Six Decades After the March Against Fear African Americans Still Fighting for Their Political Lives

In the summer of 1966, the state of race relations in the United States stood at the crossroads whereas today a resurgence of white supremacist ideology is systematically eviscerating voting rights and representation for the nationally oppressed

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Wednesday June 10, 2026

Political Review

On June 5, 1966, James Meredith, a University of Mississippi graduate, set out to conduct a “March Against Fear” from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi.

Meredith had been admitted to the whites-only “Ole Miss” university in Oxford during 1962 when a racist mob sought to prevent his attendance at the higher educational institution.

During the unrest, two people were killed, a French journalist and a white repairman. In addition, over 100 federal marshals were deployed by then President John F. Kennedy to ensure the enrollment of Meridith. After his admission, the situation calmed and Meredith graduated a year later, becoming the first African American to do so in the history of the university. 

Meredith, who was not a member of any Civil Rights organization, began his journey on that Sunday afternoon to walk more than 200 miles to the state capital of Mississippi at Jackson. On the second day of his march, Meredith was shot in an ambush by a white Memphis resident named Aubrey Norvell, 40, just outside of Hernando, Mississippi, who was stalking him along Highway 51.

Meredith was wounded in his head, neck, back and leg by the shotgun pellets fired by Norvell who was hidden in the trees lining the highway. He survived the attack and would later rejoin the march after several Civil Rights organizations vowed to continue the walk to the state capital. 

After the wounding of Meredith, leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) held a meeting in Memphis and pledged to continue the march. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Urban League also attended the Memphis meeting. Roy Wilkins, the then Executive Secretary of the National NAACP, did not join the march, yet Whitney Young, leader of the National Urban League (NUL), did join the march later as it approached Jackson. 

Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture), the recently elected Chairman of SNCC, had been selected with a mandate to forge an independent political position. Carmichael had participated in the Freedom Summer campaign of 1964 where the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) recruited people while engaging in a voter registration drive that year. The MFDP took a delegation to Atlantic City, New Jersey to challenge the seating of the all-white Democratic Party delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Although the challenge did not succeed, the activities of the MFDP set the stage for independent political organizing in the South.

After the Selma to Montgomery March of 1965, Carmichael and other SNCC organizers moved into Lowndes County, Alabama to build alongside local activists an independent political organization. The Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) was the original Black Panther Party utilizing the animal as a symbol of self -defense and independent politics.

It was within this framework that the Mississippi March Against Fear was held. As the march proceeded towards Jackson a debate between Carmichael and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President of the SCLC, erupted over nonviolence as a principle as opposed to self-defense and the quest for political power.  

SNCC had already taken a firm position against the U.S. genocidal war against Vietnam and the draft as a whole. Several of its members were threatened with prosecution for their refusal to abide by the selective service system which they accused of being racist. 

Dr. King and SCLC did not come out against the Vietnam War and the draft until the opening months of the following year of 1967. During the March Against Fear, the central differences between SNCC and SCLC revolved around the call for Black Power which was made by Field Secretary Willie Ricks (now known as Mukasa Dada) and later Carmichael. 

Floyd McKissick, the Executive Director of CORE, did endorse the Black Power slogan and seemed to be in alliance with SNCC. By the time the march reached Jackson, 15,000 people had joined the manifestation. 

From Freedom Now to Black Power

This long march in June 1966 represented a turning point in the African American struggle. The slogan demanding Black Power was open to interpretation by a variety of political forces including SNCC, CORE and others. 

Many media and political forces associated the slogan with the rise in urban rebellions which had taken place between 1963 and 1966. In May of 1966, prior to the March Against Fear, a rebellion erupted in the Hough Section of Cleveland. The previous year in Los Angeles, the Watts Rebellion was the largest of such incidents in U.S. history. During 1964, rebellions erupted in Harlem, New York, Philadelphia, and several cities in New Jersey. In 1963, a section of the African American community had rebelled during the tense mass struggles to end segregation in the city of Birmingham, Alabama and Cambridge, Maryland.

The SNCC leadership under Carmichael did not condemn the rebellions while viewing them as a natural outcome of the oppressive conditions facing African Americans. After the march in Mississippi, Dr. King returned to Chicago where the SCLC had opened a campaign for open housing and the eradication of slums. 

On July 12, a rebellion erupted on the West Side of Chicago which lasted four days prompting the deployment of the Illinois National Guard to put down the uprising. The rebellion was obviously against the horrendous conditions under which many African Americans lived in Chicago. The community had been outraged by the refusal of the city administration under Mayor Richard Daley, Sr. to heed to the demands made by Dr. King and the Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Al Raby. 

After the Summer of 1966, the rebellions would escalate for the next four years. In Detroit during late July 1967, the largest urban rebellion took place outstripping the events in Watts, Newark, Cleveland and other cities. There were more than 160 rebellions during 1967 prompting the establishment of a National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorder by the then Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson. 

The findings of the panel headed by then Illinois Governor Otto Kerner said that the U.S. was heading towards two societies: one black, one white, separate and unequal. The Kerner Commission made sweeping recommendations for reforms involving race relations. However, the Johnson administration ignored the findings and recommendations of the Kerner Commission as the political atmosphere for additional Civil Rights legislation had soured due to the rebellions and the call for Black Power. 

Relevance of the March Against Fear to the Struggle Today for Voting Rights

Some six decades after the March Against Fear, the Supreme Court in their 6-3 ruling in the Louisiana v. Callais decision has gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. During the march through Mississippi in June 1966 when the call for Black Power arose, there had not been any African American Congressional or Senatorial representatives from Mississippi since the period of Reconstruction when Hiram Rhodes Revels (Senate), the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate, filled a seat during Reconstruction (1870–1871); and Blanche Kelso Bruce (Senate), served a full term in the U.S. Senate (1875–1881) and John Roy Lynch (House), served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1873–1877, 1881–1883). 

Even after the mass Civil Rights Movement and the March Against Fear, it would take more than two decades for an African American to be elected to the House of Representatives from Mississippi. Mike Espy was the first African American to represent Mississippi in the House of Representatives since Reconstruction, serving from 1987 to 1993. Bennie Thompson, the only current Congressperson from the state has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993. 

With the Conservative majority on the Supreme Court and within the House of Representatives and the Senate, they are clearly committed to the mass disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South where the majority of this oppressed nation still resides. The evisceration of the Voting Rights Act coincides with the striking down of affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion by the Supreme Court. These policy decisions are designed to weaken the political and social status of African Americans. 

These developments will require the reemergence of a mass democratic movement for full equality and self-determination. The shooting of James Meredith on that Mississippi highway sixty years ago provides an indication of the level of sacrifice and struggle required to gain national liberation and social emancipation in the 21st century. 

IRGC Strikes 18 US Military Targets in Two Missile Waves; Fifth Fleet in Bahrain Hit by Army Drones

Thursday, 11 June 2026 1:01 AM

File photo of Iranian missiles

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian Army have announced a series of coordinated retaliatory military operations targeting US military installations across the region, including assets in Bahrain.

The statements, issued in early Thursday, described the operations as a response to American aggression targeting various regions in southern Iran.

Two-wave operation targets 18 US military assets

The IRGC said its Aerospace Force and Navy conducted a retaliatory operation in two separate waves in reprisal for attacks on the Corps' coastal outposts and service units, law enforcement posts, and the Bandar Abbas airport area.

"Eighteen key targets belonging to the criminal US military" were struck and destroyed at the Ali al-Salem and Ahmad al-Jaber airbases in Kuwait, as well as the Sheikh Isa airbase in Bahrain.

Drone strikes against US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain

Separately, the Army's Public Relations Office reported a drone operation targeting the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

"In response to a ceasefire violation and attacks on parts of southern Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army used various explosive-laden drones to strike the US Fifth Fleet," the office noted.

It added that communication antennas and radar systems associated with the fleet’s Patriot air defense system were targeted in the counterstrikes.

The Army said its forces remained fully prepared for further confrontation and would continue operations until the "punishment of the aggressor" was completed.

Meanwhile, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Iran's highest operational command unit, also issued a statement, attributing the halt brought about to the latest round of the aggression to "powerful and decisive response" by the armed forces.

Also on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said US bombing in Iran would stop shortly, claiming that senior Iranian officials had called to ask him to halt the latest attack.

The IRGC, however, categorically rejected the claim, calling it "a cover to escape war."

The headquarters further stated that the Iranian military response to US atrocities would continue, without specifying timing or scope.

The coordinated retaliation came after fresh explosions were reported across parts of Hormozgan and other southern regions of the Islamic Republic, as the US military confirmed launching a new wave of unprovoked assaults against the country.

In response to the latest aggression, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters has also ordered closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"From this moment, due to insecurity in the region, the Strait of Hormuz is declared closed to the passage of all vessels, including oil tankers and commercial ships, and any traffic will be targeted," the command unit said in a statement.

Sudanese Pound Hits Record Low as War Cripples Production

10 June 2026

A picture taken on January 21, 2020, shows a US 1 dollar bill and a Sudanese 100 pound bill at a brokerage in the capital Khartoum on January 21, 2020. (AFP photo)

June 10, 2026 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese pound has plunged to an unprecedented low against foreign currencies due to intense speculation and rising import demands amid a severe shortage of foreign exchange reserves.

The local currency has experienced a sustained decline driven by the prolonged war and a widening trade deficit, marked by weakening exports and rising imports.

Since the beginning of the year, foreign exchange rates have climbed significantly, with the U.S. dollar rising from 3,750 pounds to between 4,200 and 4,300 pounds.

Parallel market traders told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that the pound fell further to 4,400 per dollar amid a surge in demand for the greenback and other foreign currencies.

The Saudi riyal reached 1,140 Sudanese pounds, the UAE dirham hit 1,171 Sudanese pounds, the euro was trading at 5,058 Sudanese pounds, and the British pound reached 5,810 Sudanese pounds, while the Egyptian pound was recorded at 90 Sudanese pounds.

A trader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there is high demand for foreign currency to fund fuel imports, alongside speculative activity among currency traders seeking to secure large dollar volumes.

Banking expert Waleed Dalil said the depreciation of the pound poses a severe economic challenge that directly affects citizens’ daily lives, noting that inflation has reached record highs due to the conflict’s toll on infrastructure and financial institutions.

Dalil attributed the currency’s collapse to the halt in domestic production and the collapse of exports.

Vital sectors such as agriculture, industry, and mining face near-total paralysis across many regions due to instability and disrupted supply chains, Dalil said, adding that this has led to a near-absence of export revenues from gold and agricultural products, while the country increasingly relies on imports, driving up dollar demand.

Expatriate remittances through official channels have also dropped by over 70% due to disruptions to the banking system and the central bank at various times, Dalil added.

International support, loans, and economic grants that previously bolstered foreign exchange reserves have been frozen, compounded by a fiscal deficit and the printing of unbacked currency.

Dalil said the government has resorted to deficit financing to cover rising expenditures and manage emergencies, printing new banknotes without backing from production or gold, thereby expanding the money supply and sharply reducing purchasing power.

The financial weight has shifted entirely to the black market because official banks are unable to provide foreign currency to importers and citizens, making currency pricing subject to aggressive speculation and panic buying, Dalil added.

Economic analyst Haitham Mohamed Fathi said Sudan is experiencing a severe contraction across productive sectors, including industry, mining, oil, and agriculture, a trend that has worsened during the war.

Traders, smugglers, and speculators have capitalized on the country’s shifting economic structure as a trade-and-services economy rises at the expense of industrial and agricultural production, Fathi added.

Stabilizing the Sudanese pound depends on the transitional government’s ability to implement fundamental structural reforms, including restructuring financial institutions, curbing inflation, and supporting productive sectors to revive the economy, Fathi said.

Fathi noted that the growing debate over importing strategic goods, particularly fuel, has directly affected commodity prices across the production and transport chains, and has been worsened by the loss of oil-producing areas and erratic transit revenues from South Sudan’s oil.

The Sudanese economy is caught in a complex crisis in which economic, monetary, and political variables intersect, exacerbated by a lack of international cooperation and the halt in foreign financial assistance, Fathi said.

Market fears fueled by the pound’s depreciation have trapped the currency in a vicious cycle of depreciation and inflation, leaving the central bank with limited tools to manage current economic conditions, Fathi added.

Darfur Rights Group Records 470 Deaths in Air Strikes and Drone Attacks

09/06/2026 17:54 

EL FASHER / NYALA / NORTH KORDOFAN / EL GEZIRA / SENNAR / OMDURMAN / KHARTOUM

Turkish-made Baykar Bayraktar Akıncı drone (File photo: Azerbajani Air Force / CC BY 4.0)

A Darfur advocacy group says air strikes and drone attacks killed at least 470 people and injured 187 others across Sudan between March 2024 and January 2026, as civilians continue to bear the brunt of the war.

In a report published on Monday, the Darfur Victims Advocacy Organisation documented 42 air raids and one drone attack during the period. The group said North Darfur accounted for about 61 per cent of the attacks, making it the hardest hit state. South Darfur followed with 16 per cent, while the remaining strikes occurred across Kordofan, El Gezira and Sennar.

The organisation attributed 87 per cent of the attacks to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), while the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out the remaining 13 per cent, mainly using drones and artillery.

Adam Obama, the organisation’s executive director, told Radio Dabanga yesterday that the conflict has entered a new phase marked by the growing use of advanced military technology and foreign-made drones.

He said the report documented the use of Iranian drones, including the Mohajer-6 and Ababil-3, as well as Turkish drones such as the Bayraktar TB2 and Bayraktar Akıncı, in attacks on residential areas and markets.

The report said the attacks destroyed infrastructure, disrupted farming and trade, and deepened poverty. It also warned that actors linked to the war economy have seized control of key sectors, including mining.

The organisation said the violence has displaced millions of people and left many families sheltering in schools, unfinished buildings and open spaces. It also highlighted rising levels of trauma, anxiety and depression among women and children living under constant threat.

The group called for an immediate air embargo over Darfur and other affected areas, a ban on arms supplies to the warring parties, and the creation of an international fact-finding mission.

Drone attack reported in Omdurman

Residents of Omdurman reported explosions near the Wadi Seidna military base north of the city at dawn on Tuesday after a drone attack.

Military sources said air defences intercepted the drone, although Radio Dabanga could not independently verify the claim. Sources also reported missile strikes inside the city, but no information was immediately available on casualties or damage.

Khartoum state has seen repeated drone attacks in recent months, including strikes blamed on the RSF that targeted parts of Omdurman and Khartoum International Airport.

Three killed in North Kordofan

The Emergency Lawyers Group said a drone strike killed three civilians and injured another person on Sunday evening in the Adeid Raha area of Sudri locality in North Kordofan.

The group said the attack targeted two civilian vehicles travelling for medical treatment.

According to the organisation, the strike forms part of a wider wave of drone attacks on civilians in North Kordofan. It said it documented 33 civilian deaths and dozens of injuries in the state over the past week.

The group warned that continued attacks on civilians, transport routes and health facilities are worsening the humanitarian crisis and called for immediate protection for civilians under international humanitarian law.

More Than 13k Displaced by Renewed Tribal Clashes in South Darfur

 08/06/2026 18:24 

NYALA / KUBUM / MARKONDI / UMM BASA / ED EL FURSAN / REHEID EL BARDI / SHATTAYA / MUKJAR

A woman and her daughter at a facility in South Darfur (File photo: MSF)

More than 13,000 people have fled their homes in South Darfur in the past week as fighting between the Beni Halba and Salamat tribes continues to spread across the region. In a recent International Organization for Migration (IOM) report, they state that 11,630 people were displaced between 4 and 6 June alone following clashes in Kubum locality. 

The displaced fled the areas of Kubum, Markondi and Umm Basa and sought refuge elsewhere in Kubum locality as well as in North Nyala, South Nyala, Ed El Fursan, Reheid El Bardi and Shattaya.

The latest wave of displacement follows the flight of around 350 people on 30 May and a further 1,520 on 4 June, bringing the total number of people uprooted by the violence to more than 13,000 within a week.

Fighting between the Beni Halba and Salamat erupted in late May, leaving an unspecified number of people dead and forcing thousands to abandon their homes. Community leaders and other parties have repeatedly appealed for calm and urged both sides to halt the violence.

The latest unrest marks the third major flare-up between the two tribes since the outbreak of Sudan’s war more than three years ago.

Previous attempts to end the conflict have failed to secure lasting peace. The two sides signed a ceasefire agreement in Kass, South Darfur, in November 2023, followed by a reconciliation agreement in Mukjar locality, Central Darfur, in June 2024. They later concluded another peace deal in Mukjar in July 2025.

During the 2025 agreement, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces Commander Gen Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, intervened and pledged compensation for those affected by the violence.

Despite successive peace initiatives, renewed clashes have once again displaced thousands of civilians and raised fears of further instability in South Darfur.

Minnesota Man Originally from Somalia is One of 17 Trump Administration Targets for Denaturalization

By Aki Nace

June 8, 2026 / 2:36 PM CDT / CBS Minnesota

A 54-year-old Minnesota immigrant from Somalia is one of 17 people the Trump administration is targeting in its latest denaturalization campaign.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota filed a civil denaturalization complaint against Abdikadir Kadiye on Wednesday. He faces several counts, including illegal procurement of naturalization and procurement of naturalization by concealment of a material fact.

Starting in 1997, Kadiye tried to enter the United States by filing two separate identities, the U.S. Department of Justice says. 

He initially said his name was Liban M. Degel, claiming he was married with no children, but after an immigration judge denied his application, he submitted a second application in 1998 under the name Kadiye, according to the complaint.

Justice Department officials said Kadiye told a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent that he had previously used two identities during his admission process.

Federal law allows the government to try to denaturalize foreign-born U.S. citizens who officials believe committed fraud to obtain their citizenship. 

But the historically complex process has rarely been implemented; between 1990 and 2017, the Justice Department filed an average of just 11 legal complaints per year seeking to denaturalize American citizens, according to historical data. Last month, officials announced a dozen denaturalization cases.

The other 16 people targeted by the justice department on Monday are accused of a range of crimes from sex abuse of a minor and distributing drugs to committing immigration fraud.

Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.

World Cup Referee from Somalia Barred from Entering US

The decision comes amid concern that Trump administration policies will hamper preparations for the global sporting event.

A worker walks past temporary fencing with FIFA World Cup 2026 signage outside SoFi Stadium.

A worker walks past temporary fencing with FIFA World Cup 2026 signage outside SoFi Stadium, June 5, 2026, in Inglewood, California. | Jae C. Hong/AP

By Joe Stanley-Smith and Sophia Cai

06/08/2026 08:27 PM EDT

A World Cup referee from Somalia has been denied entry to the U.S., forcing him out of the global sporting event just days before the first match.

Omar Artan had landed in Miami on a flight from Istanbul over the weekend when he was turned away, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Monday.

CBP did not say why the referee was barred from entry, though Somalia is among about 40 countries designated for additional scrutiny or subject to travel bans under President Donald Trump.

“Following inspection, the traveler, a referee for the FIFA World Cup, was determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry,” CBP said.

The decision to bar his entry comes amid widespread concern that Trump administration policies will hamper World Cup preparation as the U.S. prepares to host matches in 11 cities.

FIFA confirmed it had been informed about the U.S. decision to bar Artan from entry and said his “status will not be changed at present.”

“In line with previous FIFA events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country,” the organization said in a statement.

This is the first known case of a World Cup referee being barred from entry by U.S. immigration authorities, though several players and coaching staff, as well as numerous fans, have had trouble entering the country.

The State Department said it is working with the White House, Department of Homeland Security and FIFA to support efforts to secure visas for those involved in the World Cup but must also uphold U.S. law and administration policies.

“The Administration will not waver in upholding U.S. law and the highest standards of national security and public safety in the conduct of our visa process,” the department said in a statement.

Artan, a former player pushed into becoming a referee by injuries, would have been the first person from his country to officiate at a World Cup.

He spoke in a pre-tournament interview with Al Jazeera of the challenges he faced in his homeland. “You cannot give up,” he told the network. “You have to fight if you want to go to a place like the World Cup.”

Somalia is one of 12 countries whose citizens Trump effectively banned from entry to the U.S. in December 2025, citing terrorism risks. He has repeatedly directed specific animus toward the East African nation, saying in December that the country “stinks” and calling people from the country “garbage.”

The administration has also revoked temporary visas for thousands of Somali citizens in the country and accused people from the diaspora community in Minnesota of engaging in fraud.

The World Cup, which the U.S. will jointly host with Mexico and Canada, kicks off June 11 in Mexico City.

U.S. Bars Entry of FIFA World Cup Referee from Somalia, Citing "Vetting Concerns"

By Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Joe Walsh

June 10, 2026 / 10:25 AM EDT / CBS News

Federal immigration authorities barred a Somali soccer referee who was slated to officiate the FIFA World Cup from entering the U.S. over the weekend, Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Monday, citing "vetting concerns."

A FIFA spokesperson confirmed one of its officials, Omar Abdulkadir Artan, "will be unable to train and officiate at the FIFA World Cup 2026 after he was denied entry into the United States." 

"FIFA is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr. Artan's status will not be changed at present," the spokesperson said. "In line with previous FIFA events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country."

CBP, which oversees customs agents at international airports, said the referee was "determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry." He had arrived at Miami International Airport on Saturday on a flight from Istanbul, and underwent additional inspection, CBP said.

An administration official told CBS News on Wednesday that Artan was denied entry based on "derogatory information" that included "association" with suspected terrorist group members. The nature and extent of that alleged association is unclear.

"This individual was seeking admission to the United States. Upon further inspection by CBP, derogatory information, including association with suspected members of terror organizations, was discovered making the traveler ineligible for admission to the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)," the official said. "The traveler was refused admission and given immigration forms that provide the section of law used to complete an expedited removal under 8235 of the INA. President Trump's administration will not allow any security threat to enter our country — full stop."

Somalia is one of 39 countries listed on President Trump's "travel ban" executive order signed last year, which bars or restricts the entry of foreign nationals on national security grounds. Somalia is among the countries facing a near-total restriction on entry into the U.S., and while that order has exemptions for World Cup athletes and staff, immigration officials retain broad discretion to decide whether to grant or deny someone entry.

CBP said in its statement that it evaluates people seeking to enter the country "on a case-by-case basis using law enforcement, national security, and immigration information available at the time of inspection."

CBS News has attempted to reach out to Artan for comment.

Ciise Aden Abshir, a senior adviser to Somalia's Ministry of Youth and Sports and a former national team captain, condemned the decision not to admit Artan. He told Agence France-Presse that Artan is "among Africa's most respected referees and deserves the support of the entire football community," and argued the decision "undermines football's commitment to fairness, merit, and the spirit of fair play." 

Artan has officiated international soccer matches for years, including at the Africa Cup of Nations, and he was named male referee of the year by the Confederation for African Football last year. 

The U.S. is hosting the 2026 World Cup, alongside Mexico and Canada. The tournament is set to start Thursday with a match in Mexico City, and will span more than a dozen other venues.

The tournament — which will include teams from 48 countries and scores of foreign tourists — follows a more-than-yearlong effort by the Trump administration to tighten entry into the United States, sparking worries that the games could be impacted. 

Amid the war in the Middle East, some Iranian soccer officials still do not have U.S. visas, according to Iranian state television. The team is also facing strict restrictions on when it can enter the U.S. before a match and how long it can stay after the conclusion before returning to its training grounds in Mexico. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will play a role in security at the World Cup. White House border czar Tom Homan told CBS News last week that ICE's "primary focus" will be national security, not immigration enforcement.

"In the process of that, if we find a national security issue and it involves an illegal alien, of course we're going to take action on that," Homan said. "But the primary focus is: Keep those events safe, keep this nation safe and keep the spectators and the athletes safe."

Somalia Referee Says His World Cup Dream Is Dashed After U.S. Denies Entry

“I had the right papers and everything,” Omar Abdulkadir Artan said in his first interview since he was turned back. He would have been the first Somali to referee a game in the tournament.

A referee in a light blue shirt holds up a yellow card. Two players in yellow and blue uniforms stand nearby.

By Matthew Mpoke Bigg

Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya

June 9, 2026

A referee from Somalia said on Tuesday that the biggest dream of his professional life had been shattered after the American authorities denied him permission to enter the United States to participate in the World Cup soccer tournament.

The referee, Omar Abdulkadir Artan, was one of 52 selected for this summer’s World Cup in North America. He was one of seven African referees to be chosen for the tournament and would have been the first Somali to referee a World Cup game.

Speaking for the first time since he was denied entry to the United States, Mr. Artan told The New York Times that officiating a World Cup game would have been a symbol for all Somalis of what they could achieve in spite of their country’s difficulties.

“I am very, very disappointed,” Mr. Artan said in a telephone interview from Istanbul, the city he had been flown to after he was refused entry. “I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup.”

Mr. Artan flew to Miami International Airport on Saturday, five days before the first game of the tournament, on Thursday, but was prevented from entering the United States by border officials, who took him aside and questioned him in a small room overnight.

“I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa,” Mr. Artan said, adding that he had also showed documentation from FIFA as well as photographs of his career of over a decade as a professional referee. Border officials also checked online material detailing Mr. Artan’s career, he said. He was named referee of the year in 2025 by the Confederation of African Football, which governs soccer in Africa.

The interview ended after 11 hours, Mr. Artan said, and he was then taken to a separate holding cell where he was detained for several further hours before being put on a flight back to Istanbul. He said that officials did not give him a reason for refusing him entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that decisions were made on a case-by-case basis and did not provide details about why Mr. Artan had been denied entry.

“The traveler underwent additional inspection, a routine part of Customs and Border Protection’s inspection process when officers need to verify information or determine admissibility,” the statement said. “Following inspection, the traveler, a referee for the FIFA World Cup, was determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry.”

Mr. Artan said, “I think that they have a problem with my country,” adding that he would return to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Wednesday. He said that he had been preparing for the World Cup for four years, taking courses with FIFA in Qatar and in the United Arab Emirates.

The border protection force decision has drawn criticism from top soccer officials and prominent Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, but the head of the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026, Andrew Giuliani, defended it and said there had been derogatory information about Mr. Artan.

“We also want to make sure that we are not going to allow a soccer tournament to be the opportunity for terrorists to potentially get in the country or anybody who is actually talking to them,” he told the British Broadcasting Corporation.

A search of the sanctions list website of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control shows that Mr. Artan’s name is similar to that of a man identified as linked to the Somali militant group Al Shabab and upon whom the U.S. government had imposed sanctions. The office is part of the Treasury Department.

That similarity would most likely have prompted additional questioning by border officials about potential ties to Al Shabab, according to Melissa Chavin, an immigration lawyer based in London who specializes in assisting clients seeking to go to the United States. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately reply to a request for comment

Mr. Artan told The Times that border officials had asked him repeatedly if he had ever met anyone from the militant group. He said he had replied that he knew nothing about Al Shabab and was simply a soccer referee going about his business.

The Trump administration has imposed severe travel and visa restrictions on Somalia, a country in East Africa, and it was not clear whether FIFA had sought clearance for Mr. Artan to enter the United States.

FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment but confirmed in a statement that Mr. Artan would not be able to officiate at the World Cup.

“FIFA is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr. Artan’s status will not be changed at present,” the statement said.

It was unclear why Mr. Artan could not have been considered for referee duty in Mexico or Canada, the two other countries hosting the tournament.

In the interview, Mr. Artan recounted his journey to the United States, which he said had begun last week in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where he waited to secure travel papers. Once the documents arrived, he flew to Istanbul before catching a connecting flight to Miami ahead of a pretournament meeting of FIFA referees in the city.

Mr. Artan said that border officials had asked him why he had come to the United States and about politics in Somalia, which for more than a decade has been on a path toward stable statehood. Al Shabab controls parts of the country and has fought a yearslong insurgency against the government.

The relationship between the United States and Somalia has been fraught in recent years.

In December, President Trump singled out Somali immigrants, calling them “garbage” in a tirade at the White House and saying that Somalia was “not even a country.” Nonetheless, the Pentagon has been working with Somalia’s government to conduct scores of airstrikes against militant targets in the country.

Other countries attending the World Cup have faced difficulties traveling to the United States. Last week, members of Iran’s soccer team were granted visas to enter the country after months of uncertainty caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. But more than a dozen members of the team’s support staff were denied entry.

Hussein Mohamed contributed reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia.

Somalia Football Referee Denied Entry to US Returns Home to Hero's Welcome

Somali referee, Oma

Somali international referee Omar Artan has returned home to a hero’s welcome after being banned from entering the United States.

He was due to officiate at matches during the FIFA World Cup but was turned away at the border in Miami over the weekend, despite having a valid visa.

FIFA subsequently cut him from the tournament's referee list. His exclusion has sparked outrage across the world.

As Artan disembarked in Mogadishu, supporters waving Somali flags crowded around him before draping him in the flag.

He was set to be the first referee from Somalia to officiate at a World Cup after making FIFA’s final list for the tournament.

Artan is one of Africa’s top football umpires and was named the continent’s best male referee in 2025.

Speaking on his arrival, he thanked the Somali government, the public, and FIFA for their support. Artan said he plans to be at the next World Cup and urged Somali youths to be proud of their country.

“Somalia is ours, whether things are good or bad. I want to tell our youth not to lose hope ⁠in our country,” he said.

The Trump administration said Artan was denied entry because of his links to what it described as “suspected members of terror organisations”.

Artan was issued a visa to travel to the US last week, according to the Somalia Embassy in Kenya that processed it.

The US is co-hosting the tournament with Mexico and Canada, and he was due to meet up with other World Cup referees at their training base in Miami.

The highly unusual move to deny a FIFA-appointed match official permission to enter a World Cup host country has also raised questions about the US' capacity to host the competition.

Somalia is one of nearly 40 countries subject to new travel restrictions under the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

Decades of war and the rise of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab extremist group has limited the potential of many in Somalia.

Although Artan's denial of entry brought disappointment, his achievement reminded some in the country about what is possible if they chase their dreams.

Writing on X on Tuesday, the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote that Artan's expected milestone “stands no matter what”.

“You reached the summit of your profession and inspired a generation back home just by getting there, and being kept off the pitch you earned doesn’t change that,” he added.

United States Launches Renewed Attacks on Iran

Aggressive actions take place proving that Washington is not serious about a permanent settlement with Tehran while the Israeli Defense Forces continue their assaults on Southern Lebanon violating the ceasefire of two months earlier

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Wednesday June 10, 2026

Geostrategic Analysis

Although United States President Donald Trump has for more than two months claimed the administration was close to a long-term deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran, they have consistently violated the agreement made in April for a cessation of hostilities. 

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation state in Palestine has continued to bomb and violate the sovereignty of neighboring Lebanon leaving more than 3,600 dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced.

Obviously, both the U.S. and its Israeli surrogates only want to maintain the current situation in West Asia where the Pentagon and the IDF can act with impunity against the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, etc., in their efforts to continue the domination over the land, waterways and resources of the region. U.S. military forces have bases in various states within the Persian Gulf along with Palestine and Jordan in order to secure their imperialist stranglehold over oil and natural gas production along with international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and other routes in the area.

The notions that Iran and its allies in the region represent a security threat to Washington and Tel Aviv are totally false. It was these two entities which initiated the war against Tehran on February 28. Aerial strikes on Iran resulted in the assassinations of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials within the Iranian government.

Almost immediately the Secretary of War and Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff stated that the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) forces had been rendered ineffective and eliminated. Yet, the IRGC backed up by 92 million Iranian people, effectively defended the state and its people amid constant bombings of strategic locations and residential neighborhoods.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance movement, has fired missiles into the northern occupied territories of Palestine while engaging IDF forces in various towns and villages in the southern areas of the country. The U.S. and Israel have continued to misrepresent the ceasefire agreement saying it did not include the people and territory of Lebanon. They have suggested that the weak and western-backed government in Lebanon should disarm the resistance forces.

Nonetheless, the Lebanese administration is incapable of neutralizing the resistance since there are significant elements within the parliament which are members and supporters of Hezbollah. The resistance in Lebanon is part and parcel of a broader alliance of anti-imperialist forces operating in Iraq, Yemen and Palestine in conjunction with the Islamic Republic. This Axis of Resistance is the actual target of Washington and Tel Aviv.

During the elections of 2024, the Trump campaign decried imperialist wars in West Asia and the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine. Trump told the people in the U.S. that the situation in Ukraine would not have occurred if he had been in the White House in February 2022. However, the war did not begin in 2022. The overthrow of the Ukrainian government during February 2014 represented the beginning of the current round of military actions by Moscow which is seeking to prevent the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The overthrow of the Ukraine government took place during the second administration of former President Barack Obama. Yet, Trump began his first term in 2017 and the war in eastern Ukraine continued during the entire time period until he left office in early 2021.

Consequently, Trump, like other U.S. administrations, are warmongers. The ruling class cannot survive without the thousands of Pentagon bases with their hundreds of thousands of troops stationed around the world for the sole purpose of imperialist domination and intrigue.

U.S. and Israel Escalates Tensions in West Asia

The Iranian government did not collapse after a two-pronged campaign aimed at regime change. In January, counter-revolutionary elements sought to ignite riots throughout the country after the national currency was manipulated downward by the U.S. Treasury Department. 

With the failure of the purported uprising designed to reimpose the Pahlavi monarchy, the February 28 attacks were launched by Tel Aviv and Washington. During the course of the bombing operations against Iran, the Islamic Republic took full control of the Strait of Hormuz igniting a global energy crisis which has driven up the prices of fuel, fertilizer, food and other essential commodities for the world economic system. 

In the latest aggressive actions which escalated on June 9, Press TV reported that:

“Several locations in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan were hit by US projectiles late on Tuesday, the Islamic Republic's national broadcaster said, in yet another act of unprovoked and illegal military aggression. Reporting on Wednesday, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) said a location on Qeshm Island was one of the sites that came under the US attack. According to an informed source cited by the broadcaster, six explosions were heard in Qeshm, which the source said were caused by enemy projectiles. The broadcaster added that the projectiles had apparently been launched from a warplane. An IRIB correspondent further said that, based on the information available so far, the impact of one projectile in the province's littoral Sirik County has been confirmed. At least two water reservoirs in the Bomani district of the county were targeted by the enemy, and the drinking water supply to this district has been temporarily cut off. According to an IRIB correspondent in Jask, another one of Hormozgan's coastal counties, two locations in the county's city of Jask and Kuh-e Mobarak were also struck by such projectiles.” (https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/06/09/770159/United-States-attacks-Iran-bases-high-alert)

The U.S. cited the shooting down of a Pentagon Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz by the IRGC naval forces as the reason for the latest bombing operations. Nevertheless, the U.S. has no mandate to patrol the Persian Gulf and its straits under the International Law of the Sea. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi responded to the attacks by the Pentagon. In another article published by Press TV on June 9, it says:

“Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned the United States that its most recent spate of attacks on southern Iranian areas ‘will not go unanswered.’ The top Iranian diplomat made the remarks in a post on X early on Wednesday after the US struck multiple locations across the Hormozgan Province. ‘Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the U.S. opted to test our determination,’ he wrote, warning that the Iranian armed forces ‘will leave no attack or threat unanswered.’ ‘Leave our region if you want to be safe,’ he stated, adding that ‘the history of the Persian Gulf has many chapters on dire fates of intruding outsiders.’" (https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/06/09/770160/Iran-United-States-attacks-Hormozgan-warning-Araghchi)

Consequently, the White House must either abide by the ceasefire agreement or face the raft of the IRGC and its allies in the region. In response to the continuing attacks on Lebanon and Iran, the Yemeni resistance under Ansar Allah launched missile attacks on the Ben Gurion Airport inside the occupied territories.

Several U.S. Bases Attacked by IRGC

In other developments in the Persian Gulf, Al Mayadeen reported that the U.S. Fifth Fleet was attacked in retaliation for the ongoing aggression. After the initial U.S.-Israeli attacks on February 28, the Fifth Fleet in the Kingdom of Bahrain was attacked by Iranian military forces.

Other outposts for the Pentagon also suffered serious damage during March and April. The Kingdom of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have operated for decades as bases for imperialism and zionism in the Persian Gulf and the entire West Asia region.

In the most recent events after June 9 and 10, Al Mayadeen notes:

“Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced early Wednesday that it had launched an attack targeting 21 US-linked sites across the region, including the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, stressing that the operation was in response to recent American aggression on Iran. The targets also included a US F-35 fighter jet base in al-Azraq in Jordan, as well as a command-and-control center at the same facility. Iranian Fars news agency reported that the IRGC used Kheibar Shekan missiles in strikes targeting F-35 hangars in Jordan. The IRGC added that it had destroyed four high-value targets using long-range solid-fuel missiles and said a US MQ-9 drone was shot down during aerial engagements over Jam in Iran’s southern Bushehr province. The IRGC warned that continued hostile actions would be met with ‘more severe and harsher responses,’ signaling readiness to expand its military operations if attacks persist.” (https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iran-targets-us-bases--fifth-fleet-after-american-aggression)

This latest round of fighting between Iran, the U.S. and Israel illustrate the strategic confusion of imperialism and zionism. As they further wreck the world economy, opposition to their militarism will force more people to reject these systems of exploitation and oppression in their entirety. 

There can be no peace in the West Asia region as long as the Palestinian people remain subjected to occupation by the zionist entity. The occupation of southern Lebanon, the surrogate system of proxy control over Syria and large sections of Iraq and the attempts to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran will inevitably result in the escalation of resistance to Israel and its U.S. backers.

Iran Launches Concerted Retaliatory Strikes Against American Military Targets After Fresh US Aggression

Wednesday, 10 June 2026 3:05 AM

Frame grab from a video shows the moment Iranian explosive-laden unmanned aircraft make impact at the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain on June 10, 2026, in response to earlier American aggression targeting southern Iran.

Iran's Armed Forces have launched retaliatory operations against American military targets in the region after fresh American aggression struck several locations in the country's southern Hormozgan Province.

On Wednesday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) noted how the "warmongering American regime" had attacked several locations in Jask, Sirik, and Qeshm in the province earlier in the day under the "false pretext" of an American helicopter's crash.

Footage captures the moment of a missile strike and the subsequent explosion at the location of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain.

According to the IRGC, the American strikes had damaged a telecommunications tower in Sirik and destroyed two water reservoirs in the Bemani district of the county.

US Fifth Fleet, al-Azraq base hit in reprisal

The Corps said its Navy responded to the attacks by carrying out a retaliatory drone strike against the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

The force later announced that it had also launched a missile strike against Washington's al-Azraq base in Jordan.

According to another IRGC statement, four major targets, including F-35 warplane shelters and the command-and-control center of the "child-killing American army" at al-Azraq, were struck and destroyed.

An informed military source, meanwhile, said Iran used long-range solid-fuel Kheibar Shekan missiles to target the shelters housing the warplanes.

The IRGC added that, in total, 21 targets at American air and naval bases across the region were hit throughout the reprisal.

Army reports drone strikes

Additionally, the Iranian Army's Public Relations Office said that, as part of operations aimed at countering the "hostile acts and harassment of the terrorist American army" against residents of southern Iran, the Army launched waves of drone operations against American bases and the radar systems of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

IRGC says operations continue

The IRGC also described the Islamic Republic's response to enemy aggression as ongoing amid reports that the American attacks were followed by additional blasts in Jask.

It added that, should the United States continue its actions, "heavier responses are on the way."

Shortly after the latter comments, local sources reported more strikes against American outposts in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Joint command issues warning

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which coordinates the IRGC's and the Army's operations, described the overall counterstrikes as a "powerful [retaliatory] assault."

The headquarters likewise warned that if the United States repeated any aggression against the Islamic Republic, "heavier and more extensive strikes" would be carried out against a predetermined list of targets across the region.

Iranian officials and military forces have denied any role in the helicopter crash, which was used by Washington to try to justify the attacks on Hormozgan.

They have sternly warned that any act of aggression against the country would not go without an answer.

Iranian Armed Forces to Leave No attack Unanswered, FM Warns After Fresh US Aggression

Wednesday, 10 June 2026 12:03 AM

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned the United States that its most recent spate of attacks on southern Iranian areas "will not go unanswered."

The top Iranian diplomat made the remarks in a post on X early on Wednesday after the US struck multiple locations across the Hormozgan Province.

"Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the U.S. opted to test our determination," he wrote, warning that the Iranian armed forces "will leave no attack or threat unanswered."

"Leave our region if you want to be safe," he stated, adding that "the history of the Persian Gulf has many chapters on dire fates of intruding outsiders."

Earlier, the Islamic Republic's national broadcaster reported that several locations in the southern Iranian province had been hit by US projectiles.

It named the Qeshm Island and the Jask and Sirik Counties as the targets.

Right before the attacks, in a statement posted to social media, US Central Command had said it had begun strikes against Iran following the crash of a US Army Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman.

A day earlier, US President Donald Trump had acknowledged that one such helicopter had gone down near the Strait of Hormuz, confirming a report by The New York Times. Trump had vowed that the United States "must" respond, accusing Iran of downing it.

Iranian officials and military forces have denied any role in the incident, warning that any act of aggression against the country will certainly warrant reprisal.

Military source: Any enemy's new aggression on pretext of crashed chopper will be met with Iran's firm response. pic.twitter.com/hXgmu1UFW9

Prior to the American strikes too, Araghchi had cautioned, "Our Powerful Armed Forces are on constant alert for any violation of Iran's airspace, land or waters. Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire."

"To reduce risk, the best solution is for foreign forces to exit, as soon as possible, an environment which will never be hospitable to a hostile presence," he had stated.

‘You Pulled Iran Out of Wolves’ Jaws’: Qalibaf Hails Nation for Nightly Rallies

Tuesday, 09 June 2026 4:05 PM

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has lauded the Iranians for their ongoing nightly street rallies, which have extended to 100 days as a symbol of popular resistance against the US‑Israeli war of aggression.

In a message addressed to the Iranian nation on Tuesday, Qalibaf said “100 days have passed since the jihad of a nation that rose up to preserve dear Iran.”

“God’s blessings be upon you who had Iran’s back, disappointed the enemy, and pulled the country out of the jaws of ravenous wolves that had sharpened their teeth to force Islamic Iran into submission.”

“Long live Iran and long live the resistance of the great Iranian nation.”

The massive nightly street rallies have been held nationwide since February 28, when the United States and Israel launched the illegal, unprovoked war on the Islamic Republic.

Millions across Iran renew allegiance to new Leader at Ghadir celebrations

Millions of Iranians have poured onto the streets of Tehran and cities across the country for the annual "10-Kilometer Ghadir Celebration".

It has been a powerful display of national unity. It has been a manifestation of solidarity with the armed forces. And it has been a resolute movement in defiance of efforts by the enemies to destabilize Iran.

The war included the assassination of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and strikes on nuclear facilities, schools and hospitals.

Despite a fragile Pakistan‑brokered ceasefire in place since early April, Washington has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports, and Israel has continued its attacks on Lebanon and Gaza.

US Launches Fresh Act of Aggression Against Iran; American Regional Bases Placed on High Alert

Tuesday, 09 June 2026 11:40 PM

File photo shows an aerial view of the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan.

Several locations in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan were hit by US projectiles late on Tuesday, the Islamic Republic's national broadcaster said, in yet another act of unprovoked and illegal military aggression. 

Reporting on Wednesday, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) said a location on Qeshm Island was one of the sites that came under the US attack.

According to an informed source cited by the broadcaster, six explosions were heard in Qeshm, which the source said were caused by enemy projectiles. The broadcaster added that the projectiles had apparently been launched from a warplane.

An IRIB correspondent further said that, based on the information available so far, the impact of one projectile in the province's littoral Sirik County has been confirmed.

At least two water reservoirs in the Bomani district of the county were targeted by the enemy, and the drinking water supply to this district has been temporarily cut off.

According to an IRIB correspondent in Jask, another one of Hormozgan's coastal counties, two locations in the county's city of Jask and Kuh-e Mobarak were also struck by such projectiles.

No explosions were reported elsewhere in the coastal province.

Earlier, in a statement posted to social media, US Central Command said it had begun strikes against Iran following the crash of a US Army Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman.

A day earlier, US President Donald Trump had acknowledged that one such helicopter had gone down near the Strait of Hormuz, confirming a report by The New York Times.

Trump had vowed that the United States "must" respond, accusing Iran of downing it.

Iranian officials and military forces have denied any role in the incident, warning that any act of aggression against the country will not go without an answer.

Trump declared the truce on April 7 after at least 100 waves of decisive and successful Iranian retaliation in the face of the latest bout of unprovoked American-Israeli aggression targeting the Islamic Republic.

Shortly after reporting the blasts, the IRIB said "the wave of American strikes" had subsided in Hormozgan, describing the overall situation as "calm."

'Blasts hit Jask again'

Later, however, the IRIB cited local sources and nearby villagers as reporting that multiple blasts rang out across the Jask County again.

American website Axios, meanwhile, cited an American official as saying that a second round of attacks was underway against Iran.

Amid the situation, media outlets cited issuance of the highest level of alert at American bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar amid the prospect of Iranian reprisal.

Iran's military command has not commented on the US aggression so far.

Boycott Trump’s World Cup

US President Donald Trump is presented with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize award by FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, United States, December 5, 2025

“HAS not Goering admitted that the Games will be used for propagating the new Germany of Hitler? Is that the purpose of the Olympic Games, or are they designed to encourage the fraternity of peoples?”

George Sinfield of the Morning Star’s forerunner the Daily Worker posed this question in its July 20 1936 edition, explaining the Worker’s call for a boycott of the Berlin Olympics and support instead for the grassroots People’s Olympiad planned to take place in Barcelona in Republican Spain.

Similar questions have often been asked since, with “sportswashing” an established way for repressive regimes to launder their reputations.

The Morning Star has always been cautious about calls to boycott sporting events, or exclude countries from them.

Sport can promote cultural exchange across borders; familiarity with civilian rather than political representatives of foreign countries helps counter the othering of official enemies. That’s especially valuable in a world lurching towards war, and the Christmas Day football game between British and German soldiers in the trenches is one of the best-loved stories of World War I.

Boycotts are also used to further the political agenda of the Western powers which dominate global governing bodies: the hypocrisy of banning Russia from competitions over Ukraine while refusing to penalise Israel over Gaza has been widely condemned.

But Donald Trump’s US hosting the bulk of the 2026 Men’s World Cup is a different matter.

His brutality and venality is clear from the endorsement of ethnic cleansing in Gaza to the corporate-dominated “Board of Peace,” from the bombing of Iranian schoolgirls to the kidnap of Venezuela’s president.

The People’s Olympiad never took place because the Nazi-backed fascist revolt against democracy engulfed Spain before it could. Trump’s US threatens violent regime change against Cuba even as it invites the world to enjoy its hospitality.

Some of the world, anyway. This is the most exclusionary World Cup ever. Trump’s travel bans on dozens of countries block access to fans, journalists and athletes’ families. Even a Fifa-selected referee from Somalia, Omar Artan, has been denied entry.

Trump has threatened fans from Iran, whose team’s entire allocation of tickets has now been withdrawn days before the competition begins. His murderous, revamped Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency has stepped up repression around host cities.

And hospitality may not be the correct term for the most extortionate World Cup in history either.

The first use of “dynamic pricing” has seen the cost of tickets soar, some selling for tens of thousands of dollars and pricing out working-class fans.

Prices have been ratcheted up for travel to stadiums — already expensive given the vast distances between them, also of environmental concern — and every effort made to squeeze fans for every penny, even with a mooted ban on bringing your own water to matches.

Many Morning Star columnists have considered the toxic consequences of the commercialisation of the “beautiful game.” The 2026 World Cup is capitalist extortion incarnate, everything wrong with modern football sold as something to celebrate.

And Fifa has aligned itself openly with a warmongering, racist presidency, one actively backing far-right movements across the world — including in Britain.

It even invented a new “Fifa Peace Prize” so boss Gianni Infantino could award it to a president who has bombed 10 countries in his second term, threatened to annex his neighbours and is ordering vast increases in what is already by far the world’s biggest military budget. Sportswashing is too weak a term.

Trump is not Hitler, but there are parallels with the 1936 Olympics: this is no mere rogue state, but an aggressive superpower plunging the world into a new dark age.

Waking up to the scale of the threat he poses means opposing the normalisation of his regime. The Morning Star will not be covering World Cup matches in the United States and calls for this competition to be boycotted.

Belfast Riots Flare After Attempted Murder Charge in Knife Attack Case

Masked protesters gathered in several areas, including Belfast, Newtownabbey and Kilkeel, where houses, vehicles and barricades were set on fire

By The News Digital

June 10, 2026

Belfast riots flare after attempted murder charge in knife attack case

Violence broke out across parts of Northern Ireland on Tuesday night after a man was charged with attempted murder following a knife attack in Belfast.

Masked protesters gathered in several areas, including Belfast, Newtownabbey and Kilkeel, where houses, vehicles and barricades were set on fire.

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill condemned the unrest, saying groups of masked men were “burning families out of their homes” in scenes of “outright thuggery.”

The protests followed police confirmation that a 30-year-old Sudanese man had been charged over Monday night’s knife attack in north Belfast. The victim suffered injuries to his eyes, back and face and remains in hospital.

“The attack in North Belfast was heinous and wrong. But there are dangerous attempts to exploit that to target and attack innocent people who are simply trying to live, work and raise their families here. Racism, intimidation and violence are wrong wherever they occur,” O’Neill wrote on X.

Police said there was currently no evidence linking the stabbing to terrorism. Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson added that the suspect had legal permission to live in Northern Ireland.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the knife attack as “horrific” and “sickening,” while urging calm as tensions continued to rise across the region.

Northern Ireland Police, British Politicians Appeal for Calm After Belfast Stabbing Attack

Police in Belfast say no indication at this stage of a terrorist attack

Chris Iorfida 

CBC News 

Jun 09, 2026 9:17 AM EDT

A knife attack in Northern Ireland horrified onlookers on Monday night, sending a man to hospital in serious condition and raising tensions in the United Kingdom as questions about immigration, policing and online disinformation have been at the forefront of political discourse.

The attack occurred in north Belfast, with a man in his 40s in hospital with what police described as "significant injuries" to his eyes, face and back. Democratic Unionist Party Leader Gavin Robinson described the attack as "medieval" in nature.

"This is a deeply concerning assault and I have declared this a critical incident. We have commenced an investigation to establish a motive," Ryan Henderson, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said in a statement.

At a subsequent news conference, Henderson said that those who had rushed to the scene to intervene "undoubtedly" saved a life.

There is no indication that the suspect had accomplices and a terrorist attack is being ruled out at this stage, Henderson said. A kitchen knife was recovered, he said, and the suspect is believed to have lived near the scene of the crime.

Henderson said there would be a heightened police presence in the coming days for public safety and he urged any protests that proceed take place peacefully.

Hundreds of ‌anti-immigrant protesters took to the streets of Belfast on Tuesday, with some setting vehicles on fire.

People wearing masks gathered at points across the city, prompting police to deploy armoured vehicles. A bus was set on fire in east Belfast, television pictures showed. A few dozen protesters blocked Parliament Square ⁠in London.

Belfast stabbing sparks night of violent unrest

People took to the streets hours after a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged in a brutal and public stabbing in Belfast, setting vehicles on fire and throwing rocks at houses where immigrants reportedly lived. The attack has added to ongoing tensions over immigration and racial issues in Northern Ireland.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the attack "sickening" in a statement.

"I have absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets," he said.

First Minister Michelle O'Neill of Sinn Féin and leaders from across Northern Ireland's political spectrum released a joint statement on Tuesday condemning the attack, expressing condolences to the victim and their family, and calling for calm.

"It is essential that the facts are established through proper investigation and due process," the leaders said.

Farage posts image of attack

The leaders followed the call of Henderson and the police, urging those on social media not to share or repost what has been described as graphic videos or images related to the incident.

"No good will come of sharing it or of turning on each other in this society, including for the clout of online voices who don't know or care about us and who offer absolutely nothing for the future," Claire Hanna, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, said separately.

The leaders' statement came after Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage had already done so, reposting an image of a person with their arm raised and kneeling on a street, with blocks over the faces of two persons in the image.

The suspect, a 30-year-old ⁠Sudanese national police initially said was Somali, was charged on Tuesday evening with attempted murder, possession of an article with blade or point in a ⁠public place and threats to kill.

He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

Police said he had been granted leave to remain in ​the U.K. in September 2023 after claiming asylum. He travelled to Belfast in February that year by bus from Dublin, having flown there from Paris ⁠on an unknown date.

"There is no trace of this suspect on any of our national security databases, and he was ⁠not known to the Police Service of Northern Ireland," Chief Const. Jon Boutcher said.

The North West Migrants Forum, a non-profit charity that helps integrate newcomers in Northern Ireland, said in a statement that it was "horrified" by the incident, while praising bystanders who rushed to help the victim or helped apprehend the attacker.

The organization appealed for calm, with a reference to the decades-long deadly violence between Catholics and Protestants that largely ended with negotiated agreements in 1998.

"The overwhelming majority of people who come through our door desire only to live in peace and to build a life for themselves and their families," it said. "Northern Ireland knows well the danger of blaming an entire community for the deeds of an individual or small faction."

Heightened tensions

The attack came ahead of a scheduled speech by British Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch, where she discussed equalities laws and policing.

The Tory leader called on police to "bring the facts out as quickly as possible so that we can get some clarity" in the Belfast incident.

Badenoch in her speech said she believed that the fear of appearing racist had hampered police action and investigations in other incidents, including in the case of homicide victim Henry Nowak, the killings of three young girls in Southport by a young man with a history of concerning behaviour and years-long reports of sexual abuse by grooming gangs targeting minors.

Downing Street issued a statement pushing back after U.S. Vice-President JD Vance linked the death of 18-year-old Henry Nowak to immigration and what he characterized as civilizational decline in Europe.

The issue of race and policing has come to the fore in recent weeks as more circumstances surrounding the police response to the deadly incident involving the 18-year-old Nowak in December came to light.

Hampshire Police handcuffed Nowak as he lay dying from stab wounds after another man on the scene falsely alleged Nowak had committed a racist attack.

The killer, a British-born Sikh man, was sentenced last week to life in prison, and several people were arrested in a subsequent night of protest that was encouraged by Farage and far-right leader Tommy Robinson.

The Nowak killing aftermath also led to another diplomatic squabble between Britain and the U.S. The State Department, in a social media post about the Nowak killing, said "ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline."

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance on social media argued that Nowak would be alive "if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it."

Vance's comments overlooked the fact that Nowak was a duel citizen of England and Poland, with at least one grandparent born in the eastern European country. They also earned a rebuke from Starmer's office as well as Secretary of State David Lammy, who said he spoke to the vice-president — with whom he has developed a cordial relationship — after the remarks.

The British government has stressed that Nowak's family has urged people not to exploit their son's death for political purposes.

With files from Anna Cunningham of CBC News and Reuters

Racists Torch Cars, Buildings in Belfast After Knife Attack

Unrest comes after a Sudanese man was arrested over a stabbing attack in north Belfast, UK.

A fire burns during a protest after a knife attack on June 8 left a man seriously injured and prompted police to declare a critical incident, on Newtownards Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 9, 2026.

Belfast plunged into chaos as vehicles set ablaze following stabbing attack

By AFP, AP and Reuters

10 Jun 2026

Anti-immigrant protesters in the city of Belfast in the United Kingdom have torched vehicles and buildings after a Sudanese man was arrested over a knife attack that left one person with serious injuries.

Hundreds of protesters, many of them masked, gathered at several locations across the city on Tuesday, setting fire to a bus and several cars.

A building near the city centre was also set alight, with residents telling the AFP news agency that the protesters started a fire in the bins and went on to throw petrol bombs.

Crowds also gathered in Antrim, about 25km (15 miles) west of Belfast.

Michelle O’Neill, the first minister of Northern Ireland, slammed the protests and urged calm.

“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she wrote on X.

“Racism, intimidation and violence are wrong wherever they occur. There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight. No one wants to see this on our streets and I again appeal for calm”.

Appeals for calm

The suspect in the knife attack, which took place in north Belfast late on Monday, was charged late on Tuesday with attempted murder, possession of a bladed weapon in a public place, and making threats to kill.

The 30-year-old man, whose name has not been released, is due to appear in court on Wednesday.

The victim, a man in his 40s, suffered significant injuries to his eyes and slash wounds to his face and back during the attack with a kitchen knife found at the scene, police said.

“I understand that last night’s attempted murder will leave people feeling a range of emotions, from fear to anger,” Northern Ireland’s Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson told ⁠a news conference, as he declared the unrest a “critical incident”.

“I appeal for calm and the safety of all of our communities in ⁠response to this”, he said.

Footage of the knife attack in north Belfast showed several members of the public trying to fight off the ⁠attacker before police arrived, and they were credited by senior officers with saving the man’s life.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the attack “horrific” and “sickening” on X. “I have absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets,” he said.

His office said that “it is time for calm”, adding: “It’s important that police have the time and space to investigate appropriately."

Heightened tensions

The attack, which is ⁠not being treated as terrorism, comes at a time of heightened tensions in the UK following the murder of a student in Southampton who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh man, had falsely alleged a racist attack.

Although the victim and convicted killer were both British, protesters on Tuesday stood outside a Southampton hotel that had housed asylum seekers, holding signs that read, “Illegal Migration Is Destroying Our Civilisation”.

The attack in Belfast, meanwhile, sparked immediate questions about the suspect’s immigration status, including from some politicians.

Gavin Robinson, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, urged authorities to curb “uncontrolled immigration”, while anti-immigration figures, including Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage and Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe, demanded details about the attacker.

Northern Ireland’s chief constable, Jon Boutcher, told reporters that the suspect was living in the UK on a five-year visa granted in September 2023.

Boutcher said he was believed to have travelled from Sudan to Paris and Dublin before claiming asylum in Belfast.

“There is no trace of this suspect on any of our national security databases, and he was not known to the Police Service of Northern Ireland,” he added.

Northern ‌Ireland’s ‌main political party leaders jointly condemned the knife attack, calling it “horrific” and saying that “there is no place in our society for this kind of brutality”.

They also called for calm, saying that disturbances would only damage their communities.

Anti-immigrant Protests Flare Up Across Belfast After Knife Attack

By Amanda Ferguson, Reuters

June 9, 20266:30 AM EDT

Summary

Sudanese man charged with attempted murder

Man in his 40s in serious condition in hospital, police say

Police deploy armoured vehicles against masked youth

Political leaders call for calm

BELFAST, June 9 (Reuters) - Hundreds of anti-immigrant protesters took to ​the streets of Belfast on Tuesday, with some setting vehicles alight, after police charged a Sudanese man over ‌a knife attack that left one person with serious neck and head wounds.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the attack, which took place in north Belfast late on Monday evening, as "sickening". Video of it was shared widely on social media.

The knife attack, which is currently not being treated as terrorism, comes at a time ​of heightened tensions in Britain following the murder of a student who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from ​stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh man, falsely alleged a racist attack.

It also follows repeated ⁠protests about immigration, with populist parties saying Britain's asylum policy had allowed dangerous men into the country. There was anti-immigrant rioting in ​Northern Ireland last year amid anger over an alleged sexual assault.

POLICE DECLARE CRITICAL INCIDENT

Masked youths gathered at points across the city, with police ​responding by deploying armoured vehicles. Protesters set fire to a number of vehicles, including a bus in east Belfast.

The BBC reported that a crowd of 100 men kicked in doors and broke windows of homes on a street in east Belfast. Sky News showed footage of a house on fire.

A few dozen ​protesters blocked Parliament Square in London.

"I understand that last night's attempted murder will leave people feeling a range of emotions, from ​fear to anger," Northern Ireland's Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson, who has declared it a "critical incident", told a press conference.

"I appeal for calm and the ‌safety ⁠of all of our communities in response to this."

The victim, a man in his 40s, suffered significant injuries to his eyes and slash wounds to his face and back during the "brutal" attack, with a kitchen knife found at the scene, Henderson said.

Footage showed a number of members of the public trying to fight off the attacker before police arrived, and they were credited by senior officers with ​saving the man's life.

SUSPECT DUE IN ​COURT ON WEDNESDAY

The suspect, a ⁠30-year-old Sudanese national, was charged on Tuesday evening with attempted murder, possession of an article with blade or point in a public place and threats to kill.

He is due to appear at Belfast ​Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

Police said it was understood he lived locally, having been granted leave ​to remain in the ⁠UK in September 2023 after claiming asylum. He had travelled to Belfast in February that year by bus from Dublin, having flown there from Paris on an unknown date.

"There is no trace of this suspect on any of our national security databases, and he was not ⁠known to ​the Police Service of Northern Ireland," Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said.

Northern Ireland's ​main political party leaders jointly condemned the attack, calling it "horrific", and also called for calm, saying disturbances would only damage their communities.

Reporting by Amanda Ferguson in Belfast and ​Conor Humphries in Dublin; writing by Michael Holden and Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Kate Holton, Alex Richardson, Gareth Jones and Nia Williams