the entire podcast on YouTube. 

Smart policies: The race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities will play a decisive role in the New Cold War with China, write Jeff Smith and Bryan Burack, director of, and senior policy advisor at, the Asian Studies Center, respectively.

• America currently enjoys a multi-year lead, but maintaining it means updating export controls in cutting-edge AI technologies, they explain. 

Read more here.

Humiliated: Pride events in San Francisco, New York City, and Salt Lake City saw drops in fundraising this year, thanks in part to corporate sponsors backing out. Jonathan Butcher, acting director of Heritage’s Center for Education Policy, explains the shift.  

• In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against racial preferences—a major aspect of DEI programs—and the Trump administration is now enforcing civil rights laws ignored by the previous administration.  
• “Pride’s allegiance to DEI has pushed corporate sponsors away. The movement’s own inability or unwillingness to shield children from sexually explicit content continues to alienate parents,” writes Butcher.  

Read the full story here.  

Dirty secrets: The Biden administration planned to impose $15 billion in regulatory costs to make the energy system more “green.” It would have backfired. 

• “Moving energy intensive manufacturing overseas where it is made with coal-fired power using older technology would have raised emissions, not lowered them,” writes Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of Heritage’s Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment.  

Read the piece here.  

A reckoning: Last week, Heritage hosted Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and other public health experts to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic sparked major concerns about medical freedom and parental rights.  

• “The truth about what went on is incredibly important," Paul said. "I say never again. Never again do we let them invade our churches, our schools, our businesses.”

Watch his remarks on X here, and the full event here.  

Washington’s reckless spending is out of control and has burdened you with skyrocketing debt and higher taxes.

• Enough is enough!
• It’s time for tax-paying Americans to take a stand. Join thousands of Americans in demanding lower taxes, reduced spending, and a government that lives within its means!

Sign the Declaration for Restoring Fiscal Sanity here. 

Launch of “American Founders” & Presentation of America’s 250th Anniversary Innovation Prizes

“American Founders: Leaders at the Creation of the Republic" examines the lives, characters, careers, ideas, and selected primary speeches or writings of 16 leading Americans of the founding generation. We will also announce the winners of the America’s 250th Anniversary Innovation Prizes. 

 

June 24, 4 p.m. Register here. 

• Heritage Applauds Supreme Court Decision Upholding Tennessee's Law Protecting Minors—Heritage press release 
• Report: America’s Competitive Heritage—Chris DeMuth 
• A Critical Mineral in a Critical Moment: The Antimony Crisis—Anna Gustafson 
• The Smithsonian Institution Audit Is Only the Start—Mike Gonzalez 
• Congress Must Not Reduce Border Security Spending—Wilson Beaver 
• Upcoming G-7 Summit Gives U.S., Canada a Unique Opportunity—Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Daniel Dufort 
• Report: Restoring Civics Education in All 50 States—Madison Marino Doan and Jonathan Butcher 
• Report: Toward a Nationalist Internationalism: The Case for Building a National Conservative Alliance—Nathan Levine 

Victoria Coates, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, appeared on Fox Business to discuss the situation with Iran. “This is entirely consistent with what the president has done over the last six months, which is give diplomacy every chance,” she said, “but this isn’t going to go on forever.” Watch the clip on X.