{"id":218441,"date":"2026-07-27T12:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T12:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/when-the-world-cup-and-war-collide-from-the-politics-desk-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T12:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T12:31:07","slug":"when-the-world-cup-and-war-collide-from-the-politics-desk-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/when-the-world-cup-and-war-collide-from-the-politics-desk-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"When the World Cup and war collide: From the Politics Desk – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morning Rundown: Police hunt suspect in deadly Seattle shooting, 300,000 flee France and Spain wildfires, and Susan Collins walks fine MAGA line<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Welcome to <\/em>From the Politics Desk<\/em><\/a>, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team\u2019s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.<\/em>
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As the World Cup kicks off today, Monica Alba explores the intersection between the tournament and the ongoing war with Iran. Plus, we examine the political fates of the House Republicans who voted to release the Epstein files.<\/em>
Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.<\/em><\/a>
\u2014 Adam Wollner<\/em>
The 2026 World Cup<\/a> is already making history on several fronts. It\u2019s the first time there have been three host nations, and it\u2019s the first time 48 teams have participated.
But there\u2019s also this notable first: No World Cup host nation has ever been in an active military conflict with a country playing in the tournament until now, with the United States and Iran again trading fire this week ahead of today\u2019s inaugural games.
President Donald Trump<\/strong>, whom FIFA President Gianni Infantino<\/strong> awarded the FIFA Peace Prize to<\/a> in December, promised this morning<\/a> to hit Iran \u201cVERY HARD TONIGHT\u201d before announcing this afternoon that he had canceled those plans, signaling progress on a possible peace deal. It all underscored that the uncertain future of the war will loom over the the five-week tournament.
There has also been tension behind the scenes around the location of the Iranian team\u2019s home base. Originally, Team Melli was supposed to train and stay at a facility in Tucson, Arizona, but late last month, FIFA changed it to Tijuana, Mexico. That means the Iranian team will travel to the U.S. for each of its three group stage games and back on the same night. Iran is scheduled to play twice in Los Angeles, including its first game on Monday, and once in Seattle.
The visas necessary for the Iranian players to enter the U.S. from Mexico were granted last week, but the Iranian federation said not all of its staff were approved. \u201cWe will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses,\u201d an administration official told NBC News.The U.S. and Iran played in the same group in the last World Cup. This time around, they could theoretically meet at some point in the knockout stage, though such a matchup is unlikely.
Trump is not planning to attend the opening games for the U.S. men\u2019s national team, a break from the last three world cups, in which the leaders of each of the host countries appeared at theirs: the emir of Qatar in 2022, President Vladimir Putin<\/strong> of Russia in 2018 and President Dilma Rousseff<\/strong> of Brazil in 2014.
Trump told reporters this week he plans to go to a game at some point during the tournament but it\u2019s unclear which one. Follow live Iran war updates \u2192<\/strong><\/em><\/a>
⚽ And for more on the World Cup games themselves, check out our daily <\/em>Sports Desk newsletter<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>
The four House Republicans who helped force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files called themselves the \u201cBravehearts\u201d \u2014 an acknowledgment that their risky stand would require a stiff spine, especially given President Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s fierce opposition to the move.
As they later learned, the gambit would also upend their political futures.
In the seven months since the House voted to release the Epstein files, Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/strong> of Georgia resigned from Congress, Rep. Thomas Massie<\/strong> of Kentucky was defeated in his primary by a Trump-endorsed challenger, Rep. Nancy Mace<\/strong> placed fifth in a South Carolina GOP gubernatorial field that included a candidate backed by Trump, and Rep. Lauren Boebert<\/strong> is facing the threat of a primary challenge in Colorado next cycle.\u201cEverybody\u2019s paying a price for it,\u201d Massie, who spearheaded the Epstein resolution, told NBC News.
Sources close to the White House note Epstein wasn\u2019t the only issue that soured the relationship between Trump and those four members. Massie has long been a thorn in the president\u2019s side, including by voting against Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill,\u201d while Greene started to break with Trump on a whole host of issues last year after the White House discouraged her from a Senate bid.
Mace, for her part, is convinced her push for the Epstein files is what cost her a Trump endorsement in the governor\u2019s race. There\u2019s no indication Trump had been planning on endorsing her prior to her Epstein vote, though the president did share a poll on social media in August showing Mace leading the pack, and she appeared to still be in good standing with the president at the time.
Still, Mace said she had no regrets, calling the Epstein issue a hill she was \u201cwilling to die on.\u201d
\u201cI knew what I was putting on the line when I voted to release the Epstein files. I\u2019m a survivor, and I would do it all over again,\u201d she told NBC News.
Read more \u2192<\/strong><\/a>
That\u2019s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today\u2019s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Annelise Hanson. <\/em>
If you have feedback \u2014 likes or dislikes \u2014 email us at <\/em>politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com<\/strong><\/em><\/a>
And if you\u2019re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up <\/em>here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. <\/em>
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© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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Morning Rundown: Police hunt suspect in deadly Seattle shooting, 300,000 flee France and Spain wildfires, and Susan Collins walks fine MAGA line news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeWelcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team\u2019s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}