Iran held by New Zealand in World Cup opener overshadowed by politics
Iran twice battled back for a 2–2 draw with New Zealand on Monday in their frenetic opening match of a World Cup campaign that has been utterly overshadowed by war, politics and protests.
The Iranian team's very presence at the Los Angeles Stadium had long felt uncertain, after months of military conflict between their nation and the United States.
At last able to focus on the football, the Iran players twice found themselves trailing to the tournament's lowest-ranked team, thanks to goals from New Zealand striker Elijah Just.
But with a vocally pro-Iran crowd drowning out planned protests by anti-government demonstrators, equalisers from Ramin Rezaeian and Mohammad Mohebi spared Team Melli any further blushes.
Vance says Strait of Hormuz will reopen without tolls
US Vice President JD Vance told CNBC there was an understanding with Iran that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen "in a toll-free way for the long term, and that's the sort of thing that we're going to figure out in these technical negotiations."
Trump himself said the critical strait would be "completely open" from Friday but added there was still "hunting" going on to ensure it was demined.
Welcome to the France 24 liveblog covering events in the Middle East. Catch up on yesterday’s events here.
Yesterday's key developments:
• US President Donald Trump said a memorandum of understanding with Iran has already been signed and that the text of the deal would be released sometime after a formal signing ceremony on Friday.
• The G7 group of leading powers met for a summit in France set to be dominated by scrutiny of US President Donald Trump's deal to end the war with Iran.
• Several points of the MoU remain uncertain, as the US, Iran and Israel have made competing claims surrounding issues like tolls for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz and Israel's ongoing presence in Lebanon.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP and AFP)
