Politics
How Trump’s Cabinet Speaks to Him: Praise, Accolades and Lots of Criticizing Opponents
The cabinet has historically advised the president on a variety of matters, but in President Trump’s second term, it appears to have taken on a new mandate: flattery.
Marathon cabinet meetings, lasting one to three hours, have become a hallmark of Mr. Trump’s second presidency. Often televised, they provide an opportunity for cabinet officials to credit him for their department’s accomplishments while still trying to claim some of the spotlight for themselves.
“He is willing to take a bullet for all of you tuning in at home because he believes in this flag, our freedom, our liberties and to save the greatest country in the history of the world.”
“The country owes you a great debt of gratitude — and the world, really — because I mean, you’re the only leader in the planet that can bring the two sides together to bring an end to this conflict.”
“What you have assembled in your vision is a turning point and an inflection point in American history.”
“I’ve gone across the country this month, 10 different states, and we saw it when we were together in Iowa: hard-working families, farmers, small businesses expressing gratitude, lined up to thank you.” “What happened in Afghanistan, what happened in Ukraine — a war that never would have occurred — what happened on Oct. 7 in Israel, never would have happened under President Trump.”
“A year ago today, I was working on transition with President Trump, to build the greatest cabinet ever for the greatest president ever. And I, as I sit here today, I can’t be more proud of how you did it, sir.”
Cabinet members flatter Trump
The New York Times reviewed over a dozen hours of cabinet meeting footage to analyze how his administration spoke to him. On average, at least one of every six sentences either flattered Mr. Trump, gave him credit or criticized his political opponents.
Allison Schuster, a White House spokeswoman, said in an email that Mr. Trump’s cabinet used these meetings to “highlight the exhaustive list of accomplishments they have delivered on behalf of the American people.”
Some, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, packed their speaking time with praise, while others, like Vice President JD Vance, focused on attacking Democrats. Many of these statements are exaggerated or not factually accurate.
Flatters him Criticizes opponents Gives him credit
Mr. Rubio both spoke and flattered the president the most.
Mr. Bessent said Mr. Trump “saved this country by making it the best place in the world to do business again.”
Mr. Hegseth said three times that Mr. Trump would have prevented conflicts from occurring.
Mr. Vance insulted political opponents the most. On average, one of six sentences was an insult.
Ms. Loeffler emphasized five times how people she has met across the country are grateful for President Trump. Mr. Lutnick said Mr. Trump achieved what nobody believed was possible five times.
Mr. Zeldin repeatedly said Mr. Trump was “willing to take a bullet for this country.”
Mr. Ratcliffe frequently credited department accomplishments to Mr. Trump’s leadership.
Mr. Greer referred to Labor Day as “Trump Trade Policy Day.”
How each cabinet member speaks to Trump
Compared with his first term, when some of his top aides pushed back against the president’s impulses, Mr. Trump has emphasized the importance of loyalty this time around. Administration officials have complimented the president far more in cabinet meetings than in his first term, according to The Times’s review of footage.
One of the most striking features of Mr. Trump’s cabinet meetings this term is the extent to which his leadership has been praised as unparalleled.
Officials have declared on camera that he is singlehandedly ending global conflicts, winning the race for artificial intelligence, motivating troops to enlist and lowering gas prices, among a number of other claimed accomplishments.
Russia-Ukraine war Rubio: And there’s only one leader in the world that’s capable of bringing the two sides to a table, and that’s our president, the president of the United States, President Trump.Russia-Ukraine war Rubio: And — and I think that the country owes you a great debt of gratitude and the world, really, because I mean you’re the only leader in the planet that can bring the two sides together to bring an end to this conflict, and that’s what you’ve done, and you’ve done it despite, you know, impediments from other countries and others who maybe have different opinions about how this should go.
But ultimately, I think that the only chance we have for peace is through the president’s leadership, and you’ve shown that.Cambodia-Thailand conflict Rubio: The president just picks up the phone and tells them to stop fighting. And within 72 hours, the fighting had stopped. There’s no other leader in the world that could have done it.Israel-Gaza conflict Rubio: But suffice it to say, it’s not an exaggeration that none of it would have been possible without the president of the United States being involved.Israel-Gaza conflict Rubio: And because of the work you put in — and honestly there is no — not only is there no other leader in the world that could have put this together, Mr. President.Israel-Gaza conflict Rubio: No other leader in the world could have pulled off what happened in Gaza. But this war is going on, and the president is trying to end it not because — listen, we’ve got a million things to focus on in the world as a country, but he’s the only leader in the world that can help end it.Sudan civil war Rubio: The president’s taken on this issue of Sudan personally, not send out deputies to do it. Again, far away from the United States because he’s the only leader in the world that can bring it about to an end.Leadership Burgum: And it’s your fearlessness to take on the issues that other presidents would not touch, whether it’s the work that we’re doing with successfully streamlining and right-sizing government or whether it’s taking on the issues at the border or whether it’s embracing the power we need to win the arms race, you’re fearlessly doing that.Energy Burgum: You’re perhaps one of the only leaders in the world that understood the connection between peace abroad and prosperity at home was directly connected to energy policy.Israel-Gaza conflict Burgum: It’s such a remarkable accomplishment — agree that no other president could have done this.Immigration Hegseth: It only happens with President Trump leading, and we’re proud to be a part of what’s going on at the border, sir, with now a fourth national defense area where we’re helping get to that number zero in securing the border.Military recruitment Hegseth: In fact, re-enlistment is already met its yearlong goal in the Marine Corps in 2026. You can’t — there’s no other way to create that kind of love and enthusiasm than with your leadership, sir.Venezuela operation Hegseth: No other president would have been willing to empower those warriors that way to be that effective.Healthcare Kennedy: M.F.N. is one of our greatest accomplishments. It would not have happened without you.Job creation Lutnick: And this is all driven by your tariff policies. No chance this’d be happening without you.Trade deals Lutnick: We invented the lightbulb, the transistor, the G.P.U., so they keep buying us. And the only president to ever to understand it, and you understood it in the ’80s and the ’90s.Job creation Lutnick: We’ve got $165 billion for TSMC, but you’re going to watch the whole ecosystem come home because Donald Trump is the only president who understands.Artificial Intelligence Wright: If you had not won the election, we would not have won the A.I. race.Energy Wright: There are a number of stations in the heartland of America with $1.99 signs flying today. That’s simply impossible without the leadership and changes you’ve brought.War Zeldin: And we have never had a president so deeply committed towards ending foreign wars instead of starting new ones.Economy Zeldin: What we are accomplishing now, again, wouldn’t be possible if not for your leadership.Trade deals Greer: That’s who’s coming in to talk to you and to your advisers about how to have reciprocal trade, how to have fair trade. It wouldn’t have happened without you.Trade deals Greer: Now we have the tariffs, and they have lowered their nontariff barriers. We couldn’t have done it without you and the leverage you’ve created.
Notably, some of these talking points are traceable to Mr. Trump himself.
For instance, he has repeatedly claimed that Russia’s war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Gaza “would not have happened” if he had been president. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Mr. Rubio have echoed this in cabinet meetings.
In a meeting on Jan. 26, Kelly Loeffler, the small business administrator, said Mr. Trump had “ended at least eight wars,” and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Mr. Trump’s tariffs were bringing in “tens of trillions of investments.” Mr. Trump has also espoused some version of both claims, even though they are misleading.
Officials have also frequently criticized former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the Democratic Party, copying Mr. Trump’s pattern of assigning blame to Mr. Biden.
Flattery of Mr. Trump is not enough to keep the job, however. Four of Mr. Trump’s cabinet officials have been fired or resigned this year, and he may be considering removing more.
Below, explore other things cabinet officials have said to Mr. Trump during their meetings.
Americans are grateful for Trump
Bessent: In the diner, the staff there was thanking you for the no tax on tips, and they’re expecting big refunds from that.Burgum: Everybody I’ve met, whether it’s in a coal mine or at the border, law enforcement, the one thing they say on those trips is please thank President Trump from all of us, the change that you’re making.Burgum: They all wanted to say thank you to you.Burgum: But on behalf of all law enforcement, we say thank you.Loeffler: I’m out on a made-in-America manufacturing tour and, as I go across the country, people are grateful to have a president who’s not just fighting on the tariff fronts, but to get inflation down, to create jobs.Loeffler: So, the American worker is grateful.Loeffler: Main Street is grateful for you and, at the agency level, we’re making sure that manufacturers have access to the capital they need.Loeffler: And then finally, I have walked factory floors from Alaska to Maine, and the workers, the small businesses — most manufacturers in this country are small businesses, 600,000 of them — they are so grateful to your fair-trade, low-inflation, deregulation agenda that is creating national security and economic security in this country like never before.Loeffler: Hard-working families, farmers, small businesses expressing gratitude, lined up to thank you.Loeffler: And as I walk through the factory floors, they all ask me to thank you for fighting for their jobs, for these industries and for the people who are creating things from pharmaceuticals to aerospace to food and all these essentials that this nation needs to be independent and strong.Hegseth: So, from the troops directly, which they ask me to say all the time, thank you for your leadership, for your boldness, for your clarity, for common sense, for providing a shield for the rest of us to put America first and to apply peace through strength.Rollins: And I think they are really, really excited and so grateful for your leadership. Everything possible under his leadership
Rubio: And again, it’s under your leadership, it’s actually under your executive order.Rubio: But you think about it, under your leadership, we prevented an end to the war between India and Pakistan.Rubio: And obviously, it’s under your leadership.Bessent: We are — America under your leadership is on the verge of becoming an A.I. superpower that our economy had become barbelled.Bessent: Trade, taxes and deregulation, the One Big Beautiful Bill under your leadership, Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune have done a great job.Burgum: So, we have an opportunity under your leadership to come back.Loeffler: I have to tell you, under your leadership, Main Street is open for business again.Loeffler: And we’ve already seen under your leadership, the jobs economy is back, manufacturing jobs are back.Loeffler: And so I want to also finally thank you for bringing faith back to the White House, to this administration. I want to thank Brooke for hosting the cabinet Bible study and invite everyone tomorrow to Bible study and making this country something that we can be so proud of under your leadership.Kennedy: Two weeks ago, we ended, under your leadership, a 20-year war on women by removing the black box warnings from hormone replacement therapy.Rollins: At U.S. Department of Agriculture, the people’s department — Abraham Lincoln launched this department in 1862. But under your leadership we have finally again put farmers and ranchers and rural America first.Wright: Under your leadership, what we’ve seen in the United States is just a steady drop in the price of gasoline, a huge consumer cost for Americans.Wright: We hope the blue states will come along with us, but your policies are going to start the decline of electricity prices nationwide under your leadership, by just bringing back common sense.Duffy: And so under your leadership and direction, we are making those investments.Turner: And I believe that we are, under your leadership, sir, changing that conversation in America to where working is an honorable thing.Ratcliffe: But under your leadership and your direction, we have been focused back on the core mission of what C.I.A. is supposed to be doing, which is to provide you and this entire incredible team around the table with a decisive, strategic advantage in accomplishing your goals.
Attacks on Biden
Rubio: For some of us who served in Congress, recognize that about a year and a half ago, we had a meltdown under Biden.Bessent: The average budget deficit during this term is 26 percent less than the last 12 months under Biden.Bessent: Sir, when we came in, the Biden administration had destroyed the American people with the three I’s: immigration, inflation and interest rates.Burgum: There’s 500 million acres of surface, 700 million acres of subsurface and 2.5 billion acres of offshore, and the Biden administration was trying to restrict this so that you couldn’t get a timber lease, you couldn’t cut a tree, you couldn’t graze a cow.Burgum: And this was essential because it was the signal that we’re going to go 180 degrees from the disastrous and dangerous Biden policies that were based on a climate ideology that was the root cause of the inflation in this country.Burgum: This is a plant that would have been in a mining operation that would have been shut down under the Biden administration.Burgum: The Biden administration put us in a real predicament right now, the whole trade team, the whole cabinet.Burgum: Biden wasn’t enforcing the border laws.Loeffler: After Biden destroyed 110,000 manufacturing jobs in just his last year, you’ve already brought back thousands and thousands of manufacturing jobs.Loeffler: So, we’ve modified our loan applications to have citizenship verification, to make sure we have birth dates, common-sense principles around lending that the Biden administration had waived.Loeffler: So on Main Street, the economy is coming back, thanks to your leadership, thanks to getting Biden inflation under control.Loeffler: But probably the most important and underreported war that this president ended was Joe Biden and the Democrats’ war on Main Street and hard-working families.Hegseth: You saw the debacle of what Biden allowed to happen in Afghanistan and what that did to our image.Hegseth: If you look at what happened, we deal with every day the outcome of what happened in Afghanistan, the debacle under Joe Biden.Hegseth: And Joe Biden tried to approach it with kid gloves and allowed them to come across the border, cartels take over community, 20 million people, hundreds of thousands of Americans poisoned.Kennedy: And during the Biden administration, H.H.S. became a collaborator in child trafficking and for sex and for — for slavery.Kennedy: That’s 300,000 children that were lost by the Biden administration.Kennedy: It never got implemented because the Biden administration never enforced it.Rollins: I think the first thing that’s really remarkable to note is that the prices of eggs under the four years of Joe Biden increased 237 percent.Rollins: Under the four years of Joe Biden, we had the cost of input go up 30 percent for all of our agriculture products.Rollins: And then under Joe Biden, we sold $49 billion less of our ag products around the world.Rollins: Under the Joe Biden administration, there was a 30 percent increase in the cost of inputs.Rollins: After four years of Biden, that hit $ 50 billion because they just didn’t make an effort.Rollins: This family was indicted, prosecuted, threatened with jail time, told to find guardians for their children over a fence line dispute that the Biden D.O.J. pushed forward.Rollins: All of this came about under Joe Biden, a 47 percent increase in the cost of labor that now Secretary Chavez-DeRemer and Noem and I are working on.Rollins: But under the Biden administration and the destruction of our economy and the cost of inflation, interest rates for farmers and ranchers went up 73 percent, labor went up 47 percent, fertilizer went up 36 percent, fuel went up 28 percent.Rollins: As Joe Biden was working to buy an election a year ago, he increased food stamp program funding by 40 percent.Rollins: Having said that, we do have a bridge payment we’ll be announcing with you next week as we’re still trying to recover from the Biden years.Vance: Just on that topic, if you think about what happened with the Abraham Accords, one of the great diplomatic breakthroughs under the first Trump administration really in the last 30 or 40 years of American history in the Middle East, and the Biden administration did absolutely nothing with it.Vance: Purely out of political spite, the Biden administration, I think, hurt the United States and really hurt the project of world peace.Vance: You heard, I think, Kristi talk about this, that all of the net job growth under the Biden administration had gone to the foreign-born.Vance: And of course, Mr. President, you yourself talked about the inflation mess that we inherited under the Biden administration.Vance: Maybe the most striking and even shocking statistic of the Biden administration is that housing costs have gone up by 100 percent over the four years of the Biden administration, literally doubled, making the American dream of homeownership unaffordable.Vance: I think the most important statistic for the American people is that under the Biden administration, the average American family lost over $3,000 of household income and under the first 10 months of this Trump administration, they have gained over $1,000 of household income.Vance: What that says very clearly is that we are fixing the problem that Joe Biden and the Democrats created in the last administration.Vance: If you look at every affordability crisis that’s confronting the American people today, it is traceable directly to a problem caused by Joe Biden and congressional Democrats.Vance: I think that we’ve done incredibly good, but what I see over the next year, and you heard Brooke talk about joy and gratitude, what I really think this season represents for me and I think for the entire administration, is that we have now done incredible work to fix what Joe Biden broke, and I think the next year in American growth and American prosperity could be the best year that we’ve had in the United States of America.Lutnick: The Biden CHIPS Act was a $60 billion giveaway, right?Wright: The Biden administration grew my department, the Department of Energy, by 20 percent and expenditure much more than that, all in an effort to reduce the production of energy in the United States and to make energy more expensive.Wright: Under your leadership, we’re unleashing consumer products that Americans wanted to buy that Biden was making illegal.Wright: Unfortunately, Biden brought all of us a lot of inflation.Wright: Secretary Burgum at the Interior Department has taken in more money on oil and gas lease sales in the first year of this administration than the entire four years of the Biden administration.Wright: Over 200 people died in a smaller cold snap during the Biden administration.Wright: If we’d continued the Biden era policies for one more year, continued to shut down coal plants, continued these crazy climate restrictions that wouldn’t even let power plants run at maximum — at maximum demand time.Wright: We would have had significant blackouts at these peak cold times and, extrapolating from the last storm during the Biden administration, I think at least hundreds of deaths.Zeldin: They received only $100 in 2023, and then the Biden administration gave them $2 billion.Zeldin: Mr. President, at the Biden E.P.A., the Green New Deal was raging. At the Biden E.P.A., we saw billions of tax dollars burning. At the Biden E.P.A., we saw industries suffocating.Zeldin: We’re going to be giving our director of the O.M.B. a whole lot of work because we inherited a big mess from the Biden E.P.A.Zeldin: The Biden E.P.A. gave $50 million to a group that says climate justice runs through a free Palestine.Zeldin: We consolidated real estate, canceled expensive media subscriptions and closed the Biden E.P.A. museum that none of you knew even existed. I’m sure none of you actually visited.Zeldin: To put it another way, in 2024, the Biden E.P.A. obligated and spent over $60 billion in one year, an agency with an operational budget of about $10 billion a year.Zeldin: In their own words, caught on camera, they were tossing gold bars off the Titanic, wasting precious tax dollars to pay off well-connected Obama and Biden officials.Zeldin: The Biden E.P.A., in fact, was amending grant agreements just days before you came into office to reduce agency oversight.Greer: You came into an emergency situation where President Biden left us with a $1.2 trillion trade deficit.Greer: When you look at President Biden, in the last quarter of 2024, median weekly earnings fell 2.1 percent.Duffy: Biden had the social cost of credit when we build infrastructure, roads and bridges, adding 3 to 5 percent on infrastructure costs.Duffy: By the way, we shouldn’t have dealt with this because Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg had moved the center from New York to Philadelphia.Turner: And at HUD, we want to make sure that the resources that we have now, which is American taxpayer dollars and the Biden administration, they prioritize illegal aliens over the American people.Vought: When you came into office, you basically stopped $200 billion in cost to American families just by stopping the Biden regulatory agenda.
Trump deserves credit Rubio: Mr. President, you deserve tremendous credit for that.Rubio: And frankly, I think countries around the world, even those that are out there complaining about this a little bit, should actually be grateful that the United States has a president that’s willing to confront a threat like this and not allow it to continue to persist, because these people will kill as many Americans as they have a chance to do.Rubio: Mr. President, I think you deserve a lot of credit for two things.Rubio: And so, on all these things, Mr. President, I think you deserve tremendous credit for the transformational aspect of our foreign policy.Rubio: First of all, this is a very talented team, as you’ve seen and as you know because you picked every single one that’s on. You deserve tremendous credit for doing that.Kennedy: You should also get bipartisan accolades on the M.F.N. agreement.Kennedy: It will affect every American for 100 years, and you should be getting bipartisan accolades on that.Vance: Completely aside from the fact that I think it’s a good thing or I think that President Trump deserves political credit for it, why did we go from a military where people didn’t want to serve to now all of a sudden they do want to serve?Greer: And I think you should be commended for it, and we look forward to seeing what comes in the next few years.
Politics
Trump announces peace deal with Iran, declares Strait of Hormuz will reopen: ‘Let the oil flow!’
JUST IN: Trump announces Iran deal opens Strait of Hormuz, lifts naval blockade
Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst covers President Donald Trump’s major announcement of a peace deal with Iran. Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ post details the toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz and removal of the U.S. naval blockade, allowing for increased oil flow. The deal aims to bring peace to the Middle East after months of conflict.
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President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the United States and Iran have officially reached a peace agreement, marking a major diplomatic breakthrough that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.
“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“Congratulations to all! I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has served as a mediator, was the first to announce the peace deal, saying a signing ceremony is scheduled to take place Friday in Switzerland.
TRUMP SAYS HE’S CANCELED IRAN STRIKES, ADDS POTENTIAL DEAL-SIGNING ‘TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY’
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on June 11, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump added that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen once the parties formally sign the agreement.
“With the opening of the Strait upon the signing of the Deal on Friday, for purposes of mine removal, oil will flow on both ends again for the Region, and the World!” he said.
IRAN REVEALS 10-POINT PLAN FOR PEACE WITH THE US – HERE’S WHAT’S IN IT
President Donald Trump looks at Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaking in Egypt in 2025, following the signing of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
According to Sharif, the deal includes the termination of military operations across the region, including in Lebanon, where Iran-backed terrorist proxy Hezbollah has been engaged in conflict with Israel.
“Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” he said.
Additional details of the agreement, including any provisions related to Iran’s nuclear program, were not immediately released.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said talks with the United States on a final and more comprehensive agreement will take place during a 60-day ceasefire period, according to Reuters.
The outlet reported that the future of Iran’s nuclear program will be addressed in upcoming negotiations. Trump has long maintained that Iran cannot be in possession of a nuclear weapon and has repeatedly vowed to prevent Tehran from developing, acquiring or obtaining one.
Trump further praised his administration for securing the agreement.
“This Great Deal will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region,” he said. “Many presidents have tried to make Peace with Iran, and all have failed before me. The Leaders of the Region have, for the first time, found a President who can help them achieve real Peace.”
Sharif also thanked the United States and Iran for their “commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” as well as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for their contributions to the mediation effort.
With the agreement now in place, mediators are expected to facilitate a series of meetings this week that could lay the groundwork for technical negotiations and the official signing ceremony, Sharif said.
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The peace deal would formally end the high-stakes conflict that began on Feb. 28, which disrupted roughly 20% of global oil shipments that pass through the Strait of Hormuz and contributed to higher energy prices worldwide.
It comes roughly one year after Israel initiated massive strikes on Iran during Operation Rising Lion. The strikes sparked a 12-day conflict between the nations before Trump ordered strikes on a trio of nuclear facilities later that same month.
Fox News’ Ashley J. DiMella and Reuters contributed to this report.
Politics
U.S. and Iran reach agreement to end war, Trump says
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Sunday that the United States and Iran have reached a framework agreement to end the war in the Middle East, a breakthrough in months of negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.
The deal, described by diplomats as a memorandum of understanding, commits Tehran to forgo the development or acquisition of nuclear weapons in exchange for helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and the paced release of its assets frozen overseas, upon the signing of the deal Friday in Switzerland.
Trump said he has also authorized “the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade” on Iranian imports.
“Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” Trump wrote in a social media post Sunday evening. It was the president’s 80th birthday.
The full details of the agreement have not been released. Many details — including how Tehran would give up, destroy or dilute its fissile material, or whether Iran would continue treating the international strait as its sovereign waters — will continue to be negotiated in the coming days.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Sunday that mediators are planning to hold a series of meetings this week to “lay the foundation for the technical talks and the official signing ceremony.”
“We would like to thank the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran for their commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” Sharif wrote in a post on X.
The Associated Press reported that negotiations on outstanding issues like Iran’s nuclear program would continue over the next 60 days, according to two senior Pakistani officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that the White House is “still figuring out the logistics” on whether he or Trump will attend the signing ceremony.
“What we know is that we have a lot of work to do, but a very big win for the American people tonight,” Vance said.”We are just going to keep on working at it, keep on driving energy prices down, keep on ensuring that region of the world is less than a basket case and finally, and most importantly, celebrate, that we can say with confidence Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television but said Iran would not start implementing it until it was signed on Friday. He said the deal followed over 14 hours of talks in Tehran with a representative from Qatar, another mediator.
Iranian state TV showed a banner asserting: “US was forced to sign an agreement to end the war.”
Iran’s commitment to refrain from pursuing nuclear weapons would simply repeat a vow Iran has made several times before, including in its signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its nuclear deal brokered with international powers under the Obama administration over 10 years ago.
Iran has 972 pounds of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Under the 2015 international agreement with Iran abandoned by the first Trump administration, Iran’s uranium enrichment was capped at less than 4%, monitored by IAEA inspectors.
The vagueness of the new agreement, the demand for further negotiations to flesh out its details, and the pacing of sanctions relief for Iran are all likely to draw criticism of the president, who launched his political career in 2015 by attacking President Obama’s newly signed nuclear deal as a historically bad agreement.
That deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, followed two years of painstaking negotiations that were predicated on a similar, yet more detailed framework, called the JCPOA.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Sunday morning interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the the difference between the JCPOA and how the Trump administration is handling negotiations is the “threat of military force.”
“The huge difference is we did this from a position of strength,” Hegseth said. “That military might will stay as long as necessary.”
And, as in 2015, Israeli leadership across the political aisle remains deeply skeptical of the agreement, pronouncing they will not be bound by a deal to which they are not a party.
In a phone interview with the New York Times on Sunday afternoon, Trump called Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, a “very difficult guy.”
“To be honest with you, he should be very thankful to us for doing this. Because if Iran had a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn’t be around for two hours,” Trump said.
Since the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran that started the war Feb. 28, there have been 3,468 confirmed deaths in Iran, according to independent monitors. In addition, 13 U.S. service members have been killed, and the Israeli war with Hezbollah has killed 2,679 in Lebanon as well as 23 Israelis, including eight civilians.
Politics
How Trump and the U.F.C. Transformed the White House Lawn for a Fight
It was back in late May that construction began on the towering, claw-like superstructure that now sits complete on the South Lawn of the White House, ready to stage Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts on Sunday, President Trump’s 80th birthday.
The spectacle is estimated to cost more than $60 million, according to Mark Shapiro, who is the president of U.F.C.’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings. (Mr. Trump purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in TKO weeks ahead of this event at the White House that he has been promoting for months).
Here’s a look at the fighting arena.
The Claw
The Claw is a 600-ton steel arch built in Belgium. Jumbo-sized and star-spangled, with huge television screens hanging from every corner, it coexists strangely with the rest of its environs.
It towers over the old willow oaks and magnolia trees planted long ago by past presidents on the gentle slope of the South Lawn. It towers over the White House itself. Spectators seated in the topmost section on Sunday night will be on eye level with the Truman balcony.
The Octagon
This is the Octagon, the caged ring in which men will beat one another to a pulp.
The cage is an eight-sided feat of marketeering, its every angle prominently displaying the name of some sponsor who’d paid big bucks to have their brands juxtaposed against the ultimate backdrop.
Among them: Live Trade on Polymarket, Bud Light, Pit Boss Grills, Total Wireless, Morgan & Morgan (“Dial #Law”) and Toyo Tires. “Crypto.com” is carved into each metal step leading into the ring.
The Venue
The Claw is not all. That venue can only fit a little more than 4,000 people, so a space for a watch party capable of hosting more than 70,000 people has been set up on The Ellipse, which is the park just south of the White House gates.
Back on the White House lawn, just behind the Claw, there are large tents set up. On Saturday afternoon, the day before the fight, a crew of six motocross riders will be performing stunts on the lawn, including backflips 45 feet in the air.
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Florida31 seconds agoIntense heat wave grips South Florida: Storms and “feels like” temps near 105°F this week
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Georgia3 minutes agoDry Leaf review – three-hour amble around the football pitches of Georgia in search of a daughter
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Hawaii8 minutes agoFrom Crown to Cause: Miss Hawaii Teen USA drives awareness on impaired driving
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Idaho16 minutes agoEast Idaho braces for first 90-degree day of the season – East Idaho News
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Kansas18 minutes agoMSHP recover missing Kansas person from Table Rock Lake
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Illinois18 minutes agoCentral Illinois residents face tough compromises as gas prices pinch budgets
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Indiana24 minutes ago21-year-old Indiana man shot, killed near Ford City Mall, Chicago officials say
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Iowa31 minutes agoStaffing new Iowa prisons may be “impossible,” union president warns