Trump news: President responds to Iran seizing British ship, as he announces he spoke with Kanye West about A$AP Rocky

Amid increasing backlash over his racist comments about US congresswomen

Trump says he tried to stop 'send her back' chants but video proves he didn't

Donald Trump has responded to the Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard seizing at least one British oil tanker.

After saying he was in talks with the UK, Mr Trump - who pulled America out of the Iran Nuclear Deal last year - said: "This only goes to show what I'm saying about Iran. Trouble. Nothing but trouble."

The events come a day after Donald Trump said the US Navy "destroyed" an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz, a claim Iran denied.

In the midst of the international tensions, which have escalated since Iran shot down a US drone in June, the president posted a tweet about his efforts to release imprisoned rapper A$AP Rocky.

The American star is currently in a Swedish prison while police finish their investigation into a fight that took place in downtown Stockholm.

“Just spoke to Kanye West about his friend A$AP Rocky's incarceration”, Mr Trump posted online. “I will be calling the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see what we can do about helping A$AP Rocky. So many people would like to see this quickly resolved!”

Earlier in the day, the feud between Donald Trump and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar raged on.

The president has faced increasing criticism over his racist attacks of the Somali-born Democrat.

Despite saying he disapproved of the “send her back” chants at a North Carolina rally, Donald Trump today praised the rally attendees as "incredible patriots," and said Representative Omar is “a disgrace to our country.”

The latest political figure to defend the freshman representative is Angela Merkel.

The German Chancellor said Mr Trump's racist comments about Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib undermine America's strength" and that she stands in "solidarity" with the congresswomen.

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Key Points

• Iran seizes at least one British oil tanker in Gulf amid growing international tensions
• President says he is working to secure release of American rapper A$AP Rocky
• Ilhan Omar calls Trump 'fascist' and vows to continue being 'a nightmare'
• President says he tried to stop rally crowd’s 'send her back' chant
• Iran denies Trump claim one of its drones shot down by USS Boxer

[19 July 2019 14:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

Wow he's really going after the nicknames today: first "Foul Mouthed Omar", now Thomas "the Chin" Friedman, a New York Times columnist who has annoyed him bigly.

The idea that Trump of all people would mock someone for spending too much time on the golf course is just staggering. By my count, he has spent 208 days in office on the links so far.

He'd hate it if you shared this so here's the offending column.

[19 July 2019 14:20 · Joe Sommerlad]

He's also been bashing the Federal Reserve again, part of his running criticism of chairman of the board Jerome Powell.

[19 July 2019 14:35 · Joe Sommerlad]

Republican congressman Mark Meadows here with one of the weakest defences of Trump's tweets you will see.

[19 July 2019 14:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

Having said that, daughter-in-law Lara Trump's thoughts on the rally are not much better.

[19 July 2019 14:55 · Joe Sommerlad]

More Fed haranguing from the Trumpster.

Those first two tweets were threaded. This one wasn't.

[19 July 2019 15:09 · James Crump]

A new poll finds that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is America’s most unpopular senator with voters in his state, with Maine Senator Susan Collins coming a close runner-up.

[19 July 2019 15:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's the latest on Iran from Borzou Daraghi, where deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has made the tongue-in-cheek suggestion the US Navy may have shot down its own drone.

[19 July 2019 15:25 · Joe Sommerlad]

Some international reaction to Trump's never-ending racism scandal.

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau says this...

...While, in Britain, home secretary Sajid Javid - the son of a Pakistani Muslim immigrant to the UK - has spoken of his own experiences of being told to "go back where he came from" and called on world leaders to moderate their language to tackle extremism.

[19 July 2019 15:37 · James Crump]

Ilhan Omar hits back at Donald Trump in a tweet, saying he wants to transform America away from being a 'welcoming nation'.

[19 July 2019 15:49 · James Crump]

A digital forensics expert at the University of California has warned that 'dumbfake' videos could be a major issue in the 2020 presidential election.

Hany Farid said that unlike deepfakes, which require sophisticated artificial intelligence, audio manipulation and facial mapping technology, dumbfakes can be made simply by varying the speed of video or selective editing. 

One example is the slowed-down video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that made her appear impaired, garnering more than 2 million views on Facebook in May.