Politics
US to reach $41T debt ceiling as soon as late winter, forecasters predict
MEXICO CITY, Mexico — The first booth World Cup fans encounter at the global fan expo in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park belongs to Iran.
Inside, women in colorful headscarves serve sambuseh, a traditional Persian pastry, alongside stuffed dates. Persian rugs hang beside vases. The welcoming scene stands in sharp contrast to the reception Iran has received from the U.S., where its national team will play its first match against New Zealand on Monday.
While Iran was one of the first nations to qualify for the World Cup, President Donald Trump has been lukewarm about the country’s participation since the conflict began in February, and the State Department did not approve visas for all members of the Iranian delegation.
Blue Light News spoke with Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, through his Spanish translator at the expo before he departed for Tijuana, where Iran’s national team is training after moving its pre-tournament camp from Tucson, Arizona.
Pasandideh remarked on Iran’s relations with the United States at a delicate moment. The visa denials impacting some of the Iranian team’s coaching staff may have a negative impact on the team’s performance, he said.
But as the two countries move closer to a potential peace agreement, Pasandideh pointed to Iran’s decision to send its national team to compete on U.S. soil as evidence of Tehran’s posture.
“The fact of our presence in the U.S. in a time of war sends a signal: We are in favor of peace,” he said.
And he had a direct message for Trump.
“If the U.S. closes its eyes to Israel’s interests,” Pasandideh said, “Iran and the U.S. can be very good friends.”
Click here to read Sophia’s full conversation with Abolfazl Pasandideh.
President Donald Trump’s name was removed from the facade of the Kennedy Center on Saturday, capping off the president’s longtime effort to assert control over the institution, one of Washington’s most iconic cultural landmarks.
In a Saturday court filing to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Matthew Floca, the Kennedy Center’s chief operating officer and executive director, confirmed work crews had removed “all physical signage” from the building and grounds “that purports to rename the Kennedy Center after President Trump or any individual besides President Kennedy.”
Workers, hidden behind a large white tarp, removed Trump’s name from the building’s white exterior early Saturday morning, after blowing past a Friday deadline due to what Floca cited as “weather-related delays.” The tarp remained in place on Saturday afternoon.
The removal comes after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in late May that Trump’s rebranding of the performing arts center in his own name was illegal, contravening federal law that the center could only honor Kennedy and usurping authority from Congress.
In the weeks since, officials have removed references to Trump on the Kennedy Center’s website, issued new identification cards, edited employee email signatures and rescinded any trademark applications adding Trump to the institution’s name, Floca wrote in his filing. The restoration of the building’s original name followed denials Friday by both Cooper and an appeals court of last-ditch attempts by the administration and Department of Justice to stay Cooper’s May ruling.
It’s a stinging blow to the president, whose ambitious plans for the Kennedy Center included packing its board with loyalists and shutting it down for two years to conduct major renovations.
Cooper, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, also nixed the Kennedy Center’s closure in his May ruling, prompting Trump to angrily announce plans to transfer the institution back to Congress in a Truth Social post shortly after.
“Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself!” he wrote. “Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into “NEVER NEVER LAND.”
The Treasury Department could prevent a U.S. debt default for several months after that…
Read More
- Iranian ambassador at World Cup: ‘Iran and the U.S. can be very good friends’
- Trump’s name purged from Kennedy Center
- US to reach $41T debt ceiling as soon as late winter, forecasters predict
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- Europe’s top sports official talks Panini stickers and World Cup picks
- Visa chaos frustrates soccer fans
- US to reach $41T debt ceiling as soon as late winter, forecasters predict
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