Socialist Zohran Mamdani set to win New York mayoral primary in shock result
A young socialist who was barely known to most of his fellow New Yorkers a year ago is now poised to become the Democratic candidate for mayor after scoring an extraordinary victory in the first stage of the party's primary.
Zohran Mamdani, 33, had gained nearly 44 per cent in the primary race with 80 per cent of the vote counted on Tuesday night.
He was congratulated by Andrew Cuomo, the former state governor who had long been regarded as the overwhelming favourite.
'Tonight was not our night,' Cuomo told his supporters. He said it belonged to the young state assemblyman from Queens. 'I want to applaud the assemblyman for a really smart and great and impactful campaign,' he said. 'He deserved it. He won.'
• NYC mayor elections 2025 explained: candidates, dates and more
Mamdani, who would be New York's first Muslim mayor, looked likely to fall short of a full majority in the first round. New York has ranked-choice voting, in which voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference. After the first round, the candidate with the fewest votes is ejected and their voters are then apportioned to whoever they have listed second, or third, or fourth or fifth, depending on how many rounds it takes to decide the race.
But Mamdani had struck co-operation agreements with two other liberal candidates, each encouraging their supporters to back the other, in an effort to beat Cuomo. A poll on the eve of the race showed Cuomo leading in the first round but being beaten by Mamdani in the final round. Instead, as the results came in on Tuesday night, Mamdani was already in the lead.
• NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is poster child for 'luxury beliefs'
Mamdami was born in Uganda and grew up on New York's Upper West Side, the son of a film-maker and a professor of post-colonial studies at Columbia University. He became a US citizen in 2018, and ran for the state assembly in 2020. Then, last October, he announced what looked like a quixotic campaign for mayor. He was a Democratic Socialist who had accused Israel of genocide and he wanted to give the city free universal childcare, free buses and a rent freeze. He promoted these planks of his campaign in catchy social media videos. On New Year's Day, he jumped into the sea in his suit, shouting: 'I'm freezing … your rent.'
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Though he gathered a steadily growing and enthusiastic following, it was generally presumed that he would be no match for Cuomo. It was true that the former governor, who is 67, had resigned in the wake of sexual harassment allegations. But after he announced a comeback in March as a Democratic candidate for mayor, positioning himself as a moderate, with governing experience, who would stand up to President Trump while bringing order to a disordered metropolis.
His name recognition in New York, and lingering admiration for his governing record in parts of the city vaulted him to the top of a crowded field, supported by a richly funded super PAC whose donors included the former mayor Michael Bloomberg.
• How to win a New York mayor debate: be the most annoying
But in the final phase of the race, the polls suggested that Mamdani was catching up, with an impressive ground campaign. While Bill Clinton campaigned for Cuomo, Mamdani received endorsements from the American comedian Bowen Yang, from Bernie Sanders and from the model and actress Emily Ratajkowski.
'This is not just about New York, this is about the Democratic Party,' Ratajkowski said, in a video she shot with Mamdani. 'It's about the hope that we have that there is a belief that people can win elections, and not just money.'
Cuomo, on a call with a union that was supporting his candidacy the night before election day, said the polls showed him still ahead. But he added: 'Our vote doesn't tend to come out until election day, and the problem is, election day's tomorrow and it's supposed to be 100F. So we have to make sure we get people out.'
The day of the primary proved the hottest since 2012, but turnout was strong. One mischievous voter on the Upper East Side said he planned to write his own name as choice number one, number two, number three, number four and number five. This was Eric Adams, the current mayor, who won the last Democratic mayoral primary in 2021 and might, ordinarily, have expected to sail unencumbered to a second term.
But Adams lost support in his own party, spectacularly, amid suspicions that he was seeking to co-operate with the Trump administration so that the US Department of Justice would, in turn, drop the federal corruption charges he was facing. 'Everything here smacks of a bargain,' wrote Judge Dale Ho in a ruling allowing the case to be dismissed. '(D)ismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.'
Adams plans to run as an independent and is expected to court Republicans, whose candidate, Curtis Sliwa, was running unopposed. The mayor apparently hopes that conservatives and moderates, anxious at the prospect of a Democratic Socialist in City Hall, might join ranks behind him.
But he looks likely to face competition from Cuomo, who could decide to run as an independent, if Mamdani's primary victory is confirmed, setting up would could be a more competitive election in November.
In a statement on Tuesday night, Cuomo said: 'I want to look at all the numbers as they come in and analyse the rank choice voting. I will then consult with my colleagues on what is the best path for me to help the City of New York, as I have already qualified to run for mayor on an independent line in November.'
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
‘Trump's worst nightmare': New York mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani's political positions, from ICE to Israel
Zohran Mamdani is on track to be the Democratic Party's candidate for New York City Mayor after he pulled off an upset in Tuesday's primary, prompting front-runner Andrew Cuomo to concede defeat. Mamdani, 33, a Democratic socialist and state assemblyman, was powered to victory thanks to a grassroots campaign across the five boroughs and the influential endorsements of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as New Yorkers expressed a clear preference for an alternative to President Donald Trump 's administration. The Uganda-born son of a Columbia University professor and a celebrated Indian film director received 43.5 percent of first-place votes in the city's ranked-choice voting system to Cuomo's 36.3 percent, according to early results from the New York City Board of Elections. Should he ultimately lead the Democratic ticket, Mamdani is likely to face Republican Curtis Sliwa, scandal-dogged incumbent Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, and possibly Cuomo again, who has indicated that he, too, could run as an independent as a Plan B. Here's a look at where the surprise winner stands on key policy areas. Donald Trump Mamdani's positioning on the left was always likely to put him at odds with the president, who was born and raised in New York but now pours scorn on his hometown. Sure enough, the younger man has cheerfully pronounced himself 'Donald Trump's worst nightmare.' Their likely animosity will take center stage if Mamdani ultimately succeeds Adams in City Hall, given the office's outsized influence on the national stage. 'Should he prevail, Mamdani instantly becomes the ringleader of The Resistance,' Philip Elliott of Time has argued. 'As the elected chief of the nation's largest city – with a budget of $115 billion and 300,000 employees – he would command a platform that has few peers.' Israel On Election Eve, Mamdani appeared on CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and was grilled about his history of pro-Palestinian activism and said of Israel: 'Yes, like all nations, I believe it has a right to exist – and a responsibility also to uphold international law.' Pressed on whether New York's Jewish population could depend on him to protect them with antisemitic attacks on the rise in the United States, the candidate answered emphatically: ' Antisemitism is not simply something that we should talk about. It's something we have to tackle.' He pledged an 800 percent increase in funding for anti-hate crime funding and sought to make clear that he opposed some of 'the Israeli government's policies' in Gaza, not the Jewish people. He has, however, been attacked by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for his endorsement of the protest slogan 'Globalize the Intifada.' ICE raids A recent poll by Marist indicated Mamdani has picked up significant support from New York's Hispanic and Latino community at a time when Trump's Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have ramped up raids on blue cities, suggesting they see him as the right man to stand up to the president's aggressive mass deportation push. Attacking Cuomo in a recent interview with The Bulwark, the candidate said: 'A disgraced former governor who describes undocumented immigrants as 'illegals' is not what we need as a city under attack by an authoritarian. 'He's not the leader we need to fight against this administration. Ultimately, you want someone who can take on bullies, not who looks just like him.' He called ICE 'fascist' after it arrested fellow mayoral candidate Brad Lander last week, commenting: 'If this is what ICE is willing to do to a comptroller of the city of New York, imagine what they are willing to do to immigrants whose names you don't even know.' Tax, housing and rent Mamdani's campaign has primarily been centered around policies for making New York City more affordable, calling for higher taxes for the Big Apple's wealthier residents, a rent-freeze for more than two million impoverished city dwellers, more permanent affordable housing, free bus rides and child care and even government-run grocery stores to prevent cost of living crises erupting. Olivia Reingold of The Free Press has argued that it was precisely these 'pie-in-the-sky policies' that Cuomo underestimated, to his cost. 'We see that this affordability crisis is pushing New Yorkers out, which is especially true for immigrant New Yorkers,' Mamdani told The Bulwark. 'Social justice without economic justice is like clapping with one hand.'
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Nato summit: ‘Daddy' Trump sorted out Middle East, says Nato chief
Israel's attack on Iran was a gamble even before Trump joined the assault with US 'bunker-buster' bombs. But Tehran's setback may only be temporary. Both the US president and Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, assumed that the bunker-buster bombs would 'get the job done'. That may not have been the case. 'It's far more likely now that Iran will withdraw from the non-proliferation treaty and make the decision to build nuclear weapons,' said Kelsey Davenport, the director for non-proliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. Read in full here. The partners of Nato's heads of government are visiting a Rotterdam art museum today together with Queen Máxima, the Dutch royal consort. Not everyone brought their other half to the alliance summit in The Hague. America's first lady, Melania Trump, did not travel to the Netherlands. The group were given a tour around the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum, which contains the The (Little) Tower of Babel, a famous 1563 painting by Bruegel. Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, who is often seen as the European leader closest to President Putin, earlier declared that 'Nato has no business in Ukraine'. He also praised President Trump as 'a man of common sense'. 'The biggest threat to Europe is not security, it's losing our competitiveness on global trade,' Orban added. Russia, he said, 'is not strong enough to present a real threat to us, we are much stronger.' Babcock International has upgraded its expected earnings for the coming years against already soaring profits. Shares in the military contractor, which have already enjoyed a stratospheric performance in 2025, rose to 11-year highs, up 13 per cent, or 137p better, at £11.70. The £5.8 billion FTSE 100 group has become the UK's second largest defence contractor after BAE Systems, running the naval dockyard in Devonport and maintaining the nuclear submarine fleets, building warships at Rosyth in Scotland, and plugged into multiple support programmes across the armed forces. • Read in full: Babcock International profits jump in 'new era of defence' A senior Hamas official has said that talks for a Gaza ceasefire with Israel had 'intensified in recent hours'. 'Our communications with the brother mediators in Egypt and Qatar have not stopped and have intensified in recent hours,' Taher al-Nunu said. Hamas had, however, 'not yet received any new proposals'. President Trump has said that US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites could contribute to a breakthrough in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, and that he was 'very close' to striking a deal on that conflict. 'I think that it helped a little bit, it showed a lot of power,' Trump said. 'Separately, even before this, we were very close to making a deal on Gaza.' Earlier, Trump said that American B2 stealth bombers striking Iran last weekend had ended the war between it and Israel in the same way that the US dropping atomic bombs on Japan had ended the Second World War. Speaking at The Hague, Trump said: 'That hit ended the war. I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing that ended that war. This ended that, this ended that war. If we didn't take that out, they would have been they'd be fighting right now.' There is no reference to Russian aggression against Ukraine but 'allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours'. In a development that will help Britain meet the new Nato spending target, the alliance will 'include direct contributions towards Ukraine's defence and its defence industry when calculating allies' defence spending.' Highlighting 'the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security' and unity 'in the face of profound security threats and challenge', Nato leaders agreed to increase military spending. 'Allies commit to invest 5 per cent of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence-and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations,' said the communiqué, which will be agreed later today. 'Our investments will ensure we have the forces, capabilities, resources, infrastructure, warfighting readiness, and resilience needed to deter and defend in line with our three core tasks of deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security.' 'The trajectory and balance of spending under this plan will be reviewed in 2029, in light of the strategic environment and updated Capability Targets. The Nato communiqué reaffirms the alliance's Article 5 mutual defence clause after comments from Trump that appeared to call it into question. 'We have gathered in The Hague to reaffirm our commitment to Nato, the strongest alliance in history, and to the transatlantic bond. We reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty — that an attack on one is an attack on all.' The Kremlin said it was too early for anyone to have an accurate picture of the extent of damage inflicted on Iran's nuclear facilities by US bombing last weekend. Asked if Russia had its own information on the degree of damage, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said: 'No. I don't think that anyone can have realistic data now. It's probably too early, we need to wait until such data appears.' Russia has condemned the strikes on Iran as illegal, unjustified and unprovoked. Israel sent agents into Iran's Fordow nuclear site after US strikes earlier this week, according to President Trump. 'You know they have guys that go in there after the hit, and they said it was total obliteration,' he said. 'Israel is doing a report on it now, I understand, and I was told that they said it was total obliteration.' Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, also said the bunker-busting bombs 'landed precisely where they were supposed to. He described a 'flawless mission, right down where we needed to enter. It was devastation underneath Fordow.' Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, added: 'Everything underneath that mountain is in bad shape.' Iran's nuclear programme was 'way behind' compared with a week ago, he said, and dismissed US media reports based on a leaked intelligence assessments as a 'game these people play'. Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, has said his inspectors' highest priority was returning to Iran's nuclear facilities to verify its stocks of enriched uranium and assess the damage. Asked about a leaked US intelligence report suggesting that Iran's nuclear program had only been set back a few months, Grossi said: 'I don't like this hourglass approach. It's in the eye of the beholder.' It was 'not important whether it's two months or three months. We need a solution that will stand the test of time'. Grossi, who leads the International Atomic Energy Agency, was asked if Iran had informed him of the status of its stocks of enriched uranium. He referred to a letter he received from Iran on June 13, saying that it would take 'special measures' to protect its nuclear materials and equipment. 'They did not get into details as to what that meant, but clearly that was the implicit meaning of that. We can imagine this material is there,' he said. The Nato summit communiqué is focused on the agreement to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence is an unusually brief 400 words, compared to last year's in Washington that ran to over 5,400. Here is the full text of the draft statement: 1. We, the Heads of State and Government of the North Atlantic Alliance, have gathered in The Hague to reaffirm our commitment to Nato, the strongest alliance in history, and to the transatlantic bond. We reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty — that an attack on one is an attack on all. We remain united and steadfast in our resolve to protect our one billion citizens, defend the alliance, and safeguard our freedom and democracy.2. United in the face of profound security threats and challenges, in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the persistent threat of terrorism, allies commit to invest 5 per cent of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence-and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations, in accordance with Article 3 of the Washington Treaty. Our investments will ensure we have the forces, capabilities, resources, infrastructure, warfighting readiness, and resilience needed to deter and defend in line with our three core tasks of deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security.3. Allies agree that this 5 per cent commitment will comprise two essential categories of defence investment. Allies will allocate at least 3.5 per cent of GDP annually based on the agreed definition of Nato defence expenditure by 2035 to resource core defence requirements, and to meet the Nato Capability Targets. Allies agree to submit annual plans showing a credible, incremental path to reach this goal. And allies will account for up to 1.5 per cent of GDP annually to inter alia protect our critical infrastructure, defend our networks, ensure our civil preparedness and resilience, unleash innovation, and strengthen our defence industrial base. The trajectory and balance of spending under this plan will be reviewed in 2029, in light of the strategic environment and updated Capability Targets. Allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours, and, to this end, will include direct contributions towards Ukraine's defence and its defence industry when calculating allies' defence spending.4. We reaffirm our shared commitment to rapidly expand transatlantic defence industrial cooperation and to harness emerging technology and the spirit of innovation to advance our collective security. We will work to eliminate defence trade barriers among allies and will leverage our partnerships to promote defence industrial cooperation.5. We express our appreciation for the generous hospitality extended to us by the kingdom of the Netherlands. We look forward to our next meeting in Turkey in 2026 followed by a meeting in Albania Opening the meeting, Mark Rutte, the secretary-general, said that Nato's leaders met at a 'dangerous moment', with war in the Middle East and a 'persistent challenge' from terrorism and other security threats. Rutte said: 'Our joint commitment to Article 5, that an attack on one is an attack on all, sends a powerful message.' But, he said, 'for too long' the US had 'carried too much of the burden of that commitment'. Confirming the alliance's 'concrete plan' to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence, he praised President Trump, saying: 'You made this change possible.' Sir Keir Starmer appeared to be deep in conversation with President Trump as the main meeting of the Nato summit began. Starmer entered alongside Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, and was seen speaking to Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, and President Macron, before taking his seat next to Trump. The pair spoke while the other world leaders watched an introductory video. Starmer was accompanied by John Healey, the defence secretary, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, and national security adviser Jonathan Powell. By Marc Bennetts, Tel Aviv The first full day of the ceasefire between Israel and Iran saw a noticeable lightening of the mood in Tel Aviv, even if questions remained about how long peace would last. 'If Iran's nuclear program really has been totally destroyed, then it was right to attack Iran,' said Issac in a crowded café in the city's Dizengoff Square. 'But if it hasn't been destroyed, then this was pointless. So many people would have lost their lives for nothing.' In a nearby street, city workers and locals continued to clear up the damage from Iranian missile strikes that destroyed several buildings. 'If Iran managed to hide its nuclear program in time and they start it up again soon, then of course we will need to attack again,' said Nikolai, the owner of Viking, a Russian restaurant that was badly damaged by an Iranian attack last week. 'War could start again in six months, a year, or five years. No one knows.' On the city's beachfront, people seemed reluctant to discuss the war and eager to get back to their lives, despite the carnage 45 miles away in the Gaza Strip. 'Let the fun begin!' read an advertisement for a swimming pool. As people sunbathed and played volleyball, more than half a dozen Israeli military helicopters flew by in the space of an hour. Dorin, who moved to Tel Aviv from Rome ten years ago, said: 'It's shit to live in a country where you never know when the next war is going to begin.' Asked why he hadn't left, he replied: 'Who said I am staying?' Nato is going to do 'big things' and become a renewed alliance, President Trump says. He dismissed the Biden era as 'dead' and took credit for Nato's new defence spending target of 5 per cent of GDP. 'They have very big things to announce today. I've been asking to go up to 5 per cent for a number of years and they're going up to 5 per cent, from 2 per cent, and a lot of people didn't even pay the 2 per cent,' he said. 'I think that's going to be very big news. Nato's going to become very strong with us.' Trump is a 'daddy' who sorts out warring parties in the Middle East, Mark Rutte, the secretary general of Nato, has suggested. The US president, speaking at a press conference, compared Iran and Israel to 'two kids in a school yard'. 'Daddy sometimes has to use strong language,' said Rutte in response, referring to Trump's expletive-ridden outburst yesterday. Trump, before leaving for the Nato summit, had said: 'We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*** they're doing.' Rutte has already raised eyebrows with his gushing messages to Trump, describing him as 'truly extraordinary', 'daring' and a 'big success'. They were shared by the US president online. Rutte, the former Dutch prime minister, said it was 'totally fine,' that Trump had shared the messages. 'I think it's a statement of fact,' he said. Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, said leaked intelligence reports were being 'spun to make the president look bad'. 'There is a political motivation here,' he said. The leaked preliminary US intelligence assessment said the US airstrikes had not destroyed Iran's nuclear capability and had only set it back a few months. Trump said: 'This is fake news. It is a disgrace' and described the US media outlets that reported the assessment as 'scum'. Hegseth said the damage to Iranian sites was 'moderate to severe'. The FBI is investigating the leak, he said. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, said that all 32 Nato members should commit themselves to the agreed spending target. 'The point of an alliance is to make sure that there is a fair burden-sharing and that there is no sense that certain countries are sort of freeriding on the defence commitment of other countries,' he said. 'So I think it is important to understand that these targets … should be binding and they should be binding for all 32 members of the alliance.' Greece is spending about 3 per cent of GDP on defence — nearly double the average for EU countries. Trump insisted that the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites had set its atomic programme back by 'decades'. 'They're not going to be building bombs for a long time,' he said. Trump appeared to acknowledge that evidence following the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites was inconclusive, but also suggested the damage could have been severe. 'The intelligence was very inconclusive. The intelligence says we don't know. It could've been very severe. That's what the intelligence suggests,' Trump told reporters in the Hague. 'It was very severe. There was obliteration.' President Trump has said he is 'very proud' of Israel and Iran for agreeing to a 'very good' ceasefire. On the US intelligence reports that US bombing raids did not destroy Iran's nuclear sites, Trump disagreed and repeated his claim that they had been 'obliterated'. 'I believe it was total obliteration, I believe they didn't have a chance to get anything out because we acted fast. It's hard to remove that kind of material — very hard and very dangerous,' he said. 'It was oblieration.' Trump was also asked about Iranian threats to continue enriching uranium and said: 'The last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now. They want to recover. We won't let that happen.' Trump stayed the night at Huis ten Bosch palace and was the breakfast guest of Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima. The royal couple posed for a photo with the US president before he left for the summit in, according to Mark Rutte, the Nato chief, an 'excellent mood'. John Healey, the defence secretary, told journalists on the fringes of the Nato summit that Britain trusted US intelligence after President Trump appeared to dismiss a leaked preliminary report on his intelligence agencies' assessment of the attack on Iran's nuclear sites. 'We exchange intelligence together that no other two nations would every day. We trust what we share with them and what they share with us,' Healey said. Asked by The Times if he trusted US intelligence, he said: 'Yes, we trust what we receive from the US intelligence agencies.' President Trump has arrived at the Nato summit but, so far, has remained out of view. His motorcade was shown approaching the World Forum, the summit venue, but drew up at a specially-built covered stop. Footage showed special blue Nato doors being closed around the presidential 'Cadillac One', also known as the 'Beast' so he could enter in private. Sir Keir Starmer has said he will not comment on reports that US air strikes had delayed Iran's nuclear programme rather than destroyed it. 'I'm not going to comment on leaked intelligence reports,' he told LBC. 'We've long been of the view that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear capability, weaponry, and the US took action that alleviated that threat. 'But it is important that we ensure the ceasefire currently in place maintains and creates the space for the discussion, for Iran to come back to the table to negotiate a long-term settlement.' Germany and European allies are trying to keep Trump interested in the Ukraine war, said Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister. 'Keeping the Americans on board when it comes to Ukraine is important because there is more at stake here than just a regional conflict,' he said. 'We will continue to work to ensure that they do not withdraw. We will have to see whether we succeed in doing so.' Escort agencies and prostitutes in The Hague say demand is quieter than they would expect during a gathering of leaders, diplomats and support staff. 'Our target group is certainly at these kinds of big events,' Esmee, owner of the Eslabelle escort agency, told De Telegraaf. 'We have a few prominent guests.' Maria Scali, the director of Shop, an agency for prostitutes, told Algemeen Dagblad that demand was quieter than usual because of high security at delegates' hotels. Iran's parliament has voted to suspend co-operation with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, which has previously monitored the country's nuclear programme. 'The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which refused to even marginally condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, put its international credibility up for auction,' Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's Speaker, said. The Iranian parliament's national security committee approved the outline of a bill which would suspend surveillance cameras, inspections and the submission of reports to the IAEA for as long as the security of nuclear facilities was not guaranteed. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of State, has told Politico that Iran is 'much further away from a nuclear weapon' after a US strike on its three main nuclear sites. 'The bottom line is, they are much further away from a nuclear weapon today than they were before the president took this bold action,' he said. 'Significant, very significant, substantial damage was done to a variety of different components, and we're just learning more about it.' On his way to the Nato summit, President Trump cast doubt on US commitment to Article 5 — the collective defence pact at the core of the alliance. 'Depends on your definition. There are numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right? But I'm committed to being their friends,' he told reporters on Air Force One. 'I'm committed to saving lives. I'm committed to life and safety. And I'm going to give you an exact definition when I get there. I just don't want to do it on the back of an airplane.' To placate Trump, Nato members have hammered out a compromise deal to that earmarks 3.5 per cent of GDP for core military spending and 1.5 per cent on related support by 2035. Nato summits — meetings of the alliance's North Atlantic Council at leader level — are opened by the secretary-general, as chairman, who is followed by the president of the United States. This order will be followed at the Hague summit but, according to diplomats, Trump has also asked to speak at the end of the two-and-half-hour session before Mark Rutte, the Nato chief, closes the summit. This moment, given the refusal of Spain, Belgium and Slovakia to meet the new Nato target of 5 per cent of GDP spent on defence, could be the flashpoint of the summit. President Trump will meet President Zelensky today, it has been confirmed. Encounters between the US and Ukrainian presidents have been difficult. Earlier this year, Trump openly insulted Zelensky at the White House. Ukraine is not formally on the agenda for the Nato summit, which is focused on one issue — increased defence spending — but Zelensky is present. John Healey, the defence secretary, has suggested he would not trust leaked intelligence reports that US airstrikes only delayed Iran's nuclear programme by a few months. Asked by Times Radio if he was suggesting that he would put his faith in a US official government report on the damage, he said: 'No, I'm saying that ultimately the best guarantee both of peace and that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon is a diplomatic path and a nuclear settlement, and that's what we're working for.' Rutte said the alliance would try to 'equalise' spending on defence among the members and shift the burden away from the US. 'Yes, there is also an expectation which will be fulfilled today, that the Canadians and the Europeans will speed up their spending, making sure that we not only are able to defend ourselves against the Russians and others, but also to equalise, and this is fair, that we spend the same as the US is spending,' he said. 'What we now will do over the coming years is to bring down, step by step, shift the burden away from the United States, more towards the Europeans and the Canadians, which I think is fair.' America's support for Nato and its mutual defence clause Article 5 is solid if European and Canadian allies increase defence spending, Rutte says. He dismissed concerns after comments from President Trump that appeared to contradict the core principle of the alliance, that the US and others would come to the aid of any member that was attacked. 'For me, there is absolute clarity that the United States is totally committed to Nato, totally committed to Article 5,' he said. Setting one the themes for the summit, Rutte praised Trump for pressuring allies to spend more on defence. 'Would you really think that the seven or eight countries, not at 2 per cent [of GDP] at the beginning of this year, would have reached 2 per cent now if Trump would not have been elected president of the United States?' 'Trump is in an excellent mood,' said Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of Nato, before what is expected to be a tense summit in the Hague. Rutte said that he was 'not worried' about a meeting where Nato allies will commit themselves to spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035 — except for Spain, which has refused to switch expenditure from welfare to the military. 'These are difficult decisions. Politicians have to make decisions,' Rutte said. 'Countries have to find the money. It is not easy. At the same time, there is absolute conviction with my colleagues at the table, that given the threat from the Russians, given the international security situation, there is no alternative. We've got to do this.' President Trump has shared a video showing B-2 warplanes dropping dozens of bombs to a soundtrack repeating the words 'bomb Iran'. The 60-second video the US president posted on his Truth Social platform features a parodied version of the Beach Boys' song Barbara Ann. The lyrics include: 'Old Uncle Sam's getting pretty hot. Time to turn Iran into a parking lot. Bomb Iran. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb.' The price of oil seems to have found a floor as investors assess the state of hostilities between Israel and Iran and the global stock market rally appears to have faded for now. The FTSE 100 is forecast to rise 1.5 points at the open. Asian markets were higher after gains on Wall Street, and the dollar and gold have strengthened. • Follow all the latest business developments live Trump's special envoy to the Middle East called the leaked intelligence assessment 'treasonous'. 'It's outrageous, it's treasonous, and it has to be investigated. Whoever's responsible for it should be held accountable,' Steve Witkoff told Fox News. He said he had read all the damage assessment reports and that there was 'no doubt' the three nuclear sites were 'obliterated'. Trump later posted a clip of the Fox interview and a quote from Witkoff on Truth Social. President Trump has said he is not seeking regime change in Iran because he does not want 'chaos.' 'No, if there was, there was, but no I don't want it. I'd like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible,' Trump said when asked to clarify a social media post in which he seemed to advocate regime change. 'Regime change takes chaos, and ideally we don't want to see so much chaos,' he told reporters on Air Force One. 'You know, the Iranians are very good traders, very good business people, and they've got a lot of oil. They should be fine. They should be able to rebuild and do a good job. They're never going to have nuclear but other than that, they should do a great job.' On Sunday, following US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump wrote: 'It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!' President Trump has attacked US media, responding to leaked intelligence reports that US airstrikes only delayed Iran's nuclear programme. Trump and his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, have claimed the strikes destroyed Iran's nuclear programme. But the intelligence assessment suggested it had been delayed rather than destroyed, according to CNN, which was the first to publish details of the report, citing two anonymous sources. Israel's main international airport, Ben Gurion, is set to resume normal operations following the ceasefire with Iran. 'Restrictions on the number of incoming and outgoing flights, as well as the number of passengers on each flight, have been lifted,' the Israel Airports Authority said. This will be good news for British tourists who were stranded in Israel when the war with Iran broke out on June 13. Some have already made their way home through neighbouring Jordan. Schools, offices and public transport are set to reopen in Israel after the lifting of restrictions that were imposed during the war with Iran. Residents of Tel Aviv slept through the night without the air raid warnings that had jolted them out of bed and sent them running for shelters from June 13 to June 24. Yet this is not a country at peace: the Israeli military announced today that seven of its soldiers had been killed during fighting in the Gaza Strip. Twenty of the hostages abducted by Hamas in October 2023 are still thought to be alive and there are renewed calls for an end to the fighting there. 'After 12 days and nights during which the people of Israel couldn't sleep because of Iran, we can finally go back to not sleeping because of the hostages,' a hostage family group said. Iran has hanged three men accused of spying for Israel. 'Idris Ali, Azad Shojai and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, who attempted to import equipment into the country to carry out assassinations, were arrested and tried for… co-operation favouring the Zionist regime,' Iran's judiciary said on Wednesday. 'The sentence was carried out this morning… and they were hanged.' The executions took place in Urmia, a northwestern city close to the border with Turkey, the judiciary said. It shared photos of the three men in blue prison uniforms. Israel's military said that seven soldiers from the IDF's Combat Engineering Corps were killed in combat in the southern Gaza Strip. They died in an explosion at 6.30pm in Khan Yunis on Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post reported. A soldier was severely injured on Tuesday in a separate incident in southern Gaza. Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Tuesday that talks between the US and Iran were 'promising' and that Washington was hopeful for a long-term peace deal. 'We are already talking to each other, not just directly but also through interlocutors. I think that the conversations are promising. We are hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran,' Witkoff told Fox News. 'Now it's for us to sit down with the Iranians and get to a comprehensive peace agreement, and I am very confident that we are going to achieve that.' The US airstrikes on Iran did not 'obliterate' Iran's nuclear programme and only set it back a few months, according to a leaked intelligence assessment that drew a furious response from the White House. President Trump has claimed that the American strikes on three sites had 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear programme. But an assessment compiled by the Defence Intelligence Agency found that attacks on Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan did significant damage without destroying the facilities, it was reported on Tuesday night. The agency found that at least some of Iran's highly enriched uranium needed to create a nuclear bomb was moved before the strikes by US B-2 stealth bombers on Sunday. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, called the leak 'a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran's nuclear programme'. She said: 'Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000lb bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Does Zohran Mamdani's surprise victory in the New York mayor race prove that progressive ideas can win elections?
America is used to political drama, but a Democratic Party upset in New York has stunned some life into even the most cynical insiders. Zohran Mamdani – a self-described democratic socialist (the 'S-word' is long considered kryptonite in US politics) and a relatively inexperienced member of the New York State Assembly – has defeated former state governor Andrew Cuomo to be the Democrats' chosen candidate for the mayoral election in November. Cuomo was ousted in a sexual harassment scandal four years ago, and had been working towards a comeback. But in securing this win, 33-year-old newcomer Mamdani hasn't just shut out a titan of New York politics – he's given the Democratic Party its first real jolt of energy since it lost the White House last year. Mamdani's victory wasn't an 'ABC' (Anyone But Cuomo) victory. For those outside the US – or even outside New York – Mamdani is a new name. He's the son of Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair, and grew up partly in East Africa before settling in the city. Elected to the state Assembly in 2020 – New York's lower elected house, closest to the UK's devolved governments, Mamdani is part of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and represents a gentrifying slice of western Queens. He speaks the language of renters, immigrants and low-income workers – not in abstract policy terms, but with urgency and clarity. And that's what made this campaign take off. His platform focused on freezing rent, expanding tenants' rights, offering free buses, mostly paid for by a hefty new tax on the wealthy – solutions often dismissed by the establishment as too radical. Mamdani ran a serious and organised campaign that beat its opposition with door-knocking, community trust and conviction. It's a sign that the progressive movement is finally maturing: no longer just shouting from the sidelines, it's now winning tough fights with party machinery. The race also confirms my theory about something deeper in the current political mood. American voters, across ideological lines, are desperate for someone to 'flip the f***in' table'. I came up with that phrase while working on Kamala Harris' presidential campaign last year, and I keep returning to it. People didn't vote for Donald Trump because they admired his criminality, racism or misogyny – they voted for him, despite all that, because he was the only candidate who promised to break the system. Working people don't care who flips the table – Trump or Mamdani – as long as someone does. I'm incredibly proud to have worked on the Harris campaign, but we struggled to articulate a path to improving the lives of voters who feel locked out, left behind and lied to. The system isn't working, and they didn't see change in our campaign. Whether it's the populist right or the democratic left, these people will rally behind whoever makes them feel heard. In 2024, that was Trump. Now, it's Mamdani. Of course, Mamdani is not without controversy. He drew national attention for his past support for the Palestinian cause, including a 2021 protest chant to 'globalise the intifada'. In a city with more Jewish residents than Tel Aviv, this would typically be politically suicidal. But Mamdani has made a sharp distinction between opposing Israeli government policy and antisemitism – a feat that seems to have eluded practically every left-wing politician on the planet (see Jeremy Corbyn). He's spoken forcefully and repeatedly that Palestinian liberation must also mean protection for Jewish New Yorkers. As Brad Lander – the Jewish comptroller of New York City, who ran a collaborative campaign with Mamdani to make the most of ranked-choice voting – told Stephen Colbert: 'No mayor is going to be responsible for what happens in the Middle East, but there is something quite remarkable about a Jewish New Yorker and a Muslim New Yorker coming together to say: 'Here's how we protect all New Yorkers. Jewish New Yorkers and Muslim New Yorkers are not going to be divided from each other.'' So what did Democrats just do? Whether they realise it or not, they might have finally chosen a direction. Mamdani's victory won't sit easily with the party's corporate donors or centrist strategists – but then we tried their way in 2016 and 2024. Instead, it offers something they've lacked for months: a vision. Mamdani's win is proof that progressive ideas can win elections, that authenticity beats mediocrity, and that voters want more than messaging – they want someone who lives their struggles and means it when they say they'll change it. Mamdani has finally done what I've advised, hoped and craved someone would: Flipped the f***ing table. New Yorkers rightly crave a representative who understands what it is like to live in cramped, overpriced apartments and make long commutes on a struggling subway. A Ugandan-born socialist millennial Muslim may just have given the Democrats the shot in their arm that the national party needs.
