{"id":218548,"date":"2026-07-28T08:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/first-thing-trump-tells-critics-to-sit-back-and-relax-as-iran-claims-to-target-us-base-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T08:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:40:16","slug":"first-thing-trump-tells-critics-to-sit-back-and-relax-as-iran-claims-to-target-us-base-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/first-thing-trump-tells-critics-to-sit-back-and-relax-as-iran-claims-to-target-us-base-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"First Thing: Trump tells critics to \u2018sit back and relax\u2019 as Iran claims to target US base – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

US says it struck Iranian military sites at the weekend, as Iran targets an airbase used by the US to attack southern Iran
Don\u2019t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here<\/strong><\/a>
Good morning, Martin Belam here. I will be popping into your inbox writing First Thing regularly for the next little while. Here are today\u2019s main stories \u2026
Donald Trump has told critics<\/a> of his Israeli-backed war on Iran to \u201csit back and relax\u201d. Posting on Truth Social, the US president claimed securing a deal with Iran to end the war was being made more difficult by what he said were \u201cpolitical hacks\u201d who \u201ckeep negatively \u2018chirping\u2019\u201d, but that \u201cit will all work out well in the end. It always does!\u201d
Meanwhile, the US said it struck Iranian military sites at the weekend, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said<\/a> on Monday it had targeted an airbase<\/a> used by the US for an attack on southern Iran. Air defences in Kuwait, where a large US base is located, were intercepting missile and drone attacks on Monday as sirens sounded across the country, the state news agency Kuna reported.
Is this the end of the ceasefire, then?<\/strong> The US and Iran have sporadically exchanged strikes since their ceasefire took effect in early April, as negotiations aimed at a more durable agreement drag on. A similar exchange occurred last Thursday. The war launched by the US and Israel on 28 February has killed thousands of people \u2013 mainly in Iran and Lebanon \u2013 and caused global economic pain by pushing up energy prices.
The lead prosecutor in the former FBI director James Comey\u2019s case over a controversial social media post has withdrawn from the case<\/a>, according to a court filing.
The justice department filed notice with the court on Friday evening that Matthew Petracca, a prosecutor from the US attorney\u2019s office for the eastern district of North Carolina, had been replaced by the assistant US attorney Timothy Severo. The documents did not include any explanation for the change.
What was Comey accused of?<\/strong> Comey, who was indicted in North Carolina in April, faces up to 10 years in prison for a photo of seashells arranged to read \u201c86 47.\u201d Prosecutors allege the post constituted a threat against Donald Trump, the 47th US president. Comey denies the allegation.
The far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella won the first round of Colombia\u2019s presidential election on Sunday<\/a>. He will face Senator Iv\u00e1n Cepeda, the candidate backed by the leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, in the runoff.
With 99.97% of ballots counted, the outsider and Trump admirer Espriella secured 43.7% of the vote \u2013 just over 10.3m votes \u2013 compared with 40.9% (about 9.6m votes) for Cepeda, a philosopher and human rights activist who has served as a senator since 2014.
Although polls in recent weeks had identified Espriella\u2019s rapid rise, most showed him trailing Cepeda, who for months appeared to have a solid lead. The two will face each other in a runoff on 21 June.
What did Espriella say after the victory?<\/strong> In a video alongside his wife and children, all wearing Colombian national soccer team shirts, he said: \u201cCompatriots, defenders of the homeland, more than 10 million Colombians placed their trust in el Tigre<\/em> and joined the pack \u2026 In 21 days, we are going to change the history of Colombia for ever.\u201d
European leaders have condemned Israel\u2019s expanding incursion into Lebanon<\/a><\/strong>, after its military captured the medieval Beaufort Castle and Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to push even deeper into the country.
The French navy has boarded an oil tanker that was subject to international sanctions and was sailing from Russia<\/strong>, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said<\/a>.
The Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams was forced to sit in silence<\/a> on stage at an event at Hay festival in the UK<\/strong>, after lawyers advised her not to speak because of ongoing legal action brought by Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s Meta.
A United Airlines plane bound for Spain from Newark Liberty<\/strong> airport turned around mid<\/a><\/strong>flight<\/a> after a possible security threat.<\/strong> According to air traffic control audio, security came to inspect the aircraft after someone named their Bluetooth device a \u201ccertain four-letter word\u201d.
California recorded one of the largest declines in homelessness<\/a> in the US over the past year, according to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The state\u2019s unhoused population fell to 181,934 in 2025, a decrease of almost 3% compared with the previous year, placing California among the five states with the biggest reductions since 2024. Significant drops were recorded in Illinois (44%), Hawaii (41%), Florida (11%) and New York (8%).
Last week, more than 300 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees were on a hunger and labor strike at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. The mood among the dozens of organizers and community members rallying outside the facility was tense but energized, Lex McMenamin found<\/a>.
The 2026 World Cup will be the largest men\u2019s soccer tournament in history, featuring more stadiums across more countries than ever before. In the run-up to kick-off on 11 June, Alexander Abnos, Ella Brockway and Paul Bellsham have produced a comprehensive visual guide to all <\/a>16 venues in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Nigeria\u2019s bandit crisis has its roots in conflicts between farmers and nomadic herders over land and resources that have become more intense because of the climate crisis, deforestation and rapid population growth. Some herders formed vigilante groups, which morphed into criminal gangs. Eromo Egbejule reports from Batsari<\/a>, with striking photography and drone footage by Terna Iwar.
Australia is pioneering a revolution in home renewables and battery use<\/a>, proving what is possible with the right policies. Batteries counter the long-used arguments against renewables \u2013 that they are unpredictable and intermittent and therefore put an additional on a national grid, which must have an expensive backup power source such as gas. Instead, batteries mean solar power can be stored and used when needed.
Rupert Everett admits he lied to his partners, disrespected his audiences, betrayed his friends, describing his younger self as \u201cbrash, disingenuous, lethal\u201d. In this candid interview with Simon Hattenstone<\/a>, the English actor, 67, reflects on years of recklessness, the transformative experience of caring for his mother and the long road to adulthood.
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US says it struck Iranian military sites at the weekend, as Iran targets an airbase used by the US to attack southern IranDon\u2019t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning, Martin Belam here. I will be popping into your inbox writing First Thing regularly for the next little while. Here are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218549,"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-218548","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\/218548","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=218548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}