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NFL draft 2026: Mendoza goes No 1, Cardinals take Love at No 3 and Chiefs trade up for Delane – live | NFL
Key events
No 7: Washington Commanders pick Sonny Styles
Another Buckeye! The third one selected in the top seven picks. I guess OSU are pretty good.
Ollie Connolly’s verdict:
A former safety, Styles has ridiculous range for a 6ft 4inch linebacker who can thump with the best of them in the box. He flat out doesn’t miss tackles, and when he squares a player up one-on-one, he doles out vicious punishment. Styles is everything you’re looking for in a modern linebacker: athletic enough to play all over the defense and drop into coverage, a tackling machine and the springs to be a potent blitzer. The upside is Fred Warner, a cheat code at the second level.
No 6: Kansas City Chiefs trade up for CB Mansoor Delane
A ball stop corner from LSU to be avoided at all costs. Don’t believe me?
SI say that “to move from the No. 9 overall pick to No. 6, the Chiefs reportedly surrendered the No. 74 and No. 148 overall pick, a hefty haul for a short jump inside of the top-10.”
Ollie Connolly’s verdict: There are two kinds of cornerbacks: lockdown corners and playmakers. Delane falls into the first bucket. He’s a small, smooth, explosive mover who has matched up with every conceivable kind of receiver in college. He might not be an elite playmaker on the ball, but he constantly forces opposing quarterbacks to look elsewhere. Delane is also the holder of the most bonkers stat in this draft class: he allowed just 13 catches in 2025, and no receiver caught two passes against him in a single game.
No5: New York Football Giants pick Arvell Reese
The Jim Harbaugh era is underway in NY! The losing and the Jets-like humiliation that has gone on for years and years, is it over? Their fans hope so.
It’s Arvell Reese, linebacker, all 6ft 4in of him.
Ollie Connolly’s profile: Is Reese an edge-rusher or a linebacker? In the modern game, does it really even matter? At Ohio State, Reese played all over the defense. Largely, he lined up as a traditional linebacker backed up off the ball, while offering some thump up on the line of scrimmage as an edge defender. But he’s yet to pin his ears back and play exclusively as a pass-rusher. When does rush, he plays with burst, power and flexibility. If he doesn’t work out as an edge-rusher, he can always shuffle back to linebacker, where he ranks as one of the best prospects in a generation. Wherever he winds up lining up, Reese will be a game-wrecker.
Cleveland are on the clock.
No 4: Tennessee Titans pick WR Carnell Tate
Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State is heading to Nashville!
He only caught 103 passes for 13 touchdowns in a powerful Buckeye attack. “Unselfish” and “safe pick” are some adjectives being used by ESPN TV to describe the wide receiver.
Ollie Connolly’s verdict: Tate is a 6ft 2in, 192lbs jar of polish. He is a savvy receiver without any A-plus physical traits, coming from a long line of Ohio State-to-NFL receivers. He may never be “the guy” that terrifies opposing defenses, but he’s a smart route runner who understands how to separate and who catches everything in his orbit. At Ohio State, he produced more consistently than Chris Olave, Marvin Harrison, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Emeka Egbuka. That’s a pretty nice resume. He may not be dynamic, but he will be productive.
Here come the Giants!
No3: Arizona Cardinals pick RB Jeremiyah Love
Are they going with Love? The pick is in! Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort select Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame. Only 21 touchdowns last season for the Irish, which is OK, not great. No, seriously. I think it’s still a gamble to take an RB that high, especially when the team is bad and the offensive line is porous – see Barkley, see Jeanty.
What does Ollie Connolly think? I’m glad you asked:
Here is what you need to know about Love: 48.5 percent of his career rushing yards have come on explosive runs of at least 15-plus yards, one of the highest marks in the history of college football. As a receiver, he averaged 10.4 yards per reception in his final year at Notre Dame. He is, in every sense, a chunk play waiting to happen. Oh, and he’s also happy to stick his nose in and blast pass-rushers in pass protection. You can quibble about the value of running backs in the first round, but Love is more Jahmyr Gibbs or Bijan Robinson than he is Leonard Fournette or Najee Harris. He will be an instant-impact player as a runner and receiver.
The Titans are on the clock.
Mendoza Mania!
For more on the no1 overall pick, read all about him, right here.
No2: New York Jets pick David Bailey, edge
The Jets nab David Bailey, the linebacker from Texas Tech. He should help the Jets do SOMETHING on defense after they regressed significantly last season, which is really saying something, even for the Jets. Bailey had 14.5 sacks for Tech last year.
Ollie Connolly’s verdict: Bailey is the most explosive pass-rusher in the draft. He is all about burst off the ball and flattening to the quarterback. Think Denver’s Nik Bonitto. Speed-only pass-rushers have a dodgy history in the NFL; the bust rate is higher than that of players who rely on power. And Bailey’s outlook is no different. Right now, he’s a zero against the run, which could cap his ceiling. At times in college, he wasn’t an every-down player but was used as a pass-rush specialist. Still, he has the league’s most valuable commodity: unteachable hops. But he will need to develop as a run defender to become an every-down presence.
Mendoza tells ESPN TV….
…that “the last five months have been such a blessing…now I step into a great game, the NFL and look forward to improving every day.”
I am pretty sure that Mendoza practiced that response in his bathroom mirror a few thousand times.
No1: Las Vegas Raiders pick QB Fernando Mendoza
With the first pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders select…
…Heisman Trophy winner, national champion and now no1 pick, Fernando Mendoza, quarterback, Indiana.
Oh, so that’s why the Raiders did a complete evaluation on the QB. I guess the silver and black liked what they saw, because he’s the top dog in 2026!
Mendoza’s close friends and family celebrate in his home as the QB dons a Raiders hat. It’s a somewhat muted celebration for sure.
So, what about Mendoza then?
Ollie Connolly’s verdict: Mendoza is a big-bodied, tough, accurate quarterback. He has the size of Carson Palmer with wheels that remind you of Daniel Jones: enough athleticism to stumble for first downs but not a five-alarm fire in the open field. As a passer, he wins with pre-snap recognition and accuracy. He doesn’t have a cannon for an arm, but he can make all the throws. The knock on his game is the system he played in at Indiana – one drenched in RPOs – and his lack of quickness in the pocket. Mendoza can be a little robotic when navigating against pressure in the backfield. It will take some time for him to develop in a full-field, NFL offense, but he has the tools and intellect to be an upper-tier starter in the league. He will probably fall somewhere on the continuum between Matt Ryan and Kirk Cousins.
The New York Jets are on the clock! Oh boy…
Here comes the NFL Commish!
Roger Goodel walks on and eggs on the boos in Pittsburgh – what a good sport! He’s flanked by TJ Watt and Cam Heyward, just in case the crowd try anything.
I have to say, the sound quality off the mic isn’t great, surprising for such a big event.
Anyway, Heyward welcomes more Pittsburgh greats, including Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann. And the crowd goes wild!
Here comes the first pick….the Raiders are on the clock!
Fernando Mendoza
The QB widely expected to be selected no1 overall by the Las Vegas Raiders, will be the first presumptive top pick to not attend the draft in person since Trevor Lawrence was selected by Jacksonville. Mendoza wants to be at home to share the moment with his mother, who has multiple sclerosis, his father, and other close family and friends. But don’t worry, ESPN TV in the US will have at least one camera inside the Mendoza home to document the moment.
And speaking of Mendoza, he’s going to be off the board shortly. Stick with us!
New Rules
If you’re after the whole kit and caboodle of how this thing works, you can find all the details here. But the main difference this year is that the time between first-round selections has been shortened from 10 minutes to eight minutes. It’s the first timing adjustment since 2008, when draft windows dropped from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. So in an era when eyeballs are tougher to keep from straying, the NFL is trying to move things alomng just a bit quicker.
The timing for Round 2 is seven minutes, and after that, teams will have five minutes to make their selections.
1948
That was the last time the NFL held its draft in Pittsburgh. A bunch of cigar smoking, whiskey swilling men (that’s just a guess) gathered at the old Fort Pitt Hotel in December of 1947 to select the future NFL booms and busts. Harry Gilmer, a running back from Alabama went first to Washington because they won the draft lottery; that’s how the top pick was determined back then. The biggest name to come out of that draft has to be Y.A. Tittle, the LSU quarterback selected by Detroit, who gave us one of the most famous photos in NFL history. It was snapped at the end of his Hall of Fame career when he was with the Giants in 1964.
By the way, in case you don’t think your team can do well in the late rounds, in the 1948 draft, offensive lineman Louis Creekmur was selected by Philly with the 243rd overall pick in the, you guessed it, 26th round!
Creekmur was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996.
National Anthem
Pittsburgh-based singer-songwriter KELS is performing the National Anthem. Ooooo! She’s a little off right there at the end. I was just about to give her an 8/10 score, but unfortunately I have to knock a point off it.
Player Introductions
The biggest names are being announced and walking on to the stage.
The most noticeable thing is that crowd that just seems to go on forever. I mean, Green Bay drew an estimated 600,000 fans, and Detroit had 775,000 in 2024. These numbers to watch players chosen are completely bananas, obviously, and Pittsburgh is expected to draw 500,000-700,000 fans over the three day event.
Honestly, I don’t really get it, but the thirst for anything and everything NFL never seems to end.
Some questions
Here’s a few things we can ponder as we lead up to the Raiders selecting Mr Mendoza.
1. What do the Jets do at two—edge rusher Arvell Reese or David Bailey?
2. How high will an NFL GM dare to draft running back Jeremiyah Love?Talented? Oh yeah, but he’s still a back. Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it’s not.
3. Will Arizona trade pick three or take Love themselves? As always with thew Cards, anything is possible.
4. Where does Ty Simpson land as a quarterback? That’s the big QB question this draft. Last year, the big question was, “when will Shedeur Sanders go off the board?” The answer was late. Very late.
5. Where of the top edge rushers—Reese, Bailey, and a bit down the line, Rueben Bain Jr., go?
6. Does the Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort pull off a trade? See no3.
7. Will there be surprise trades early? Philly? New Orleans, KC? Will we have deals?
8. Where do receivers and offensive linemen get taken? And how will ghat impact remaining wideouts that are still available, Hill and Diggs for example.
9. What happens with some injury concerns like Caleb Banks’ foot? Will a team pick a defensive tackle with a repaired fractured fourth metatarsal in his left foot, early or later in this draft?
Chew on that for a bit.
Draft order
I’m just drop this right here. Is that OK?
1) Raiders
2) Jets
3) Cardinals
4) Titans
5) Giants
6) Browns
7) Commanders
8) Saints
9) Chiefs
10) Giants (from Bengals)
11) Dolphins
12) Cowboys
13) Rams (from Falcons)
14) Ravens
15) Buccaneers
16) Jets (from Colts)
17) Lions
18) Vikings
19) Panthers
20) Cowboys (from Packers)
21) Steelers
22) Chargers
23) Eagles
24) Browns (from Jaguars)
25) Bears
26) Bills
27) 49ers
28) Texans
29) Chiefs (from Rams)
30) Dolphins (from Broncos)
31) Patriots
32) Seahawks
So the teams with two first-round picks tonight are the Giants at five and 10, the Jets at two and 16, the Cowboys at 12 and 20, the Browns at six and 24, the Chiefs at nine and 29 and the Dolphins at 11 and 30.
One thing to keep an eye on is, with this draft being seen as kind of, sort of, below average – at least when it comes to quarterbacks – will any teams deal 2026 capital to get a spot in a 2027 draft, which is expected to have more box office names? Por ejemplo, Miami doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of interest in winning games this year – will they try to grab a shot at a Manning and the other premiere QB’s next year? Will they try to deal one or both of their first round picks to get into that arm race?
Draft day is here!
Hello everyone and welcome to our rolling coverage of the 91st NFL Draft!
Let me begin by saying that the NFL off-season has two important dates. There’s the day that free agency begins, where moves just fly in at incredible speed and the NFL takes over sports for about a week. And of course, there’s the NFL draft, which is the Big Kahuna, and manages to bring the NBA playoffs to its knees despite the fact that not a single ball is thrown. Somehow, the NFL just continues to grow and eat everything in its path with each passing season, and that includes the draft, which is a premier showcase and a boon to whichever city hosts the event.
This year it’s in Pittsburgh, so it gets a 12,000 square foot fan village in its Point State Park, a red carpet event, and a draft theater so big that it’s inside the Acrisure Stadium (formerly Heinz Field) parking lot. The whole zone takes about a half hour to walk from one end of the event to the other, all along its famous Three Rivers area.
So Yinzers are happy and so are visiting fans who can’t wait for the first of 257 picks to be chosen by the NFL’s 32 teams. Who will go first? Well all eyes are on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza who the Las Vegas Raiders may, could, probably, definitely will be snatched straight away. Then what? Well we’ll explore some of the story lines as we draw closer to draft time.
Until then, any thoughts, feelings or predictions? Feel free to drop me a line and providing you don’t say anything particularly offensive, I’ll get you in our coverage and make YOU famous!
More to come, stick with us!
David will be here shortly. In the meantime, see who the Guardian’s staff of writers think is the most talented player in this year’s draft class:
Fernando Mendoza will go No 1. But the most talented player in this draft is …
Arvell Reese, LB/Edge, Ohio State. He is one of the best pure linebacker prospects in a generation, and he has the athletic traits to become a full-time edge defender. Some teams view him as a linebacker; those at the top of the board prefer him as an edge rusher. In an ideal world, Reese will do a bit of everything. Think Philly’s Zack Baun on Super Soldier Serum. Reese has a rare combination of smarts, speed and power. Whichever role he plays, he will be a force multiplier for a defense. Oliver Connolly
Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame. Not only is Love being discussed as a top-10 overall pick, but he’s also one of the most buzzed-about targets for teams looking to trade up. He’s a physical, explosive three-down back with breakaway speed (he ran a 4.36sec 40 at the combine), great hands and the ability to protect. All in a 6ft, 212lbs frame. Love is the total package. Melissa Jacobs
There’s so much to like about running back Love: effortless acceleration, feline elusiveness, stout pass protection, soft hands. Time and again at Notre Dame, he showed a knack for turning chain-moving plays into home runs. The last time a rusher was selected inside the top five was 2018, and Saquon Barkley has since proved his worth for two franchises. Love enters this year’s draft as nearly as complete a player, with all the teams in the top five in need of his services. Andrew Lawrence
If drafting was done on skills alone then Love would be the first cab off the rank. He’s a running back with explosive speed who is also a sublime pass catcher. His versatility draws very favourable comparisons to Jahmyr Gibbs. A home-run pick. Graham Searles
The party says the move would allow it to reverse last year’s National Insurance rise for British workers.
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Trump announces 4 July rally in Washington after hosting UFC cage match at the White House – live | Donald Trump
Trump announces 4 July rally in Washington to mark US 250th anniversary
Donald Trump has announced plans to hold a rally in Washington on 4 July as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, saying the event will include a speech, performances, flyovers and fireworks.
“On July 4th, at The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, in beautiful and safe Washington D.C., we are going to host the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a ’TRIBUTE TO AMERICA.’ Starting at 7 P.M. EST, this HUGE Celebration will honor our Country’s People, Spirit, Strength, Resolve, and Triumphs,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Key events
Trump wants to put a $75m coal terminal in this liberal California city. Residents aren’t having it
Cecilia Nowell
West Oakland, a California neighborhood known for its rich history of Black activism from the Pullman Porters’ union to the Black Panthers, might not seem like the site of the country’s next great coal project.
But that’s exactly what the Trump administration is pushing for – with the injection of $75m to build a sprawling coal export terminal in the nearby port of Oakland.
Last week, Donald Trump announced he was using wartime powers to hand $700m to coal projects around the US, including the one in Oakland. The news has breathed renewed energy into a decade-long battle against the coal terminal, which Trump hopes will break ground as soon as this summer.
Anti-coal activists were already planning a gathering about the project in Berkeley this month. But Trump’s 4 June announcement “accelerated everything”, said Veronica Eady, executive director of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, a grassroots organization focused on environmental justice in West Oakland, which has a high pollution burden from the nearby port, highways and other industry. “Now there is even more urgency, particularly since President Trump said he wants it to start this summer.”
Trump says he is going to focus on Ukraine now after signing Iran deal
Donald Trump spoke to the press alongside French president Emmanuel Macron, the host of this week’s G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains.
The US president repeated much of what his administration has already been saying about the memorandum of understanding that has been signed by US and Iran, saying that ships are starting to pass through the strait of Hormuz now and that by Friday, the strait “will be completely open”.
He said while the strait will be open and free of tolls, he said that “I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have a ship or two up here from a few countries…because you never know what happens”. Trump said he also wants to “see if we can straighten out the Lebanon thing, because it just seems to just never end”.
“It should not be tough,” he said, adding that “we just have to have a little talk” with Hezbollah.
Trump mentioned that he “had a very good conversation yesterday” with Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, as well as with Vladimir Putin, president of Russia.
“I see maybe we can do something there, I really do. I think they’re both open to it. So now that this is finished, we’re going to be focusing on that,” he said, referring to the conflict with Iran.
US and Iran have signed memorandum of understanding, US official says
The United States and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding to settle the nearly four-month war, Reuters reports that senior US officials have said, adding that a signing ceremony would take place on Friday and shipping traffic in the strait of Hormuz would gradually ramp up.
The memorandum of understanding has been signed by Donald Trump and vice-president JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one US official said.
Speaking at a briefing with reporters, the US official added that there will also be a signing ceremony on Friday.
“You will see significant increase in traffic in the strait of Hormuz, actually starting already, and that will ramp up slowly over time,” the US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. “We probably won’t return to normal in two weeks, but we will see a significant increase in strait traffic.”
UFC boss Dana White says ‘never again’ to another White House fight night
UFC chief executive Dana White insisted that yesterday’s event at the White House exceeded his expectations “in every way you gauge success” – but stood by his claim that it is a one-and-done.
“It was an amazing, experience, this was a one of one,” he said. “It will never happen again.”
Merchandise, he said, had hit all-time metrics, and the numbers on Paramount were “monstrous”.
“Hopefully tonight created some unity,” White said. “Even for the people that thought this was going to be some big political statement or something, this wasn’t. This was Americans, all Americans celebrating the birthday. For people who tuned in for the first time, because it was at the White House, hopefully they liked the sport. They liked some of the guy’s stories.”
But despite all the pomp and pageantry, the eyerolls and angst, White stood by his claim that UFC is one-and-done in DC.
The constant headaches over weather concerns in the rare outdoors show, the logistics of construction of the cage and staging events at federal landmarks and the soaring cost – UFC said it was footing the $60m tab – made the Freedom 250 a one-off for a company once dubbed “human cockfighting”.
“I can’t afford it,” White said. “I’ll never do the Sphere [in Las Vegas] again and we’ll never do this again.”
White also said that he and Donald Trump had discussed doing a fight for troops in 2027 but coordinating with the military to have fights on military bases takes time.
“He wanted to do it this year,” White said. “And I said, sir, I need a year to recover financially.”
Donald Trump will be looking to build on the momentum of announcing his deal with Iran, and is expected to discuss with the G7 leaders the de-mining of the strait of Hormuz.
Britain and France have expressed interest in assisting with that effort once the conflict was paused. Fears over potential mines is among the reasons tanker traffic ground to a halt in the critical waterway during the war, and quickly clearing them will be crucial to regaining the confidence of commercial vessels to resume navigating the strait.
Macron today said France was ready to move “very quickly” to deploy assets, including mine-clearing vessels, to the region to help, the Associated Press reports.
The French president added that a French aircraft carrier and an accompanying strike group are already in the region and would be ready to assist within days of the US and Iran signing the agreement.
Here are some pictures of Donald Trump’s arrival for the G7 summit in Évian les-Bains.
Patrick Wintour
in Évian les-Bains
Emmanuel Macron, the host of the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, has framed an agenda to make it as palatable as possible to his guest of honour, but the French president has no idea if Donald Trump, a haphazard summit attender, will last the full three days – or disrupt the proceedings every hour he stays.
The US president quit the last G7 summit in Kananaskis, Canada, early to work on the Iran conflict, and this year, plus ça change, Iran may also draw presidential attention. For good measure, he insulted this summit’s host before leaving Canada last year, describing Macron as “publicity seeking” and adding: “Purposefully or not, Emmanuel Macron always gets it wrong.”
Macron, who will be attending his 10th G7 summit, chose not to take umbrage, and has even postponed the start of the summit to allow Trump to celebrate his 80th birthday with a UFC event on the White House lawn. Macron is holding out a dinner in Versailles on Wednesday night as a reward if Trump stays the three days; French officials say Trump adores the palace’s gold, and insist the two men respect each other.
It will be touch and go if Trump completes the summit. Reports out of Washington suggest the US president has not been in celebratory mood, and the temptation for him will be to insult his six fellow leaders – representing Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK – for lacking the loyalty to join his earlier plan to reopen the strait of Hormuz through force. At best, he will be demanding the planned Franco-British naval taskforce to enforce the restoration of freedom of navigation, as outlined in the US-Iran joint memorandum of understanding, moves quickly. De-mining is also urgently needed if the hundreds of tankers backed up in the strait are to reach the arteries of the world economy in time.
The other G7 leaders – all opposed to the Iran war, with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, describing it as a US humiliation – will have to decide whether to look ahead, or pass verdict on a war that has upended the world economy.
Trump also faces being cornered by two other even more persistent wars – Ukraine and Gaza. Macron wants to see Europe given a greater role in solving both conflicts, pointing out it is Europe, not the US, that is saving Ukraine from bankruptcy.
France will also be pressing for the US to resolve the impasse in Gaza over Hamas disarmament. Trump will meet leaders from Qatar, UAE and Egypt to discuss the crisis and the fallout from Iran. But there will be no attempt to sign a joint communique on the conflicts and Macron will instead issue a summary.
If the worst comes to the worst, the Évian golf course – which dates back to 1904 – is closed for the three days, and if the earnest summitry gets too much, it represents an escape route for the world’s most famous 80-year-old golfer.
Trump arrives for G7 summit at tense moment for relations
Donald Trump has landed in Geneva ahead of this week’s G7 summit, shortly after announcing his tentative peace agreement with Iran to end a war that has upended the global economy and killed thousands of people in the region.
From Geneva, he will travel to Évian-les-Bains, France, where world leaders are gathered for the annual summit. Later today he’ll have a bilateral meeting with the host, French president Emmanuel Macron, ahead of a working dinner with the other G7 leaders.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also meet with G7 leaders, including Trump, tomorrow, as Russia’s invasion of his country rages on – though there’s no word yet on whether or not he’ll get a one-on-one with the US president.
This year’s summit comes as Trump’s relations with many of the other G7 leaders is at an all-time low. Indeed, he’s fallen out massively with several key allies who have criticized his war on Iran – British PM Keir Starmer, German chancellor Friederich Merz (who described the war as a humiliation of the United States), and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. He’s always had a turbulent relationship with Macron, but that’s also disintegrated after Trump’s “inelegant” comments about his private life. Trump’s relationship with Canadian PM Mark Carney also remains cordial yet tense. Indeed, the only G7 leader Trump has a warm relationship with at the moment is Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi.
A reminder that Trump left last year’s summit in the Canadian Rockies after only a day as the Israeli-Iran conflict intensified. Three days later he joined Israel in bombing key Iranian nuclear sites.
JD Vance also dodged the question when he was asked by CNBC who would be at the signing of the agreement on Friday.
Without addressing who would be present for the US side, he said they “expect the negotiating team from the Iranian side is going to be the Speaker of the House [Mohammad Bagher] Ghalibaf, and also the foreign minister [Abbas] Araghchi, along with a number of security officials and people who represent the different constituencies within their country.”
In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, JD Vance has admitted that a “lot” of details remain that need to be figured out between the US and Iran, but insisted that the US has “all the cards”.
Vance also said he hopes text of the agreement will be released this week.
He told CNBC that Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to be involved in those upcoming discussions, as well as its hardline parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
The two major prongs of the deal are the reopening of the strait of Hormuz – which the US expects to be “toll-free” in the long term – and a commitment from Iran to “never develop or procure a nuclear weapon”, Vance said.
He also suggested that Iran would be rewarded with loosened economic sanctions or other barriers, allowing Tehran “to be re-invited into the world economy”, if it abides by the commitments of the deal.
The vice-president went on:
I think it’s a great day for the American people … our expectation is that the strait is going to be opened in a toll-free way for the long term.
That’s the sort of thing that we’re going to figure out in these technical negotiations. There are a lot of very important details to figure out that we’re actually going to sit at the table and discuss together and figure out a path forward on these details.
He added that while Iran has “committed to destroy and dispose of their stockpile of highly enriched material”, the process for doing that has not been established.
And what we’ve said is, OK, let’s talk about how exactly we’re going to do that.
They want access to an unsanctioned economy. We’ve talked about, ‘OK, we’re open to that,’ but that would require a long-term commitment to the inspection and verification regime.
So, a lot of these details are going to be figured out during those 60-day talks.
“We feel quite confident that we’re in a strong position,” Vance added.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a leading Iran hawk, welcomed news of the US-Iran deal but remained deeply skeptical amid the lack of details about the content of the agreement.
“I am pleased to hear the memorandum of understanding with Iran to allow the Strait of Hormuz to open has been agreed to,” Graham wrote in a post on X, but added: “I am somewhat concerned that Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming.
“Under our law, any nuclear deal with Iran will be sent to Congress for review and a vote,” he went on. “I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President [JD] Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress.
“Congratulations to all in getting us to this point. Time will tell,” Graham added.
US and Iran reach framework peace deal to end war
Jason Burke
A framework peace deal between the US and Iran has been reached, Donald Trump and senior Iranian officials have said, bringing the 15-week conflict to a tentative end and offering hope of relief for the region and the world economy.
The secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said war and military operations on all fronts, including Israel’s war in Lebanon, would end permanently from tonight.
The precise terms of the deal remain unclear but in a statement posted to Truth Social yesterday evening, the US president announced the opening of the strait of Hormuz as well as the removal of the US naval blockade. “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” he wrote.
Trump later clarified that reopening the strait would depend on the signing of an initial memorandum of understanding on Friday, which Pakistan, acting as mediator, said would take place in Geneva.
Leaked drafts suggest the memorandum will trigger an immediate 60-day period of intensive technical talks, during which the most contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme, will be discussed. Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed that negotiators would seek to reach a broader agreement that would include sanctions relief for Iran.
Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, since US and Israeli forces first attacked Iran on 28 February. Iran retaliated with attacks on Israel and Gulf states hosting US bases, targeting military and civilian infrastructure.
Here’s Jason’s full report:
Trump announces 4 July rally in Washington to mark US 250th anniversary
Donald Trump has announced plans to hold a rally in Washington on 4 July as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, saying the event will include a speech, performances, flyovers and fireworks.
“On July 4th, at The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, in beautiful and safe Washington D.C., we are going to host the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a ’TRIBUTE TO AMERICA.’ Starting at 7 P.M. EST, this HUGE Celebration will honor our Country’s People, Spirit, Strength, Resolve, and Triumphs,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Moira Donegan
Hitler dreamed of a 1,000-year Reich; Putin is said to have baroque dreams of territorial conquest meant to restore a dubiously historical empire he calls “Greater Russia”.
Sure, there are people around Donald Trump who imagine using his rise to power to establish some sort of grand, civilizational project: there are the white nationalists who dream of a country purged of those they deem racially impure; there are the Christian nationalists who imagine a future theocracy in which women wear long braids and skirts, and don’t vote; there are the techno-reactionaries who imagine a future of interplanetary colonies, techno-assisted eugenics, and polygamous harems.
But Trump himself is conspicuously small in his dreams: his are comparatively little ambitions, not extending far beyond the reach of his ego and his senses.
He wants praise. He wants to see his name and his portrait everywhere. He wants to feel like a big man, to see those he feels have wronged him be penitent and upset. Maybe most of all, he wants to indulge in his own bad taste, repeatedly visiting the lowbrow staples of the 1980s, when he was young and at the height of his tabloid fame.
He loves the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber. He loves the music of Bon Jovi and the Village People. And he loves the gaudy, clownish tokens of masculinity that appeal to very small children: big trucks, big muscles, and demonstrations of physical strength.
And so it felt fitting that on Trump’s 80th birthday, at an event nominally meant to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding but really functioning as a celebration for a very special boy, the White House hosted a cage fight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The UFC is a competitive league for mixed martial arts – a vaguely sports-like endeavor that combines elements of kickboxing, wrestling and traditional boxing, and seems designed to saturate a television audience’s appetite for maximum violence.
Donald Trump threatened to slap a 100% tariff on French wine and champagne unless Paris removes a digital services tax on tech firms, the New York Post reported on Monday.
France imposed in 2019 a three percent levy on the revenues earned by technology firms – including American giants such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google parent Alphabet – within the country’s borders.
French president Emmanuel Macron is due to host Trump on Monday before the G7 summit gets underway at the spa resort of Evian on Lake Geneva.
Trump said he asked Macron “not to charge American companies,” according to the New York Post.
“If they do, I have no choice but to charge a 100% tariff on all champagnes and all wines coming out of France,” he was quoted as saying.
“All [Macron] has to do is get rid of the sales tax, and he wouldn’t have that kind of pressure.”
Adam Gabbatt
It’s been quite the journey for Hunter Biden. In the space of a few weeks, the former first son has gone from a man seen as a political liability to an unlikely galvanizing force within the Democratic party, through his emergence on social media as a mental health advocate, razzer of Republicans, and working-class whisperer.
In the process Biden has switched from the GOP’s bete noire to, actually, someone that a fair number of Republican voters seem to like.
His self-deprecating posts, including one where he told Playboy magazine he would not pose nude for them, and another where he engaged in some campy wordplay over a phallic misspelling of the word “election”, are mixed in with serious messages about addiction recovery. And his populist posts about politics even have some calling for him to run for US president in 2028.
Frequently, his honest, human responses to trolling have seemed to win over critics.
Take his response to an X user called Ashley, whose username is @TeamTrump47. Ashley, whose bio says she loves Jesus, responded to a post from Biden by writing: “I’d rather live under a rock than smoke it.”
“Me too. It was awful,” responded Biden, prompting a mea culpa from Ashley.
“Well damn, Hunter, that makes me sad,” she wrote. “You live a better life than you were living. Good luck.”
Biden’s rise on X, where he has amassed more than 780,000 followers, has attracted the attention of Trump himself. Last week the president was asked for his thoughts on Biden’s chances in a hypothetical 2028 primary.
Vance says he will discuss 2028 presidential run after midterms
Gloria Oladipo
JD Vance said that he will discuss a 2028 US presidential run with his wife after the 2026 midterms.
The US vice-president gave insight into his ongoing decision on whether to run during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning where he spoke on his new memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which details his conversion to Catholicism.
“Usha and I will absolutely sit down and talk about what comes next for our family,” said Vance. “People sort of assume that I’m sitting around, figuring out, whether I’m gonna run for president … the way that I make decisions is that I try not to make them until I absolutely must.”
The vice-president added that he believes Trump will be “very supportive” on his decision. “I have no doubt that the president of the United States is going to be very supportive of anything that I ultimately decide to do,” said Vance.
Vance added that he never begins discussions with Trump about his future political plans. “I never bring it up. But sure, the president brings it up a lot, sometimes publicly, sometimes privately. You know, the president’s a political animal. He loves this stuff. He’s very fascinated by it.”
Trump’s UFC fights at White House marred by misogynistic smear aimed at Michelle Obama
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Donald Trump’s UFC fights held on the White House lawn were marred by a misogynistic smear aimed at former first lady Michelle Obama last night.
Beneath a giant steel canopy known as the Claw, the president celebrated the forthcoming 250th anniversary of US independence – but, much more importantly, his own 80th birthday – by staging the first professional sporting event in White House history.
Several winning fighters greeted Trump after their bouts, while American fighter Bo Nickal followed his knockout victory by climbing over the cage fence to shake Trump’s hand.
Another fighter, heavyweight Josh Hokit, gave a rambling post-fight interview that veered from praise for the president to religion before concluding with the false conspiracy claim that “Michelle Obama is a man.” The remark, one of the oldest and most persistent smears directed at the former first lady, drew cheers from some sections of the crowd and bewilderment from others.
Hokit’s comments were not the evening’s only political barb. When former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley faced Canada’s Aiemann Zahabi, the bout took on a nationalistic fervor.
Trump donned a white “USA” hat cageside while chants of “U-S-A!” rang out from sections of the crowd. At various points spectators shouted “Canada is the 51st state!” – echoing Trump’s repeated taunts about annexing America’s northern neighbor – while others urged O’Malley to “eat” his opponent.
Meanwhile, dozens of people stood across the entrance gates to the Ellipse, the park south of the White House, holding protest signs and chanting.
“This reeks of corruption – way too much corruption,” said Susan Douglas, an organizer with Third Act Virginia, the progressive pro-democracy grassroots organization that organized the demonstration. “Let’s face it,” she added. “It’s for Trump’s birthday and has nothing to do with the founding of our country.”
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced last week that it will pay bonuses to fighters in a form of cryptocurrency issued by Trump family business World Liberty Financial.
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In other developments:
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Trump arrives in Evian-les-Bains on Monday afternoon for talks with G7 leaders, including some who have been sharply critical of his managing of the roughly 15-week conflict that has led to a surge in global energy prices. World leaders began gathering in a French spa town for the summit with a new impetus following the US president’s announcement of an agreement that he says will bring an end to the war against Iran.
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The Iranian deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed in the early hours of Monday an agreement for an “immediate end” to the US-Iranian war, and said Lebanon was included in a peace deal due to be signed on Friday. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, announced the agreement on Sunday afternoon, saying both sides would be declaring “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts”.
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Trump told Vladimir Putin that ending Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine was critical and that he was prepared to help, reported Russia’s TASS news agency. During a phone call on Sunday, Trump also informed the Russian president that the US was nearing a peace deal with Iran as the US-Israel war against the country continues, according to Yuri Ushakov, a Putin adviser.
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JD Vance said he would discuss a 2028 US presidential run with his wife, Usha, after the 2026 midterms. “Usha and I will absolutely sit down and talk about what comes next for our family,” said Vance. The US vice-president gave insight into his ongoing decision on whether to run during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning where he spoke on his new memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which details his conversion to Catholicism.
Varley was found guilty of murder, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child, to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.
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