Trump | Pakistan

Threat to Air Force One prompted the Secret Service to secretly move Trump onto a ​smaller government jet

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he secretly switched planes in Turkiye last month at the direction of the US Secret Service, but that the plane he ultimately flew on was still more vulnerable than Air Force One. Following a Nato summit in Ankara, Trump was transferred from Air Force One to a military plane via a catering truck in an extraordinary deception prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, US media reported. The White House did not disclose the change and it remained a secret until the Washington Post first reported it on Monday. Some media commentators questioned whether the operation left Trump’s aides and journalists travelling with him at risk aboard the plane presumed to be carrying the president. “I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.” After a day of social media memes portraying Trump as hiding out in the cate...

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump secretly flew out of Turkiye last month on a smaller plane than previously known due to an assassination threat from Iran, the Washington Post reported on Monday. According to an anonymous US official who spoke to the Post, Trump boarded an Air Force One jet in Ankara on July 8, but then moved into a catering container attached to the plane. The container then ferried him to a smaller C-32A aircraft that flew him to Britain, while media and some officials were led to believe Trump was still on the bigger jet. The Iranian threat had previously been reported by US media as the reason that Trump did not fly out of Turkiye aboard the new Boeing 747-8, gifted to the United States by Qatar, which he had used to fly into the country. Trump, who was in Ankara for a Nato summit, said at the time he would be taking the older Boeing 747 so that members of the US military at an airbase in Britain could tour the new plane. However, several US media outlets, including the New York Time...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday it would be “a terrible mistake” to replace Gianni Infantino, the embattled FIFA president who tried, and failed, to sell off part of the World Cup to private investors. Infantino came under renewed fire in an open letter signed by three confederations — Europe’s UEFA, North and Central America’s CONCACAF and Asia’s AFC — accusing the world football boss of breaking trust “through deception”. But Trump backed Infantino, who awarded the US president a “FIFA Peace Prize” at the World Cup draw ceremony last year. “FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino,” Trump posted on Truth Social. Trump called Infantino “fantastic” and said he “presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented”. “If he is gone, it will never be as successful or profitable again!” added Trump, who attended the World Cup final with Infantino last month. — Screengrab via Truth Social. Trump’s backing of...

The US government will invest $3 billion in critical minerals and battery projects as part of a push to increase domestic production and boost national security and industrial policy, US President Donald Trump said on Friday. “We’re reclaiming America’s rightful place as the minerals superpower of the world,” Trump told more than 200 mining executives, educators, investors and fellow politicians at a roundtable at the State Department aimed at supporting the industry, which he said had not received enough attention from Washington in recent years. He announced a slew of investments during his speech, including a $1.4bn conditional loan from the Defence Department’s Office of Strategic Capital for Sila Nanotechnologies, which makes lithium-ion battery parts. The OSC also extended a $400 million conditional loan to scandium miner Sunrise Energy Metals and a $150m conditional loan to magnet developer Niron Magnetics. The US Export-Import Bank will lend $58m to Westwater Resources, Global Advanced Metals and 5E A...

US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday in a new but narrower attempt to curtail birthright citizenship, once again challenging a provision of the US Constitution even though the Supreme Court rejected his previous effort. Limiting birthright citizenship has been one of the top priorities in the Republican president’s crackdown on immigration, with the White House taking particular aim at what it calls “birth tourism,” in which pregnant foreigners travel to the US to give birth. After his June 30 setback in the Supreme Court, Trump called on Congress to act, but on Thursday he opted for executive orders, which set policy but do not carry the same weight as laws passed by Congress. The Supreme Court had struck down as unconstitutional Trump’s earlier executive order, which targeted a wide swath of immigrants in the country illegally or temporarily. The administration argues the new directive falls outside the purview of the Supreme Court ruling, as it seeks to reinterpret the narrow, ...

United States President Donald Trump said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come as soon as Wednesday but warned Iran it would get “hit very hard” if negotiations fell through. Transit of the waterway, a key conduit for global oil and gas supplies, has been a sticking point in talks and led to renewed fighting following an April ceasefire. Iran has tightened its grip on Hormuz and wants to control the strait and charge tolls — powers it did not exercise before the war began on February 28. Trump said on Tuesday a deal with Iran to reopen Hormuz could happen “tomorrow or the next day,” telling reporters in California that negotiators “had a very good day”. Earlier, he struck a more threatening tone. “The strait is going to be open very soon, or they’re going to get hit very hard — and then the strait’s going to be open,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. “All you can do is fight your way out.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC earlier “there is a chance we may have a deal” by Wedn...

Iran said on Monday that no negotiations with the United States were currently being held despite US President Donald Trump announcing earlier that the two sides were set to begin parleys later today. “Iran is not currently holding talks with the United States and is now in discussions with Oman over a temporary safe route through the Strait of Hormuz,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in a televised press conference. On Sunday, Trump said that new negotiations with Iran would begin on Monday after he decided to hold off on striking the country to pursue a deal to end the war entering its sixth month. Trump told reporters that the talks would cover the Strait of Hormuz and ultimately, the denuclearisation of Iran. Oil prices fell on Monday at the opening of Asian trade after Trump announced the new negotiations, with West Texas Intermediate dropping 4.7 per cent to $80.72 per barrel. Following a return to strikes last month, fears had mounted that the fighting could escalate once agai...

Oil prices tumbled more than $4 a barrel on Monday after US President Donald Trump held off on a fresh attack on Iran, seeking to reach a quick deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures slid $4.49, or 5.11 per cent, to $83.44 by 0408 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $79.77 a barrel, down $4.90, or 5.79pc. Both contracts jumped more than 20pc last month after fighting between the US and Iran resumed and as attacks on several tankers around Oman heightened security concerns, deterring shippers from entering the Gulf to load oil. In a sign of de-escalation, Trump said late on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked for time to complete a deal that would lead to “the Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of the vital strait and “an end to Iran’s nuclear threat”. IG market analyst Tony Sycamore says, “The bigger focus is whether this week turns into a rinse and repeat of last week with hopes of a deal collapsing as Iran...

US President Donald Trump said that new negotiations with Iran will begin on Monday after he decided to hold off on striking the country to pursue a deal to end the war entering its sixth month. Trump told reporters on Sunday that the talks would cover the Strait of Hormuz — a route for global energy supplies that has become a key sticking point in the conflict —and ultimately, the denuclearisation of Iran. For its part, Iran said it was nearing a deal with Oman over a new route through the strait, where a tanker reported an explosion nearby on Sunday, underscoring the continued volatility of the strategic waterway. Oil prices fell on Monday at the opening of Asian trade after Trump announced the new negotiations, with West Texas Intermediate dropping 4.7 per cent to $80.72 per barrel. Washington and Tehran have been at war since February 28, when the US and Israel launched surprise strikes against Iran, though months of on-off diplomacy have led to periods of relative calm. Following a return to strikes last...

Trump repeatedly issued threats to escalate war on Iran in late February, only to allow more time for talks

United States President Donald Trump said late on Saturday he would hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran and “other Middle Eastern Countries” asked for a time to complete a deal that would lead to “the Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of the Strait and “an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” Israel “joins me in this commitment,” Trump wrote. Israel did not immediately make a public statement on the issue. Iran warned the US this weekend against any adventurous action and said it would retaliate decisively if American forces followed through on Trump’s threats of fresh attacks on Iranian targets. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchis comments in sep...

US President Donald Trump said talks in Cairo between mediators and Hamas leaders on Thursday have led to a phased disarmament agreement in Gaza, but a Hamas official described the deal as a draft and US officials said Israel was sceptical the Palestinian group would surrender its weapons. “Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza,” Trump said in a social media post, adding that the disarmament would come in phases. “This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY.” The agreement was a critical step towards Gaza being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the so-called Board of Peace, Trump said. “At the same time, Israel will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks,” he added. The Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s announcement. A Hamas source told Reuters the “draft agreement” ...

Preliminary work on a vast hotel project linked to the Trump family has already caused irreparable damage to a once pristine stretch of Albania’s coast, scientists and activists say. Satellite images obtained by AFP show that during a 25-day period in May, a road was cleared, an entire zone deforested and a bridge built to span the channel connecting the Narta lagoon to the sea. “Bulldozers on the beaches have already damaged the nesting sites of loggerhead turtles, which are threatened with extinction,” Olsi Nika, a marine biologist who heads the NGO EcoAlbania, told AFP. In addition, the nesting grounds of numerous bird species have been disturbed by access roads through the dunes and the felling of trees, while construction on a vital channel between the lagoon and the sea has severely disrupted water flows essential to maintaining wetlands. “An absolute biodiversity massacre,” said Nika. Daily demonstrations against the project have led to the suspension of some work, but the “damage caused to the heritag...

In separate ​short posts on Truth Social, Trump said he discussed ⁠various topics with them, without giving specifics

Trump administration is aiming to safeguard US AI supply chain from Chinese threats of disruption

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House on Tuesday for his first in-person talks with President Donald Trump since the Iran war began, as the leaders sought to patch over public disagreements on the conflict. The meeting, which took place behind closed doors, was expected to be dominated by the war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February but has seen a recent pause in the fighting as Washington says it wants to give negotiations a chance. Israel has not taken part in the latest round of hostilities between the United States and Iran, which flared earlier this month as an April ceasefire collapsed. The talks — which the White House described as “positive and productive” — lasted for about an hour and a half. The meeting is the eighth between the leaders since Trump’s return to office in early 2025 and comes ahead of key electoral tests later this year for both Netanyahu and the US president: national elections in Israel and midterm polls in the United States....

US President Donald Trump lashed out at “fake news media” and talked about serving a banned third term as he addressed a rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday, three months after an assassination attempt disrupted the event. “This place is really the largest group of Trump derangement syndrome people ever put together at one time,” Trump told the media gala at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, DC. The 80-year-old started with a relatively conciliatory tone, reflecting on the attack by a gunman that forced him to be evacuated from the dinner in April. “The show must go on,” Trump said. But he quickly pivoted to attacking a wide range of perceived enemies in an often rambling speech, starting with journalists before training his fire on Democratic opponents. Trump had earlier thrown up his hands and laughed as he shook hands with a Wall Street Journal team that broke stories on his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. But he later joked that “this has not been an easy evening, ...

Trump links KSA N-deal to Abraham Accords

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said a landmark deal with Saudi Arabia that would establish a civilian nuclear programme in the Gulf country is contingent on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords and normalising ties with Israel. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the deal only pertained to the civilian use of nuclear facilities “such as the ones that Iran and [the] UAE (and others) already have”. He added that the deal “will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords”. The Abraham Accords are a set of agreements brokered under Trump in 2020 and govern the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Israel and countries that have historically been hostile to it. They, however, remain unpopular among the public in many parts of the region, not least because they do not tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The move comes as the United States under President Donald Trump fights a war with Iran that began in large part over concerns wi...