Negotiators from the United States and Iran are in Switzerland for talks aimed at turning their ceasefire into a lasting peace deal.The talks are going on despite the Iranian military saying it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again over Israel's attacks on southern Lebanon.Also in the programme: The stark choice facing voters in Colombia today; and why athletes are protesting against fossil fuel companies during the FIFA men's World Cup.[Photo shows Iranian parliament speaker and negotiating team head Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi greeting Swiss officials at an airport in Zurich, Switzerland on 21 June 2026. Credit: Iranian parliament speaker's office via EPA)

Iran says it has again closed the Strait of Hormuz, in response to Israel's continued strikes on southern Lebanon which have killed at least 25 people according to Lebanese state media. The Iranian military described the attacks as a violation of Tehran's peace deal with Washington. But a US military statement said the Strait remained open and at least 55 vessels had passed through during the day. Also in the programme: An escalating row between Ukraine and Poland leads to President Zelensky returning an award from Warsaw; and the secret behind the success of a legendary TV comedy director.(Photo: Vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Oman, June 19, 2026. Credit: Reuters/Stringer)

Could the latest violent attacks by both parties derail the tentative US-Iran peace deal? We hear from reporters on the ground in bomb-struck southern Lebanon and the Iranian capital Tehran, and ask Israeli journalist Anshel Pfeffer what Israel's strategy might be. Also in the programme: proposed economic reforms in Cuba - which the United States has dismissed as 'superficial smoke signals'. And the enduring appeal of the classic album 'The Queen is Dead' by the UK indie band The Smiths, 40 years after its release.(Civilians and Lebanese Red Cross personnel stand on the rubble of a damaged building after an Israeli strike on the village of Qennarit in southern Lebanon, June 20, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. Credit: Reuters/Stringer)

Israel and Hezbollah have agreed a ceasefire, a US official says, following intense Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon that the government said killed 47 people.Also on the programme, the US government says it will stop funding programmes in South Africa intended to tackle the spread of HIV and AIDS, there's been a furious reaction in Italy after President Trump claimed the prime minister Georgia Meloni begged him for a photo at the G7 summit; and the ballet dancer, Carlos Acosta, on taking his Cuban dance group on tour.(Photo: Smoke rises over southern Lebanon after Israeli strikes, Metula, Israel - 19 Jun 2026. ATEF SAFADI/EPA/Shutterstock)

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a ceasefire, a senior US official has confirmed to the BBC. Earlier, planned talks to cement the ceasefire between Iran and the US were delayed with reports suggesting it was due to Iranian concern over Israel's actions in Lebanon.Also on the programme: the by-election result that could decide Britain's next prime minister; and how the resident organist for the Boston Red Sox baseball team has been entertaining visiting Scottish football fans. (Photo: Khadija Amara, whom local residents said had not left her home, fills a jerrycan with water as she sits among the rubble of a house, which was damaged by an Israeli strike in the Tyre district, southern Lebanon on June 19, 2026.)

Donald Trump says he expects a ceasefire to take effect "on all fronts", including between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon while Vice President JD Vance says the memorandum signed with Tehran is already bearing fruit and insisted that Washington holds the cards in coming negotiations. Meanwhile, a message attributed to Iran's Supreme Leader says that Tehran will not submit to any excessive demands.Also in the programme: why one critic calls Barack Obama's Presidential Centre a 'Klingon Prison'; and how Nigerian sisters born conjoined at the head are enjoying life after pioneering surgery assisted by artificial intelligence.(Photo: US Vice President JD Vance speaks to the media about the Iran-US memorandum of understanding in the White House Briefing Room in Washington, DC, USA Credit: JIM LO SCALZO/EPA/Shutterstock)

A basic agreement has been signed to end the war between the US and Iran. The negotiations now turn to the really difficult issues: we hear from Iran and Israel.Also in the programme: Ukraine targets Moscow in a massive drone attack; researchers say it's way too easy to get around ChatGPT's guardrails; and an ancient oak tree in Sherwood Forest linked to Robin Hood has died - or is it just entering its next phase?(IMAGE: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian showing a signed a memorandum of understanding with the US in Tehran, Iran, 18 June 2026 / CREDIT: Photo by IRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE/HANDOUT/EPA/Shutterstock (16934712a))

A Memorandum of Understanding outlined by the United States suggests it has found common ground with Iran, but there are still questions about whether this preliminary deal achieves any more than the agreement signed when Barack Obama was president. Meanwhile Israel, the US partner in the recent war, faces the possibility of a stronger Iran and a new balance of power in the Middle East. We hear from Alon Ben Dah-veed, senior military correspondent for Israel's Channel 13. Also in the programme: the fuel shortages affecting Russian drivers as a result of the Ukraine war; an introduction to so-called 'micro-history'; and the death at the age of 99 of the last member of a leading British 'girl band' of the 1950s, the Beverley Sisters.(Photo: US President Donald Trump holds a press conference during the G7 Summit in Evian-les-Bains, France; Credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

Bosses of the top Artificial Intelligence firms have met the leaders of the world's biggest economies. At a G7 lunch in France, they've been discussing AI risks and dangers. Who has more power right now - the politicians or the billionaire CEOs? Also in the programme: How the Great Pyramid at Giza has survived several thousand years worth of earthquakes; and why the world's coral reefs may be more resilient to climate change than we thought. (Photo: US President Donald Trump, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attend a working lunch with G7 leaders on innovation and AI during the G7 Summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 17, 2026. Credit: Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

Has Donald Trump just left the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with the biggest political headache of his life? We hear from Israel's governing Likud party.Also on the programme: The Russian caricaturist shot dead in Poland; the argument within the Church of England over reparations for historically profiting from slaver; and as the Williams sisters prepare to return to Wimbledon at a combined age of eighty-nine - the phenomenon of the never-ageing sports stars.(Picture: People walk past rubble at the site of an Israeli strike in Tyre, southern Lebanon. Credit: REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra)

Leaders meet in France with Iran and Ukraine high on agenda; and a BBC investigation finds that Russia was behind a series of arson attacks targeting the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, we hear from a Labour politician on how the UK should now respond.Also in the programme: The grisly trade of cat-meat in Vietnam; and acclaimed British artist Anish Kapoor unveils major new exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery. (Image: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian. Credit: Isabel Infantes/PA Wire)

US President Donald Trump said on Monday a preliminary agreement to end the war in the Gulf has already been signed by the United States and Iran. White House officials have been giving some details about the Iran deal. They say the Strait of Hormuz will re-open on Friday - the same day the deal is formally signed in Geneva - with shipping traffic increasing gradually.Also on the programme: A wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine has killed ten people and badly damaged one of Kyiv's most sacred and historic cathedrals, we hear from historian and archaeologist Maksym Ostapenko; and scientists have found a new way to detect microplastics in the living tissue of our bodies with a laser, we speak to medical imaging lecturer Stephen Patrick, who led the research. (Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 15. Credit: Reuters)