Politics today is defined by strain—between allies, within parties, and across negotiating tables. The most consequential development is the delay in U.S.-Iran talks in Switzerland after Vice President JD Vance canceled his Geneva trip, injecting fresh uncertainty into a 60-day push for a longer-term deal. Vance is also sharpening tensions elsewhere, warning Israeli ministers to stop attacking President Trump’s Iran framework and not to take Washington’s support for granted. At the G7, a more personal rupture surfaced as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni flatly rejected Trump’s claim that she “begged” for a photo, exposing friction in a relationship once seen as warm. In Britain, Keir Starmer is bracing for a possible Labour leadership challenge after Andy Burnham’s by-election win, while in Scotland the Conservatives scored a symbolic upset by taking Aberdeen South from the SNP.