
Elon Musk to launch 'America Party' as feud with Trump intensifies
A day after asking his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created, Mr Musk declared in a post on Saturday: "Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom. By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!"
The announcement came after Mr Trump signed the " big, beautiful" tax-cut spending bill into law on Friday, legislation Mr Musk strongly opposes.
Mr Musk, who became the world's richest man thanks to his Tesla car company and SpaceX satellite firm, spent hundreds of millions on Mr Trump's re-election and led the Department of Government Efficiency from the start of the president's second term, aimed at slashing the administration's spending.
Mr Musk previously vowed to launch a new political party to challenge legislators who campaigned on reducing federal spending only to vote for the bill, which experts say will pile an extra $3.4 trillion over a decade on to the US deficit. The US President threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Mr Musk's companies receive from the federal government.
"They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth," Mr Musk said.
Republicans have expressed concern that the Trump-Musk feud could hurt their chances of protecting their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.
Mr Trump said he believed Mr Musk's criticism of his Big Beautiful Bill was due to measures that cut subsidies and support for electric vehicles.
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The National
28 minutes ago
- The National
Iran 'ready to hold talks' with US over nuclear programme, Pezeshkian says
Iran is ready to resume talks with the US over the future of its nuclear programme, President Masoud Pezeshkian has said, adding that Israel had 'torpedoed the negotiating table'. Speaking to American journalist Tucker Carlson in an interview that aired on Monday, Mr Pezeshkian noted that while Iran was willing to return to allowing supervision of its programme, its nuclear infrastructure was 'severely damaged' by recent US strikes. 'We don't have any access to them,' he said. 'We have to wait for it and to see what happens and how much they have been damaged, so that we can go for the supervision.' Iran and the US had been in the process of negotiating a new deal to put limits on Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. President Donald Trump withdrew from the original deal during his first term, but expressed his desire earlier this year to come to a new agreement. The two sides had held several rounds of indirect talks in Muscat and Rome, with Oman as mediator, when Israel launched a 'pre-emptive' strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Mr Pezeshkian said the US team told Iran during the negotiations that 'as long as we don't give the permission to Israel, they are not going to attack you'. 'We were sitting at the negotiating table when it happened, and by doing this, they totally ruined and destroyed diplomacy,' he said, accusing Israel of attempting to drag the US into 'forever wars'. 'How are we going to trust the United States again? We re-enter the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks, the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack?' Still, the President said Iran was 'ready to hold talks over' the future of the nuclear programme. 'We have never been the party that has run away from verification. We stand ready to have these supervisions,' he said.' Carlson pointed out that Mr Pezeshkian had approved a law suspending co-operation with the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency is responsible for monitoring Iran's nuclear programme amid concerns that it is trying to build a nuclear weapon – something Tehran has continuously denied. Mr Pezeshkian said Iranians were 'pessimistic' about the activities of the IAEA following a report that he claims gave Israel the excuse to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. 'The IAEA failed to condemn these attacks or try to anyway to stop them. And this ran counter to the international law, and this resulted in a widespread lack of trust among the Iranians,' he said. The US has condemned Iran's move to stop co-operating with the IAEA. With regard to the US and future relations, Mr Pezeshkian emphasised the need for Washington to respect Iran's rights. 'I believe that the United States' President can very well guide the region and the world to peace and tranquillity, or, on the other hand, to lead it to forever wars,' he said.


Khaleej Times
32 minutes ago
- Khaleej Times
OPEC+ set to complete big oil output cut unwinding in Sept, sources say
OPEC+ oil producers are set to approve another big output boost for September as they complete both the unwinding of voluntary production cuts by eight members and the UAE's move to a larger quota, five sources said. The group, which pumps about half of the world's oil, has been curtailing production for several years to support the market. But it has reversed course this year to regain market share and as U.S. President Donald Trump demanded the group pump more to help keep gasoline prices lower. OPEC+ began to unwind cuts of 2.17 million barrels per day (bpd) in April with a boost of 138,000 bpd. Hikes of 411,000 bpd followed in May, June and July, despite falling oil prices. On Saturday, the group approved a 548,000 bpd jump for August. Five sources familiar with the discussions said on Monday the group is likely to approve an increase of around 550,000 bpd for September when it meets on August 3. That will complete the return to the market of 2.17 million bpd from the eight members: Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Algeria. It will also complete an additional 300,000 bpd output jump from the UAE as the country moves to a larger production quota, the sources said. The September boost if realised would bring total production increases since April to 2.47 million bpd or just under 2.5% of global demand. The rise would see Saudi Arabia pumping close to 10 million bpd and UAE some 3.375 million bpd. Opec+ has spurred bigger production increases since May, bringing forward the return of its own barrels to the market and effectively allowing the UAE to boost output quicker, returning to the original schedule of September 2025. "As the group has decided to accelerate the unwinding process, the UAE is benefiting from this speeding up of the quota increases," said Richard Bronze from Energy Aspects. OPEC+ still has separate cuts of 3.66 million bpd in place consisting of 1.66 million bpd in voluntary cuts and some 2 million bpd across all members, which expire at the end of 2026.


Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
BRICS nations slam Trump tariffs, condemn strikes on Iran
BRICS leaders at a summit on Sunday took aim at US President Donald Trump's "indiscriminate" import tariffs and recent Israeli-US strikes on Iran. The 11 emerging nations -- including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- account for about half the world's population and 40 per cent of global economic output. The bloc is divided about much, but found common cause when it comes to the mercurial US leader and his stop-start tariff wars -- even if it avoided naming him directly. Voicing "serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff" measures, BRICS members said the tariffs risked hurting the global economy, according to a summit joint statement. Trump fired back at the bloc directly on social media Sunday night. "Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Russia's President Vladimir Putin appears on a screen as he attends the opening meeting of BRICS Summit remotely with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday. Reuters Earlier, BRICS also offered symbolic backing to fellow member Iran, condemning a series of military strikes on nuclear and other targets carried out by Israel and the United States. In April, Trump threatened allies and rivals alike with a slew of punitive duties, before offering a months-long reprieve in the face of a fierce market sell-off. Trump has warned he will impose unilateral levies on partners unless they reach "deals" by August 1. In an apparent concession to US allies such as Brazil, India and Saudi Arabia, the summit declaration did not criticize the United States or its president by name at any point. No show Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, the BRICS have come to be seen as a Chinese-driven counterbalance to US and western European power. But as the group has expanded to include Iran, Saudi Arabia and others, it has struggled to reach meaningful consensus on issues from the Gaza war to challenging US global dominance. BRICS nations, for example, collectively called for a peaceful two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict -- despite Tehran's long-standing position that Israel should be destroyed. An Iranian diplomatic source said his government's "reservations" had been conveyed to Brazilian hosts. Still, Iran -- a BRICS member since 2023 -- stopped short of rejecting the statement outright. The bloc also called for an "immediate" ceasefire and the "full withdrawal of Israeli forces" from the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with the Palestinian group Hamas for 21 months. Hamas's armed wing welcomed BRICS's position, calling on them to "exert pressure" on Israel to "lift the criminal siege imposed on two and a quarter million people." In perhaps a further sign of the diplomatic sensitivities, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister skipped Sunday's discussions entirely, according to a Brazilian government source. World leaders partake in the 17th annual BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday. AP Saudi Arabia is among the world's leading beneficiaries of high-tech US military exports and is a long-standing US partner. The political punch of this year's summit has been depleted by the absence of China's Xi Jinping, who skipped the meeting for the first time in his 12 years as president. The Chinese leader is not the only notable absentee. Russian President Vladimir Putin, charged with war crimes in Ukraine, also opted to stay away, participating via video link. He told counterparts that BRICS had become a key player in global governance. The summit also called for regulation governing artificial intelligence and said the technology could not be the preserve of only rich nations. The commercial AI sector is currently dominated by US tech giants, although China and other nations have rapidly developing capacity. Agence France-Presse