Donald

England captain Harry Kane says he once played golf with United States President Donald Trump, describing the experience as “surreal”.

The striker will lead England for their World Cup quarter-final against Norway in Miami on Saturday (22:00 BST) and, in the build-up to that game, revealed he had played golf with Trump in Florida 18 months ago.

“I played alright to be honest,” said Bayern Munich striker Kane.

“He invited me to play when I was down in Palm Beach. So yeah, when the president invites you somewhere…

“It was a pretty surreal experience just to meet him and obviously play golf with him.

“His golf is pretty good, to be honest with you. I hope I can play golf as good as him when I’m his age, that’s for sure. A unique experience, but I was just grateful that he invited me to play.”

The US is co-hosting the 2026 World Cup along with Canada and Mexico, and Kane’s comments followed Trump, 80, saying the pair had played together.

“I think Kane is a great player,” said Trump after Kane, who has six goals and one assist for England at the World Cup, helped the Three Lions beat Mexico 3-2 in the last 16.

“I played golf with him and I like him a lot. He’s a good golfer too. He’s really great.”

Albanian prosecutors probe forged deeds tied to Kushner resort land as protests over the project intensify.

Albania’s anticorruption prosecution service is investigating whether the deeds to a stretch of protected coastline earmarked for a Jared Kushner-backed resort were forged, according to case files reviewed by the Reuters news agency, adding another legal complication to a project that has already provoked months of street protests.

The files, compiled by the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK), name Artur Shehu, a Miami-based businessman, as the seller who transferred the land to Albania Land Development, the entity behind the Kushner-linked scheme, in April.

Prosecutors allege Shehu and his associates funnelled proceeds from cocaine trafficking into Albanian property, using falsified titles to disguise the money’s origin, and have since frozen roughly 110 million euros ($126m) tied to the sale in a notary’s account.

Shehu’s lawyer, Kujtim Cakrani, rejected the allegations outright. “Nothing that has been alleged regarding Mr Artur Shehu’s character is true,” he told Reuters, adding that his client was neither a trafficker nor a document forger and had lawfully sold land his family had held since Ottoman times.

Cakrani said Shehu was untroubled by the arrest warrant, arguing it was widely assumed in Albania that prosecutors answered to political and business interests. He also said Shehu fled to the United States and won asylum in 1998 after gang violence killed his brother and uncle.

The SPAK files, running to 200 pages and not previously made public, were issued the same day the agency unveiled separate arrest warrants for 20 people accused of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

Reuters found no evidence that Kushner, Sazan Real Estate Development or other backers of the resort knew of any suspicions surrounding Shehu when the land changed hands.

The disclosure comes amid sustained unrest over the development, which sits on wetlands and beaches along Albania’s southern coast that are home to sea turtles and flamingos, the latter adopted as a symbol by the self-styled “Flamingo Revolution” against the resort and alleged government corruption in general.

Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have said the idea for the resort came to them after they spotted the coastline from a yacht. He unveiled renderings of hotels, villas and marinas on social media in 2024.

Nightly rallies that began in May, initially focused on the project, have broadened into a wider movement demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation over accusations of corruption.

A crackdown last week saw riot police deploy tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators outside parliament, injuring 15 officers and leading to 25 arrests. A Tirana court freed 19 of those detained on Sunday, placing two under house arrest and ordering a dozen others to report periodically to judicial police.

Entela Koja, one of the protesters, said “this is a revolution against the big guys who want to use Albania like a playground for the rich.”

Villagers near the site have separately pursued a decade-long legal challenge to Shehu’s ownership claim, presenting title deeds and tax records they say establish that they are the rightful owners.

Nikolin Markpalaj, one of the landowners, told Al Jazeera: “I told them it would not be easy for them to take this land and enjoy someone else’s land and property. What is happening in this country is madness.”

Rama’s government has dismissed the protests as orchestrated by political rivals and insists the project complies with Albanian and European Union law.

The dismissals leave the federal election body vacant as Trump presses for broader changes to US voting rules.

President Donald Trump has removed the last remaining members of an independent federal commission that helps support United States elections, leaving the bipartisan body with no sitting commissioners.

The White House confirmed the news on Friday, with only months to spare before November’s midterm elections.

“The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections,” the White House said in a statement.

It added that the administration had been “working across all agencies and local partners to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse” in the run-up to the midterms.

The decision concerns the Election Assistance Commission (ECA), an independence office created by Congress in 2002 to support state and local election officials. Among its duties are creating non-binding election guidelines, certifying voting systems and maintaining the national mail voter registration form.

Four commissioners typically helm the agency. But on Thursday, the two Democratic appointees — Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland — were fired by email, according to the news agency Reuters.

The lone remaining Republican, Christy McCormick, resigned. A fourth commissioner, Republican appointee Donald Palmer, had already left in April.

The commission is required by law to be made up evenly of Democrats and Republicans, and it was put in place to help after the disputed 2000 presidential election.

Trump’s decision to fire the remaining commissioners has further raised concerns that he may seek to intervene in the upcoming midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress for the rest of his term.

Under the US Constitution, election administration is the responsibility of the state, not the federal government.

The Election Assistance Commission had previously declined to implement part of Trump’s March 2025 executive order that called upon it to require proof of citizenship on the national mail voter registration form.

A federal judge later blocked that part of that executive order, ruling the president had exceeded his authority. Trump has appealed the ruling.

Voters are already required to affirm their citizenship before voting, as non-citizen voting is illegal in the US. Instances of non-citizen voting are rare.

The firings are the latest in a broader effort by the president to reshape how elections are conducted.

The Trump administration has pushed to tighten vote-by-mail rules and threatened to withhold some federal funding from states that refuse to adopt new election requirements. Many of those efforts have been challenged in court.

Earlier this week, the administration also sent out letters warning election officials that they could face prosecution if they fail to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.

Trump has defended the actions as necessary to protect election integrity. He has repeatedly claimed that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election was the result of fraud, a claim not backed by evidence.

The latest firings come after the US Supreme Court last month expanded the president’s power to fire members of independent agencies, even without cause.

The court ruled six to three in Trump’s favour, arguing that “neither Congress nor the courts may saddle” the president with executive-branch leaders he does not approve of.

The president is allowed by law to appoint replacements to the commission. It is not yet clear whether Trump plans to nominate replacements or leave the seats vacant.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A South Florida airport officially changed its name Thursday to the President Donald J. Trump International Airport.

Signs for the Palm Beach International Airport have been removed as new signage goes up.

“Because an entire airport transformation doesn’t happen overnight, you’ll notice a combination of both our classic look and our new brand elements coexisting while traveling through the terminal over the next several weeks,” airport officials said in a Facebook post.

“Trump Force One,” a Boeing 757 owned by the Trump Organization, was the first plane to arrive at the airport under its new name, shortly after 5 a.m. The president’s son, Eric Trump, was one of the passengers. The Trump family regularly uses the West Palm Beach airport when they visit President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in nearby Palm Beach. A stretch of road from the airport to Trump’s estate was renamed Donald J. Trump Boulevard earlier this year.

“There is no person who has done more for Florida and our country, and no one more deserving of this incredible honor,” Eric Trump posted on X. “As a son, and someone who flies out of this airport nearly every day, I will forever be proud to see the initials ‘DJT’ on my boarding pass.”

Although the name change took effect Thursday, the three-letter airport code will change from PBI to DJT on Aug. 18.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation earlier this year that made the name change possible. Changing the airport’s name is expected to cost as much as $5.5 million for new signs, branding and other updates.

Keegan Collett, who was departing the airport Thursday morning on his way to Cincinnati, said he was surprised to see the new name. He said he doesn’t think Trump deserves to have an airport named after him but isn’t necessarily bothered by it.

“At the end of the day, it’s just the name of an airport,” Collett said. “There’s bigger things. I feel like it’s just more of a distraction. Why even worry about it?”

In Dandridge, Tenn., Thursday morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty and Rep. Tim Burchett attended a ceremony to rename the I-40 Bridge in East Tennessee to the Donald J. Trump Bridge.

Bessent said ahead of the ceremony that “no one is more deserving” of the honor than Trump.

Trump received 82% of the vote in Jefferson County, where Dandridge is located, in the 2024 election.

Trump’s name was removed from the centre’s facade and signage last month, after a judge ordered its removal.

A US appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s name must remain off the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, while the organisation appeals an earlier ruling that found a name change illegal.

Trump’s name was removed from the centre’s facade and signage last month after US District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the removal and blocked Trump’s plans to close the centre for renovations. An appeal against this ruling was struck down by a three-judge panel on Wednesday.

It is another setback for the centre’s board of trustees, of which Trump is chairman, in a saga that began earlier this year when the Kennedy Center became: “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

The conspicuous addition, and ensuing legal battle, became symbolic of Trump’s broader push to imprint his legacy – and, in this case, his actual name – on the nation’s capital in his final term.

The decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to pause the lower court order in a lawsuit brought by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, a Kennedy Center board member.

“Today’s ruling again affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename the Kennedy Center were unlawful,” Beatty said in a statement.

“His name no longer desecrates this sacred memorial, which belongs to the American people.”

The panel of judges wrote on Wednesday that the board of trustees’ request “failed to show how they will be irreparably injured” if Trump’s name remains off the building through the appeal process.

The board had argued that the removal “threatens to impede” fundraising efforts, but the judges found that claim came without the support of “specific facts or evidence”.

The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from the Associated Press news agency.

When Trump first took office in 2025, he replaced the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, who then named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building, but a federal judge then ruled that the name change was illegal, prompting the ensuing legal battle.

The family of a man killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Texas has called for an investigation into the incident.

The appeal on Wednesday came a day after the ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston during a traffic stop, the most recent high-profile killing by immigration enforcement agents amid the administration of US President Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive.

Salgado Araujo’s family said he was working at the time he was killed, driving a crew to a home build in the area. They said he may have been scared that the individuals in the unmarked vehicles that stopped him were trying to steal his tools.

They further said the Mexican national had lived in the US for 35 years and was working towards getting legal status. He had no criminal record and worked tirelessly to support his three US sons, all US citizens.

“He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of ‘Mexican man shot and killed by ICE’,” son Ronaldo Salgado said during a news conference.

“He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a husband, a father and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American dream,” he said.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said Salgado Araujo attempted to ram an ICE agent, who opened fire in response. Prior to that, they said Salgado Araujo’s car had struck an ICE vehicle.

No video or images of the incident have been released, although a bystander recorded its aftermath.

DHS said Salgado Araujo had been targeted by the agents because he was living in the US without documentation.

While the Trump administration had initially said it would only target criminals in its mass deportation push, it quickly said that it considered anyone in the US without documentation a criminal. Irregularly entering the US is a civil, not a criminal, violation.

Rights groups have accused immigration agents of using “dragnet” techniques under pressure to meet detainment quotas. The Trump administration has denied such quotas exist.

Speaking at the news conference on Wednesday, League of United Latin American Citizens President Roman Palomares said the immigration crackdown has created a country where it is “open season on Latinos” by officers who think they can “shoot and explain later”.

The initial details of the Texas killing resemble the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota in January. DHS officials initially said that Good, a US citizen, was attempting to ram an ICE agent when she was fatally shot, although video appeared to show her steering around the agent, who opened fire after stepping to the side of her vehicle.

Just days later, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent and a Customs and Border Protection officer as he sought to document immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis.

Little has emerged from federal probes into the killings, which came amid an enforcement surge in the city. In a rare move, the Department of Justice declined a separate civil-rights probe into Nicole Good’s killing.

‘Working to give us the American dream’

Speaking at the news conference on Wednesday, Ronaldo Salgado recounted frantically looking for his father at his job site after his mother had been told something bad had happened.

At some point during the search, he was shown the video of his fatally wounded father.

“I recognised him, not from his appearance but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street,” Salgado said.

“After nearly 35 years of working to give us the American dream, he made the choice to begin the process of obtaining his American dream through a work permit,” Salgado said.

“We dotted every I, crossed every T, filled every document, and attended every appointment. He was close to obtaining his legal status.”

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum also condemned the killing, saying she was considering legal measures or an appeal to the United Nations.

“There has been another tragic death of one of our compatriots in the United States due to detention issues, even though their only ‘offence’ is not yet having proper documentation,” Sheinbaum said.

The shooting was at least the eighth known death during an encounter with federal immigration officers since the start of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The Belgian football federation has vowed “to challenge” FIFA’s controversial reversal of a red card game suspension against Folarin Balogun, which allows the star USA player to take the field in the round of 16 World Cup match against Belgium.

The statement on Monday from the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) came hours before the match was set to begin, and as US President Donald Trump defended directly reaching out to FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino ahead of the controversial decision.

The federation charged that FIFA did not follow the proper protocol in allowing an appeal of its lifting of Balogun’s game suspension, the result of a red card shown during the round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The RBFA said, given FIFA’s conduct, the federation “has no alternative but to challenge [Balogun’s] eligibility for the upcoming match”. It was not immediately clear how such a challenge would proceed.

“Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole,” the federation said.

Trump says he asked Infantino to ‘review’ the decision

The decision to lift Balogun’s one-game suspension came shortly after Trump spoke directly to Infantino.

That has raised eyebrows and accusations of political meddling in the tournament, with critics noting it is exceedingly rare for FIFA to lift a game suspension during the World Cup, even when a referee makes a questionable call.

If Balogun is allowed to play, it would be the first time since 1962 that a red card issued at the World Cup did not result in a suspension.

FIFA has said it relied on Article 27 of its disciplinary committee rules to reverse the game ban. The provision states “the judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure”.

FIFA had earlier said the game ban could not be appealed by Team USA.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump denied that he directly influenced FIFA’s decision.

“All ⁠I did, I asked for a review, ⁠because I didn’t ⁠think it ⁠was a foul,” Trump told reporters.

“I thought it was two great athletes that crashed [into] each other and got entangled.”

He further called football referee Raphael Claus “very suspect”. He added, “If you want, I’ll provide you with the past”, without providing further details.

Later on Monday, Infantino also released his version of the call, which he said was among many he regularly receives from “heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues”.

Infantino maintained he was not involved in the decision on Balogun’s suspension and was only made aware after it was released.

“During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies,” he said.

‘Keep politics out’

To be sure, several leading football pundits have questioned the decision by Claus to show Balogun the red card.

Many have argued that Balogun incidentally stepped on the ankle of Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic during an otherwise legitimate challenge, and the contact did not warrant the potentially tournament-transforming penalty.

Nevertheless, the unusual series of events is likely to cast a further pall of politics over the games ahead, adding to criticism of the Trump administration’s treatment of Iran’s national team.

Observers have said the optics of Trump’s intervention could taint any future success of the USA team, which has far exceeded expectations under head coach Mauricio Pochettino.

“This is embarrassing to a wonderful US team and a wonderful player,” Shibley Telhami, a professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland, wrote on X following FIFA’s decision.

“Keep politics out. This US team is good enough to win honourably. Now, a win will be diminished.”

President Lula accuses Jair Bolsonaro’s son, now a presidential hopeful, of helping triggered proposed US tariffs.

Brazilian presidential hopeful Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, is asking the Trump administration to delay proposed tariffs on Brazilian goods until after October’s election, as he tries to counter allegations from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that his family helped bring them about.

The Trump administration proposed the 25 percent tariffs in June, citing alleged trade violations including illegal deforestation and what it called unfair electronic payment practices, catching Brazil’s government by surprise. Lula had said relations were improving after a White House meeting with Trump in May.

The announcement came shortly after Bolsonaro met senior US officials in Washington, prompting accusations back home that he had invited US pressure on Brazil, with Lula accusing the right-wing senator of lobbying Washington to impose the tariffs.

He has since doubled down on those accusations, saying in a social media post last week, “the origin of all this was motivated by the Bolsonaro family itself” and that Bolsonaro’s request to delay the tariffs until after the election was “yet another act of treason against the Fatherland”.

Bolsonaro rejects the allegation, arguing instead that it’s Lula who would gain a political advantage if the tariffs were imposed.

“New US tariffs on Brazilian products would hand the current Brazilian government precisely the political victory it has been engineering,” Bolsonaro wrote in a submission to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Brazilian officials have spent months trying to persuade Washington not to move ahead with the tariffs. But Bolsonaro says the government hasn’t gone far enough to find common ground with the US and is calling for a 180-day delay before any final decision is made.

“Brazil holds general elections in October 2026, and the political landscape that determines the viability of any negotiated resolution will be redefined within roughly ninety days,” he wrote.

So far, there is little sign his efforts are paying off. In a response to a letter Bolsonaro sent last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US officials still had “substantial differences” with Brazil over the issues they say justify the proposed tariffs.

The dispute has left Brazilians split over who’s telling the truth. A Quaest poll published last month found 47 percent of Brazilians agreed with Lula’s claim that Bolsonaro had encouraged the United States to impose tariffs, while 35 percent agreed with Bolsonaro that he had tried to stop them.

Washington has until July 15 to decide whether to impose the tariffs which, if approved, would still exempt beef, coffee, rare earth minerals and aircraft parts. They would come on top of the tariffs Trump imposed last year over what he described as a “witch hunt” against Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted months later.

Bolsonaro has made Brazil’s relationship with the United States a central part of his campaign, as Trump has taken a more active role in Latin American politics. That has included the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas and backing right-wing candidates across the region, including Abelardo De La Espriella, who narrowly won Colombia’s presidential election last month.

Extreme weather disrupted the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations, forcing evacuations, cancellations and delays. Despite setbacks including a National Mall evacuation and a fireworks display setting the Brooklyn Bridge on fire, Trump called the day ‘one of the most joyous and glorious’ in US history.

On Thursday morning, a small group of advocates gathered outside the United States federal courthouse in San Diego, California.

One of them pointed to a poster of a young man in a US Navy uniform, three golden medals pinned to his chest.

“This is my brother, Benito Miranda Hernandez, US Navy veteran,” said James Smith, the founder of Black Deported Veterans of America.

Smith and the other advocates had organised the demonstration on behalf of Hernandez, who was miles away at that moment, stuck in an immigration detention facility.

Brought from Mexico to the US as a baby, Hernandez had completed three tours of duty with the US military during the Iraq war. His military service was meant to be his path to citizenship.

But now, Hernandez is among the immigrant veterans fighting deportation under US President Donald Trump.

“These men and women were promised that they were going to get their citizenship if they served,” Smith said. “Help this brother come home.”

Trump has pledged to prioritise immigrants with criminal records in his push for mass deportation.

But advocates for US military members argue that veterans are particularly vulnerable, given their over-representation in prisons and jails. The majority have reported suffering from mental health problems after their service.

Hernandez, for instance, said he struggled to reintegrate into civilian life after leaving the military. But on June 14, he had finally completed his years-long sentence for a drug conviction.

As he waited for his mother, Maria Miranda, to pick him up, agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained him.

Only afterwards did Miranda and her other son arrive. They spent hours that day looking for him, not knowing where he had gone.

“He was doing things right,” Miranda told Al Jazeera in Spanish. “He had so many hopes, so many dreams.”

Hernandez has since been transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. He faces deportation, despite having received his green card for permanent residency earlier this year. He previously spoke to Al Jazeera about his experiences for an article published in April.

Hernandez’s detention is part of a trend under the Trump administration.

While the exact number of deported veterans is impossible to pin down – ICE has long failed to collect the veteran status of the people it detains, as is required – several advocates told Al Jazeera that they have been witnessing a rise in the deportations of US veterans during Trump’s second term.

The New York Times reported in March that at least 34 veterans have been placed in deportation proceedings in the last year.

Some cases have received media attention. But advocates say other immigrant veterans have avoided the spotlight, fearing it may have a negative impact on their immigration cases.

“As the ICE raids continue and revamp across the country, there’s going to be people that are veterans that have not become US citizens that unfortunately will end up falling through the cracks,” said Robert Vivar, cofounder of the Tijuana-based Unified US Deported Veterans Resource Center.

Veterans, like other immigrants across the country, have been detained while pursuing the mandatory steps in their immigration process, according to Danitza James, the president of Repatriate our Patriots, an advocacy group.

They are often flagged for having outstanding warrants or criminal convictions that have not been vacated. James said she is in contact with about six veterans who had been detained by ICE in 2026 alone.

“Our government, they don’t place any value in the service that our immigrants have,” James, who is herself a veteran and naturalised citizen, told Al Jazeera. “They honestly see us as disposable.”

For decades, the US military has recruited immigrants to enlist in its wars abroad to help address staffing shortages.

Recruiters often tell immigrant enlisters that military service offers a shortcut to naturalised citizenship.

In theory, it should. But while deployed, many immigrant soldiers, like Hernandez, have reported delays in the naturalisation process.

By the time Hernandez was called for his citizenship interview in 2006, two years had passed since he finished his last deployment. He had a criminal conviction by that point – and his citizenship case was denied.

The failure to protect immigrant veterans is representative of the government’s larger failures to reckon with its military policies, according to advocates like Smith.

“The United States government is failing to take accountability for what they’ve created,” Smith told Al Jazeera. “You bring us in and strip us of part of our humanity so that we can kill without repercussions.”

“Then, when you get out, there is no process that gets you ready to be in the civilian world.”

Several bills to protect immigrant veterans are currently under consideration in Congress. But recruiters continue to target immigrant communities with the promise of expedited citizenship.

The next steps for Hernandez are not yet clear. At Thursday’s rally, a lawyer with a local immigration nonprofit told Smith and other advocates that the group may be interested in helping with Hernandez’s case.

In the meantime, Hernandez’s mother has been trying to keep his spirits up.

Miranda takes his calls from the ICE detention centre and sees him during the facility’s visiting hours on Saturdays. But the two-hour drive from Anaheim to San Diego is difficult for her health.

“On Saturday, when I saw him, he was very, very depressed,” Miranda told Al Jazeera.

“He said, ‘I don’t want to cause you any more problems. I don’t want to upset you any more, Mom. I’m doing things right. I’m praying for myself,'” Miranda recalled, in tears.

“They clipped the wings of a bird, and all the hopes he had. They threw them in the trash.”

At Mount Rushmore, Trump warns of ‘communist menace’, ties rhetoric to immigration ahead of November midterms.

United States President Donald Trump has used the opening weekend of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations to praise the US military and critique democratic socialists, warning of a “communist menace” that he claims poses a major threat to the country.

Speaking beneath the granite monument at Mount Rushmore on the eve of Independence Day on July 4, Trump invoked national identity and ideology ahead of the November midterm elections.

“We created the strongest and most powerful military. We won two world wars,” he said, claiming that the Cold War had left the US’s enemies “in the depths of history”.

He also said the US “beat Venezuela in one day” and “knocked the hell out of Iran”.

The address comes amid voter concerns over persistent inflation and elevated energy prices driven by the ongoing US-Israel conflict with Iran.

Briefly addressing the Iran war, Trump said Tehran is “dying to settle” and that Washington had granted “a week off for a funeral because we’re nice”, in reference to the days-long state funeral being held for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike on the first day of the US-Israeli war.

‘Communist menace’

A larger chunk of Trump’s address was focused on what he considers ideological threats at home.

“There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life,” the president said, calling communism “the enemy of the Constitution”.

He pledged that “the citizens of the United States of America will vanquish communism quickly.”

Trump tied his anti-communist rhetoric to a hardline immigration stance, suggesting that left-wing political figures and certain undocumented arrivals should be removed from the country.

His remarks followed a string of recent progressive primary victories in US states including New York, Colorado and Texas.

He labelled the rise of democratic socialists the “greatest threat to our country since its founding”, comparing the movement’s potential impact with World War II and the September 11 attacks.

He closed the address by calling the anniversary “the beginning of the golden age of America.”

Trump’s ‘grip on America steadily slipping away’

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Republican strategist Eli Bremer said parts of the speech were unifying enough that they “could have been delivered by Ronald Reagan … 45 years ago,” but added that “the gap between the American left and the American right has really never been wider”.

However, Democratic strategist and former Obama campaign adviser, Ameshia Cross, told Al Jazeera that Trump wants to wipe out the country’s diverse history.

Trump “is upset that there is a younger crop of Democrats who are running and winning across this country,” she said, adding that the speech reflected “a president who sees his grip on America steadily slipping away”.

She noted that it also came “on the heels of him losing a Supreme Court decision just a couple of days ago to eradicate birthright citizenship“.

The address highlighted the contrasting visions framing the country’s milestone anniversary.

In New York, progressive Mayor Zohran Mamdani offered an alternative narrative during a naturalisation ceremony, using a desk once belonging to George Washington to praise immigrants’ contributions and frame civic dissent as patriotism.

Democrats have also criticised the administration’s handling of the anniversary, alleging a conservative group took control of 250th-anniversary planning from a previously bipartisan congressional commission.

Back and forth over defence spending comes as NATO leaders set to meet in Ankara next week.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defended his country’s NATO defence spending, shortly after US President Donald Trump re-upped his criticism of alliance members.

The statement on Friday came as NATO leaders were set to meet next week in Ankara. Trump has decried defence spending by members of the bloc throughout his political career, calling the balance of spending “ridiculous” and “one-sided” in his latest Truth Social posts on the issue earlier this week.

In one post, Trump said Germany’s spending was “MUCH ⁠LOWER” between 2014 and 2025 than the US or other NATO allies, which he again called “Ridiculous!”

When asked about the comment, Merz said Germany would double its defence budget within four years.

“This is the greatest effort we have ever made to strengthen our defence capabilities. In this respect, we have ‌no reason to shy away from anyone,” Merz said.

“We will state this, with all due modesty, and we are doing so as the European Union’s largest member state, bearing a responsibility within Europe,” he said.

US and European ties have been strained throughout Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021 and his current term, which began in January 2025.

However, while largely dismissive of the president during his first four years in office, several European leaders have sought a more amenable approach to the president this time around.

At the behest of the US, NATO leaders agreed to spend 3.5 percent of their countries’ GDP on core defence items, such as weapons and troops, ⁠by 2035, an increase of the previous goal set by the bloc of 2 percent of its GDP.

However, relations have since frayed over several issues, including Trump’s pledges to take control of the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland. Denmark is a member of NATO.

The US-Israeli war in Iran has also proven to be a major wedge, with Trump launching the conflict without consulting European allies who have dealt with the fallout of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump had repeatedly condemned European allies for not joining the war effort.

Merz, meanwhile, roiled the president by saying in April the US had been “humiliated” by Iran. Trump, in turn, said the US would withdraw 5,000 troops currently stationed in Germany.

Speaking on Friday, Merz said Germany was ahead of schedule to reach its NATO commitments.

“We will reach the 3.5 percent benchmark set in The Hague as early as 2029,” he told reporters, “well ahead of the agreed deadline”.

THE White House has shared its own Taylor Swift-inspired post ahead of the popstar’s lavish wedding to Travis Kelce.

The official White House Instagram account shared a photo of “America’s Eras Tour” in the same style as Taylor’s iconic Eras Tour poster.

The image showed President Donald Trump in the middle with his fist raised, surrounded by ten photos depicting moments in American history.

The post included two additional photos of Trump in addition to Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

There were other images showing a hockey game, the moon landing, and a photo from the end of World War II showing a US Navy sailor kissing a woman in Times Square.

“It’s been a long time coming…” the caption read, a nod to Taylor’s lyrics.

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The timing of the post appeared to throw some shade toward Taylor, whose wedding extravaganza is taking place around the Fourth of July weekend and the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

Trump and Taylor have had a longtime feud, where the president blasted the singer as “no longer hot” in a Truth Social post from 2025.

“Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I hate Taylor Swift,’ she’s no longer ‘hot?’” he wrote.

He also called out Taylor in his speech congratulating the Philadelphia Eagles on their Super Bowl win in 2025, noting how she was booed on the jumbotron at the Caesars Superdome as she cheered on Travis at the big game.

“The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift,” he wrote on Truth Social after making history as the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl.

Despite the comments, after Trump learned the news that the pair were engaged, he told reporters, “I wish them a lot of luck.”

“He’s a great player and she’s a terrific person.”

The White House’s post on Thursday came as around 100 guests are expected to be attending Taylor and Travis’ rehearsal dinner.

Several A-List celebrities were spotted in New York City ahead of the couple’s big day, including Adam Sandler and his family, who arrived outside of Madison Square Garden on Thursday afternoon.

Jack Antonoff, who recently worked with Taylor on The Tortured Poets Department album, was also spotted in formal attire alongside his sister.

Supermodel Gigi Hadid and actor Bradley Cooper were seen heading to the rehearsal dinner in photos obtained by Page Six.

The rehearsal dinner reportedly began around 6:30pm with fresh lobster possibly on the menu.

On June 25, the United States Supreme Court decision allowed President Donald Trump and his administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, paving the way for their legal immigration status to be removed.

Trump has pushed to end TPS for several groups, as part of his efforts to restrict immigration into the US.

But lawmakers from both political parties have argued that stripping Haitians of their TPS status could create a caregiving crisis, given their presence in key industries like healthcare.

“Of the 350,000+ lawful Haitian TPS holders, roughly 1/3 work in our healthcare system. Immediately shutting off TPS will create a crisis in our hospitals, nursing homes, and in the [intellectual disabilities] community,” Republican Representative Mike Lawler wrote on the social media platform X.

Democratic Representative Ayanna Pressley echoed that sentiment in a statement.

“Seniors will lose their caregivers when we already have a caregiving crisis, and seniors will lose their ability to age in community with much-needed assistance,” she wrote.

The Temporary Protected Status programme allows nationals from countries experiencing crises, such as natural disasters or armed conflict, to live in the United States for up to 18 months. The federal government had previously renewed the designations, making them effectively permanent, before President Trump took office for a second term in 2025.

Lawler’s estimates about how many Haitians with TPS work in the US healthcare system are within the range of what the data show.

The Trump administration decision — and Supreme Court ruling — affect about 330,000 Haitians whose TPS-related work authorisations expire on July 10. They face deportation unless they qualify for another status. The ruling also applies to Syrians and Venezuelans.

About 158,000 Haitians in Florida have TPS, the majority of whom are in South Florida. The Sunshine State has the largest population of TPS recipients in the US: nearly 404,000 people. More than half are from Venezuela and about one-third are from Haiti, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

With an ageing population and an existing caregiver shortage, healthcare experts say the end of TPS for Haitians will have a significant effect on the US healthcare industry.

Of the 330,000 Haitian TPS holders, about 13,000 work daily as nursing assistants, caring for 65,000 patients, The Boston Globe found. Another 8,000 Haitian caregivers serve 12,000 children and ageing people, according to Americans for Immigrant Justice, a Miami-based nonprofit law firm that provides free representation to low-income immigrants.

Experts said the TPS healthcare workforce exodus will be felt most acutely in New York, Massachusetts and Florida.

With its high populations of older people and immigrants, Florida is expected to be particularly hard-hit.

David Grabowski, a Harvard Medical School healthcare policy professor, said the decision will “have a major impact on nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home care agencies”.

What will happen if most Haitians with TPS are deported?

Healthcare researchers say deporting Haitian recipients of Temporary Protected Status will add pressure on a strained system.

Immigrants who have TPS are more likely to work in healthcare, with one 2025 study finding that recipients represent 15 percent of all noncitizen healthcare workers. (TPS recipients make up about 2.1 percent of the total immigrant population.)

Immigrants make up a large share of direct care workers — people who are home health aides, personal care aides and nursing assistants.

There is already a national shortage of home health aides, personal care aides, nursing assistants and other long-term care and eldercare workers, but the US will need even more in the future. The US 65-and-up population is expected to rise from 58 million to 82 million by 2050 — a 42 percent increase.

Nearly half of US nursing homes report limiting admissions due to staffing shortages, and 19 percent recently met the minimum staffing levels set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In 2023, shortages of nurses and other employees caused about two-thirds of US hospitals to operate below capacity.

“People who run nursing homes, chronic care hospitals and home care agencies – they are all saying this is a crisis,” said Dr Steffie Woolhandler, a distinguished professor of public health at City University of New York’s Hunter College. “There has long been a shortage of folks who are willing to do direct care work as nursing aides, and there’s still a shortage now, so, of course, if the US deports them all, it’s just going to make it worse.”

Drishti Pillai, the director of immigrant health policy at the research nonprofit KFF, said, “The long-term care industry is already facing shortages prior to these immigration policy changes, so I think it’s accurate to say that this is going to further exacerbate the situation.”

Why do so many Haitians with TPS work in caregiving?

Healthcare experts pointed to several reasons for TPS holders’ high numbers in direct care, including job availability, an easier certification process compared with other healthcare jobs, and prior experience caring for family members.

“We do not have sufficient native-born workers to fill all the caregiving jobs,” Grabowski, the healthcare policy professor, said.

These positions also typically have lower barriers to entry for licensure, or no English language requirements, experts said. Refugee settlement organisations often recommend the work to immigrants for those reasons.

The positions are “extremely difficult to fill” because they’re physically and emotionally demanding, with low pay and with little or no employee benefits, said Priya Chidambaram, senior policy manager with KFF’s programme on Medicaid and the uninsured.

Some Haitians also have experience caring for sick family members in their homes, given the lack of nursing home infrastructure in their home country.

In the end, experts said there will be many more people who need this care than people who will be able to provide it.

“This was true before the ruling,” Chidambaram said. “Now, the impact will only be worse.”

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced felony charges against a former Olympic athlete for allegedly harming the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.

At a news conference on Thursday, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro accused professional canoeist David Hearn, 67, of deliberately vandalising the pool.

“Today, a grand jury has returned a felony indictment against a defendant, David Hearn, for felony destruction of property, for which he faces 10 years in prison,” Pirro, a Trump appointee, said.

She proceeded to call the destruction of national monuments “one of the most offensive images” she has ever seen.

“This unchecked vandalism and civil disorder turns into criminal behaviour, and that’s why we’re here today,” Pirro said. “They are an affront to the dignity of our shared history.”

But in media interviews, Hearn has denied any vandalism, saying that, like many Americans, he was simply curious about the Reflecting Pool when he visited on June 19.

The Reflecting Pool had been the subject of a renovation effort Trump began in April, as part of a wider initiative to reshape Washington, DC, through controversial construction and maintenance projects.

Trump awarded a no-bid contract to a firm to seal and resurface the granite pool in a colour he dubbed “American flag blue”. But observers noted that, as soon as the pool reopened in early June, it suffered an algae bloom, and blue paint began to peel from its bottom.

Faced with criticism about the $13.1m renovation contract, Trump countered that vandals had sabotaged the Reflecting Pool.

At least seven people, including Hearn, have been arrested on allegations they may have harmed the pool’s blue-painted bottom.

Hearn has maintained his innocence. He says he was cycling by the Reflecting Pool when he stopped to look at the peeling paint, and he reached in the water to feel it. He denies removing any part of the pool.

Pirro, however, described a different scene. She said National Park Service employees observed Hearn “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands”, damaging roughly 2 square feet — or around 0.18 square meters — of pool sealant.

“A parks employee actually told Hearn to stop his behaviour and stop what he was doing. Hearn reacted by shouting at that parks employee,” Pirro alleged.

Reporters confronted Pirro with questions about whether charging Hearn with a felony was disproportionately punitive, since similar cases have been considered misdemeanour offences.

One journalist asked Pirro if her decision to seek a felony indictment was influenced by Trump, who wrote on Truth Social that a 10-year prison sentence should “be fully enforced” for any attempted damage to the Reflecting Pool.

“I didn’t charge anything harshly. I charge according to the evidence,” Pirro replied. She argued that Hearn caused damage exceeding $1,000, thereby necessitating a felony charge.

She also dismissed comparisons with the millions of dollars in damage caused by Trump supporters during the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Nearly all of those defendants were pardoned on the first day of Trump’s second term.

“Are you really talking about January 6th? I’m not,” Pirro told one reporter. A hearing in Hearn’s case is scheduled for July 9.

On Thursday, preparations for the July 4 fireworks show began at the Reflecting Pool, with large nets spread across the entire structure.

According to a police officer on the site, the nets are intended to catch the debris that could fall into the pool during the show. The site remains fenced off to visitors.

Still, many have come to look at the pool and see the controversial renovations firsthand.

Brian Williams, a 31-year-old from Roscoe, Georgia, praised Trump for his efforts to beautify the city. He said that algae was normal for a pool full of still water in the heat of summertime.

“I don’t think people have any business vandalising anything,” Williams added. “If you have something that you dislike about the president, don’t take it out on the people’s pool.”

But others were more sceptical of Trump’s claims. Jon Delgado, a 40-year-old Navy veteran from Collierville, Tennessee, expressed frustration at seeing the Reflecting Pool in its current state.

“I came here with my wife and my family to show them the beauty of America, the spirit of what we fought for,” he said. “To see it trashed like this, it just makes me angry.”

Delgado called Trump’s accusations about vandalism at the site “really crazy”.

“We have just got to ask ourselves: Is this where we’re at, in the state of America, that we’re believing something like this? You can look for yourself: This thing has pond scum all in it, and it stinks. There’s no vandalism,” he said.

Trump has launched a slate of crypto-friendly policies since returning to the White House for a second term.

A new government report has shown that United States President Donald Trump made millions from cryptocurrency and settlements with media companies last year, raising questions about possible conflicts of interest.

On Tuesday, the US Office of Government Ethics released annual financial disclosure forms for both Trump and his vice president, JD Vance.

One 927-page document itemises all of Trump’s reported assets and income for 2025. They include more than $1.4bn from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures.

Trump received more than $500m from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture he and his sons co-founded. The president also reported another $635m from the sale of his $TRUMP meme coins.

The report suggests that investments in digital assets now generate one of the largest tranches of Trump’s income, overtaking even the real estate empire he inherited from his father.

The revelation is likely to intensify scrutiny of Trump’s policies.

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has launched a slate of crypto-friendly policies as he seeks to make the US the “crypto capital of the world”.

Early in his second term, for instance, the president announced that his government would create a national strategic cryptocurrency reserve to help ensure the stability of certain digital assets.

He also hosted the first-ever White House cryptocurrency summit.

The forum included several technology leaders that had been under investigation during the administration of Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.

But Trump reversed those actions. In February 2025, for instance, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced it would drop charges against Coinbase, the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange, after it was accused of acting as an unregistered broker.

Other digital currency firms came under suspicion for fraudulent transactions.

Trump has coupled the shift away from government oversight with efforts to champion new legislation, including the GENIUS Act.

The law, passed in Congress in July 2025, created a general regulatory framework that required stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency, to be backed one-to-one by US dollars. Advocates said the law would help to make cryptocurrency more mainstream.

“The entire crypto community: For years, you were mocked and dismissed and counted out,” Trump said during the law’s signing ceremony. “You were counted out as little as a year and a half ago, but this signing is a massive validation.”

But Trump’s increasingly close ties to the cryptocurrency industry have drawn criticism for its potential for corruption.

Last week, five Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, called on their Republican colleagues to join them in forcing Trump administration officials to testify under oath about their cryptocurrency dealings.

They pointed to investments from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in World Liberty Financial, the company the Trump family co-owns with government envoy Steve Witkoff’s sons.

Those investments, they argued, “raise questions about what more the UAE may receive — or may have already received – at the expense of U.S. national security after investing in the Trump family crypto company”.

The five Democrats urged immediate hearings on the matter.

The US Supreme Court has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for all individuals born on US soil, ruling that children born in the country remain entitled to citizenship under the Constitution.

United States president Donald Trump was expected by many to regularly feature at the World Cup.

But he is yet to attend a single match, despite the United States team winning two of their three group games, and qualifying for the knockout stages.

So is it a surprise? Why may he have stayed away? And will he appear before the final? BBC Sport takes a closer look.

“My fellow Americans, citizens of the world, the United States is honoured to play host to this magnificent celebration. The World Cup has captured the imagination of our country, as has the game itself in the last few years…So I welcome all who have come from all countries and all continents and all who will watch these games in the United States for the next 30 days.”

The words of president Bill Clinton on 17 June, 1994 at Soldier Field in Chicago when attending the opening match of the first World Cup to be held in the United States.

The day is remembered more for Diana Ross’ missed ‘penalty-kick’ during the pre-match festivities than Clinton’s address, but his presence now seems more notable.

Because 32 years on, the country is once again staging the event, and yet, with the halfway point of the tournament passed, the current president has stayed away.

Earlier this month, Trump hailed the number of tickets sold by Fifa, labelling it “the most successful World Cup they’ve ever had”, and reinforcing the widely-held view that he would be a highly visible and enthusiastic presence.

After all, in the build-up, the tournament had seemed very important to him. He even referenced it, external in an address at a rally staged on the eve of his presidential inauguration early last year.

And Trump then played a central role at the draw in Washington DC in December, where he was awarded Fifa’s inaugural ‘Peace Prize’ by the governing body’s president Gianni Infantino.

The two men have forged a close relationship in recent years, with Infantino welcomed to both the Oval Office and Trump’s Florida residence Mar-a-Lago.

Trump has also been a regular presence at several other major sports events in the US during his second term, from the Super Bowl, and last summer’s Club World Cup final, to the opening day of golf’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage.

However, when co-hosts the US played their opening match v Paraguay on 12 June in Los Angeles, following on from an opening ceremony, the president was notable by his absence, with secretary of state Mark Rubio travelling from Washington instead.

It appeared that Trump had prioritised an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on the White House lawn two days later, celebrating his 80th and America’s 250th birthday.

US President Donald Trump has made his first comment on the UK’s likely next leader describing Andy Burnham as ‘extremely liberal’. He also declared that Britain is ‘dying’ and urged greater oil drilling in the North Sea. The comments came after Keir Starmer announced plans to step down, with Burnham the only candidate to succeed him.

Residents in Damascus rejected US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Syria should confront Hezbollah in Lebanon. They say Syria should avoid being drawn into new regional conflicts. In a rare critique, Trump told Israel to let Syria take on Hezbollah.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino will be ‘enjoying the final’ with Trump and present the trophy together on July 19.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed plans to include United States President Donald Trump in the trophy presentation ceremony at the World Cup final.

“We will be together with the president, enjoying the final, and handing the trophy to the winner – of course, together,” Infantino said during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday morning.

Asked to clarify that he and Trump would present the trophy together at the match on July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Infantino added: “Of course. We are together all the time.”

Trump notably participated in the ceremony at last year’s Club World Cup final, when Chelsea defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 at the same venue.

He remained on stage as Chelsea lifted the trophy. Later, the trophy was spotted in the Oval Office, with Chelsea reportedly having received a replica version.

According to The Athletic, citing FIFA sources, Infantino has been aiming to attend as many matches as possible at the tournament.

So far, that has been up to two a day. Trump has yet to attend any matches in this year’s World Cup.

United States President Donald Trump has pledged there will be no tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, unless they are collected by his own country.

Trump’s statement, made in a Saturday afternoon post on Truth Social, is the latest sign that a recently signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) may be unravelling.

“There will be NO TOLLS in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days during the Cease Fire Period, and there will be NO TOLLS after the 60 day period has expired,” Trump wrote, “unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America.”

Since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, Iran has successfully used the Strait of Hormuz as a pressure point, closing the strategic waterway to traffic.

But under the terms of Wednesday’s ceasefire memorandum, the strait is supposed to reopen for an interim period of 60 days. During that time, Iran is barred from charging vessels for passage.

On Saturday, however, Iran’s joint military command said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, citing a “clear breach” of the memorandum’s commitments.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), the agency that oversees military operations in the region, denied that report and maintained that the traffic continues to flow through the waterway.

The Strait of Hormuz has long been a flashpoint in the conflict between the US and Iran. Nearly 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas is transported through the strait, as well as about 30 percent of the global fertiliser trade.

Closure of the strait has caused global fuel costs to soar and has tested agricultural sectors across the world.

Trump had responded to Iran’s chokehold over the strait by imposing a US naval blockade on Iran’s ports in the region.

But that naval blockade was lifted under the terms of Wednesday’s memorandum. The deal also paused fighting on all fronts in the regional conflict, including in Lebanon.

The memorandum, though, was not intended as a long-term deal. It serves as a launching point for negotiations on key issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.

Several points of divergence also went unaddressed in the memorandum. Nowhere does the memo say that future tolls cannot be collected from the strait after the 60-day period expires.

Before the war, there was no charge for passage through the strait. Trump himself said in an interview with The New York Times that the waterway should remain “permanently toll-free”.

But he appeared to reverse course in Saturday’s post, once again floating the possibility that the US could extract tolls in the strait, while barring Iran from doing so.

No fees should be levied, Trump wrote, “unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal not be completed”.

He explained that such a charge would compensate the US “for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs”.

Trump used similar language in his New York Times interview earlier this week, floating the US becoming “the guardian of the Middle East” in exchange for 20 percent of its revenue.

Saturday’s post is not the first time Trump has mused about the US imposing tolls in the strait, either.

In April, for instance, he discussed the idea with reporters, saying, “What about us charging tolls? I’d rather do that than let them have them. Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner. We won.”

There has been no indication that Trump’s plans have been officially presented to countries in the region, many of whom have struck a careful balance in their dealings with both the US and Iran during the war.

Iranian officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly said they will not rule out imposing tolls in the strait, framing the issue as a matter of sovereignty and regional negotiation. The strait sits between Iran and Oman.

Further discussions are expected on the matter in the coming weeks.

But such negotiations have been thrown into jeopardy amid ongoing Israeli military operations in Lebanon, which threaten to violate Wednesday’s ceasefire memorandum.

Iran claimed that Saturday’s closure of the strait was a result of new Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, which killed dozens of people after the ceasefire was announced.

Iranian officials have also said that any upcoming talks should focus on proper implementation of the initial memorandum, and that the 60-day negotiating period stipulated in Wednesday’s deal would begin after that was settled.

Pakistan, a top mediator between the US and Iran, has said that follow-up talks are set to begin in Switzerland on Sunday.

Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that an Iranian delegation, led by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, has already arrived for the negotiations.

On the US side, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vice President JD Vance are expected to attend.

Vance departed for Switzerland late Saturday.