SERETIS NOTES

  Move over Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff; First Lady Melania Trump is taking credit for brokering a “localized” peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The first lady’s office announced that she has secured a ceasefire in Oleshky, a city in southern Ukraine. Both sides have agreed to temporarily halt all military action there to allow humanitarian aid into the area and let people evacuate safely through a designated passageway. The deal comes as the president and top administration officials have been working to lock in a broader peace deal between the two countries that have been at war since Russia invaded Ukraine more than four and a half years ago. Trump has long argued that he initially thought the conflict would be easy to resolve, but so far it has proven beyond him

  U.S. intelligence has warned that Iran has significantly escalated efforts to assassinate American diplomats and government officials overseas, with some plots reaching advanced stages, according to a memo obtained by Axios. The warning, contained in a Friday memorandum to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, comes as the Trump administration has reduced staff at several American embassies across the Middle East amid fears of Iranian retaliation and a possible resumption of major U.S. military operations against Tehran.