Sunday, July 19, 2026

Trump golfs and attends World Cup final as war in Iran claims another two service members: ‘A very sad thing’

 

Trump golfs and attends World Cup final as war in Iran claims another two service members: ‘A very sad thing’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-us-troops-killed-golf-b3017670.html 

Trump golfs and attends World Cup final as war in Iran claims another two service members: ‘A very sad thing’

The president spent a largely rainy Saturday at his golf club in Bedminster, NJ ahead of attending the World Cup final today as a deadly attack in Jordan killed 2 U.S. troops

John Bowden in Washington, D.C.
US launches retaliatory strikes on Iran as Trump calls deaths of two service members ‘very sad’

Donald Trump called the killing of two U.S. service members by Iran a “very sad thing” on Saturday but the president’s focus remained out of Washington this weekend as his war with Iran once again spiraled into open conflict.

The president spent the day golfing Saturday at his Bedminster, N.J., resort even as news broke that two U.S. service members were killed by an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan, with a third declared missing in action.

Trump’s only statement on the incident came in the form of a brief phone call with a NewsNation reporter. Calling their deaths “a very sad thing,” the president went on to dismiss any semblance of concern over Iran’s declaration that the ceasefire deal was broken.

“I couldn’t care less,” he told NewsNation.

Trump’s Truth Social account, which remained active over the weekend, tweeting about the SAVE America Act and pushing for Iran to be added to a Russia sanctions bill being debated by Congress, bore no mention of the attack.

President Donald Trump attended a FIFA reception in New York City Friday night, and then golfed at his Bedminster, NJ course before he was set to attend the World Cup final on Sunday
President Donald Trump attended a FIFA reception in New York City Friday night, and then golfed at his Bedminster, NJ course before he was set to attend the World Cup final on Sunday (Getty)
Argentina fans gather for a rally on the eve of the World Cup final soccer match in New York's Times Square
Argentina fans gather for a rally on the eve of the World Cup final soccer match in New York's Times Square (AP)

And on Sunday, he was still scheduled to attend the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina — kick-off is set for 3 p.m. ET, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The two U.S. service members killed in the attack Friday were the first deaths since combat ceased in early April under the promise that a ceasefire and a permanent end to the war was on the way.

Donald Trump and his allies in the administration have insisted since it began in February that the war would only last a few weeks, but the breakdown of two ceasefire agreements has left the White House and the Pentagon essentially at square one, with control of the Strait of Hormuz uncertain and commercial shipping traffic unwilling to take the risk of coming under attack.

The resumption of the war means that there will be even more pressure from the White House for Congress to pass more funding for the Pentagon, which Congress plans to do as part of a third budget reconciliation package this summer. But Republican leadership in the Senate is openly skeptical about the bill’s future of passage, with the president’s own splintering alliance in the Senate largely to blame.

Vessels await transit through the Strait of Hormuz
Vessels await transit through the Strait of Hormuz (AP)

It also means that the administration’s predictions of the war’s end were once again wrong. The president openly celebrated just last month when he cheered, "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!" after a 60-day extension of the decaying U.S. ceasefire with Iran was signed and oil markets began to cool off, but this latest news means that the tumult that has engulfed the world shipping economy is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

The end of the ceasefire altogether puts the U.S. and Iran back to the point they were in before the first deal was signed in April. The U.S. still has no agreement in place to secure the remainder of Iran’s enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under rock and rubble at the site of a nuclear site struck by U.S. forces last summer.

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains paused or significantly restricted at best, and other stated U.S. goals like weakening the Iranian government or ending its capacity to fire rockets and drones have been abandoned.

Trump is now barreling towards election season with a new Middle East conflict on his plate and the signs of a new “forever war” growing, a direct contradiction of his 2024 campaign promises to extract the U.S. from such conflicts and end the sapping of resources by limitless foreign entanglements.

The president has rejected the idea that he has betrayed those campaign promises and insisted that the threat of Iran’s nuclear program — which he claimed to have ‘obliterated’ last summer — was too potent to ignore.


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Nigerian children pay the price for the Iran war as malnutrition and poverty surge

Nigerian children pay the price for the Iran war as malnutrition and poverty surge

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/19/nigerian-children-pay-the-price-for-the-iran-war-as-malnutrition-and-poverty-surge-01004357 

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Nigerian children pay the price for the Iran war as malnutrition and poverty surge

“Children are paying the price for the escalating conflict in the Middle East, including children far beyond the region,” UNICEF's Catherine Russell said.

By Associated Press

07/19/2026 09:09 AM EDT

SOKOTO, Nigeria — Maryam Aminu was hardly surprised when the last of her six children was diagnosed with malnutrition in April for a second time. She was barely feeding the 18-month-old regularly, let alone with nutritious foods.

Although the family in northwest Nigeria has struggled with economic hardship, their situation deteriorated after February, when her husband, Shehu Aminu, lost his job as a taxi driver due to a spike in the retail price of petrol caused by the war in Iran.

“When she was diagnosed the second time, even though I suspected it, I was sad and angry because I knew why,” Aminu said in the living area of their unvarnished two-bedroom house in the quiet town of Kware, Sokoto, as ash from the coal stove billowed into the room. “Times are tough, and the food is not consistent.”

Children relapsing into malnutrition has become an increasingly common occurrence in the state and across northern Nigeria, according to local health and aid workers, who cite knock-on effects from the Iran war.

Northern Nigeria, one of the world’s poorest regions, is already under pressure from an insurgency crisis. Now, the conflict in the Middle East has worsened food security for millions of people living in poverty, especially children.

At the same time, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s vast economic reforms sparked high inflation after fuel subsidies were removed three years ago and the currency was devalued. A World Bank technical report this week stated that 139 million Nigerians are now poor or vulnerable to poverty.

If the war in the Middle East continues, up to 23.4 million additional children could fall into monetary poverty — meaning a lack of income or consumption — by the end of the year, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said in a report this week. It warned that at least 80% would be in Africa and Asia.

“Children are paying the price for the escalating conflict in the Middle East, including children far beyond the region,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “The longer this continues, the worse the consequences will be.”

Amid the Iran war, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed before the war — sent a ripple effect across the world. A worldwide fuel shock drove up the prices of everything from gas and groceries to fertilizer and airline tickets.

In Nigeria, fuel pump prices jumped from 800 naira ($0.58) per liter in February to 1,400 naira ($1.02) in April, with a knock-on effect on the prices of food and necessities.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been trying to force Iran to fully reopen the route for months, turning to everything from airstrikes and naval blockades to negotiations and threats.

In Sokoto, where the soaring prices have brought more hardship for families, health workers told The Associated Press that they’ve been seeing more children returned to health facilities this year after falling back into malnutrition.

At a hospital in Sokoto, records shared with AP show nearly 40 children previously treated for malnutrition since February are currently under treatment again, in addition to those not documented.

“I am worried and sometimes angry about the increasing numbers we are seeing,” said health worker Halimah Muhammad.

Beyond current realities, soaring prices and economic hardship mean that children in poor households are more likely to be stunted in the long term, UNICEF’s Russell said in an interview with the AP as she was visiting Sokoto this week.

“Their development will be compromised. They are less likely to stay in school because their parents are under so much financial stress. So the long-term implications for children are absolutely terrible,” said Russell.

The war has also affected fertilizer supplies and prices, threatening the planting season and worsening the fate of mostly farming communities in northern Nigeria who have struggled to access their farmlands amid a deadly conflict with armed groups.

“I wake up every morning unhappy, seeing I can no longer provide for my family,” said Shehu, Maryam’s husband. “Then, 2,000 naira could buy you a nutritious meal for the whole family. Now, you need 5,000 naira to buy what 2,000 naira would buy.”

Most of their meals are pap, a kind of corn pudding, and rice. “There is no way to feed the children,” he said.

People in northwest Nigeria are caught between regular attacks by bandit groups who specialize in kidnapping for ransom and Islamist militants who have been expanding their territory. The Iran war, analysts say, compounds the impact.

“This distant war offers no relief for the north’s vulnerable,” Ikemesit Effiong, a partner at SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based geopolitical risk advisory, said.

Larai Malami, a 35-year-old mother of 10, gave birth to her last child in December, but the infant has already been diagnosed with malnutrition twice.

Her family has been struggling after her husband lost his job as a motorcycle rider and crossed the border into neighboring Niger to look for work.

Malami worries about the fuel price because it keeps the price of food high and her husband away. “I worry that the child might never be fully well,” she said.

That is a sentiment shared by Aminu, too. “I wish she were excited and full of life,” she said.

 

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U.S. launches new airstrikes to 'punish' Iran for troop deaths

U.S. launches new airstrikes to 'punish' Iran for troop deaths

https://www.npr.org/2026/07/18/nx-s1-5899039/us-troops-killed-missing-iran-jordan 

Middle East conflict

U.S. launches new airstrikes to 'punish' Iran for troop deaths

A man displays a placard with portraits of the current and late supreme leaders and the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani at the Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 18, 2026.

A man displays a placard with portraits of the current and late supreme leaders and the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani at the Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 18, 2026.

Vahid Salemi/AP

The U.S. military said it had launched new airstrikes against Iran on Saturday evening, at the direction of President Trump, in retaliation for Friday's attack in Jordan that killed two American service members and left one more missing.

"The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night," the U.S. Central Command said in a statement posted on social media.

Four other American service members were medically evacuated after Iranian attacks in Jordan on Friday, according to the U.S. military.

The four American service members who were evacuated to Jordanian hospitals have since been discharged, Central Command said in a social media post earlier on Saturday.

"Out of respect for the families, CENTCOM will withhold additional information, including the identities of the fallen warriors, until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified," it added in the statement.

Iran's military said it struck the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a key installation used by Jordanian and U.S. coalition forces.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a social media post on Saturday called the fallen service members "heroes."

"Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve," he wrote.

Sixteen U.S. service members have been killed and more than 430 wounded since the war with Iran began.

The U.S. and Iran have widened the scope of targets in the latest strikes and the escalation has led to broader concerns that there could be an all-out war amid the fighting for control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has closed the strait and the U.S. military said it has reinstated a naval blockade of Iran.

U.S. forces ended its seven planned nights of strikes against Iran on Friday night, according to CENTCOM. Underground weapons storage and surveillance sites were among the Iranian assets that were struck, CENTCOM said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamene on Saturday warned the U.S. that it would face "unforgettable lessons" if it continued its attacks. The comments, which were read on Iranian state TV and attributed to the leader, also included remarks that President Trump's signature on their memorandum of understanding was "worthless and invalid."

On Friday, authorities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar — a mediator in talks to end the war — said their air defense systems were intercepting hostile attacks. Jordan held off those attacks, according to its state media. Iranian strikes were also reported in Iraq's Kurdistan region, where at least eight opposition fighters were killed, according to a Kurdish Iranian opposition group. 

NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi contributed reporting.


 

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