Man who tried to shoot Trump at Florida golf course gets life in prison
Fort Pierce (US) (AP): A man convicted of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison after a federal prosecutor said his crime was unacceptable "in this country or anywhere."
US District Judge Aileen Cannon pronounced Ryan Routh's fate in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors found him guilty on all counts.
"American democracy does not work when individuals take it into their own hands to eliminate candidates. That's what this individual tried to do," Assistant US Attorney John Shipley told the judge.
Defense attorney Martin L Roth argued that "at the moment of truth, he chose not to pull the trigger."
The judge pushed back, noting Routh's history of arrests, to which Roth said, "He's a complex person, I'll give the court that, but he has a very good core."
Routh then read from a rambling, 20-page statement. Cannon broke in, said none of what he was saying was relevant and gave him five more minutes to talk.
"I did everything I could and lived a good life," Routh said, before the judge cut him off.
"Your plot to kill was deliberate and evil," she said. "You are not a peaceful man. You are not a good man."
She then issued his sentence: Life without parole, plus seven years on a gun charge. His sentences for his other three crimes will run concurrently.
In a statement on the social platform X, US Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked prosecutors for ensuring that Routh "will never walk free again."
'Ryan Routh's heinous attempted assassination of President Trump was not only an attack on our President -- it was a direct assault against our entire democratic system," Bondi said.
Routh's sentencing was initially scheduled for December. But Cannon agreed to move it back after Routh decided to use an attorney during the sentencing phase, instead of representing himself as he did for most of the trial.
Routh was convicted of trying to assassinate a major presidential candidate, using a firearm in furtherance of a crime, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a felon and using a gun with a defaced serial number.
"Routh remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologised for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near-total disregard for law," prosecutors said in their sentencing memo.
His defense attorney had asked for 20 years plus the mandatory seven for the gun conviction.
"The defendant is two weeks short of being sixty years old," Roth wrote in a filing. "A just punishment would provide a sentence long enough to impose sufficient but not excessive punishment, and to allow defendant to experience freedom again as opposed to dying in prison."
Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the Republican presidential candidate played golf on September 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.
At trial a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.
In the motion requesting an attorney, Routh offered to trade his life in a prisoner swap with people unjustly held in other countries and said an offer still stood for Trump to "take out his frustrations on my face."
"Just a quarter of an inch further back and we all would not have to deal with all of this mess," Routh wrote. He added, "but I always fail at everything (par for the course)."
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US warns shipping firms they could face sanctions over paying Iranian tolls in Strait of Hormuz
Dubai (AP): The United States is warning shipping companies that they could face sanctions for making payments to Iran to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The alert posted Friday by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control adds another layer of pressure in the standoff between the US and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
About a fifth of the world's trade in oil and natural gas typically passes through the strait at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in peacetime.
Iran effectively closed the strait to normal traffic by attacking and threatening to attack ships after the US and Israel launched a war on Feb. 28. It later began offering some ships safe passage by detouring them through alternate routes closer to its shoreline, charging fees at times for the service.
That "tollbooth” effort is the focus of the US sanctions warning.
The payment demands could include transfers not only in cash but also “digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments,” including chartibale donations and payments at Iranian embassies, OFAC said.
“OFAC is issuing this alert to warn US and non-US persons about the sanctions risks of making these payments to, or soliciting guarantees from, the Iranian regime for safe passage. These risks exist regardless of payment method,” it said.
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The US responded to Iran's closure of the strait with a naval blockade of its own on April 13, preventing any Iranian tankers from leaving and depriving Iran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.
The US Central Command said 45 commercial ships have been told to turn around since the blockade began.
Trump rejects Iranian proposal
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The warning came as US President Donald Trump swiftly rejected Iran's latest proposal to end the war between the countries.
“They want to make a deal, I'm not satisfied with it, so we'll see what happens,” Trump said Friday at the White House. He didn't elaborate on what he saw as its shortcomings but expressed frustration with the Iranian leadership.
“It's a very disjointed leadership,” Trump said. “They all want to make a deal, but they're all messed up.”
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported Iran handed over its plan to mediators in Pakistan on Thursday night.
The shaky three-week ceasefire between the US and Iran appears to be holding, though both countries have traded accusations of violations. The standoff is increasingly putting pressure on the global economy, driving up prices and leading to shortages of fuel and other products tied to the oil industry.
Negotiations continued by phone after Trump called off his envoys' trip to Pakistan last week, the president said. Trump this week floated a new plan to reopen the critical passageway used by America's Gulf allies to export their oil and gas.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has briefed many of his regional counterparts on the country's initiatives to end the ear, according to his social media. He also held talks Friday with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who is in contact with the EU's Gulf partners.
China's UN envoy urges Iran to lift restrictions
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Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassdor to the United Nations, said Friday that maintaining the ceasefire is “the most urgent issue" as well as bringing together the sides to resume good faith negotiations “to make sure that the ground is laid for reopening of Hormuz.”
Foreign Minister Wang Yi “has been on the phone almost constantly” with representatives from all sides, Fu said, adding that China supports Pakistan's efforts to mediate between the parties.
Fu stressed the root cause of the tremendous suffering in Iran and neighboring countries and the growing turmoil in the global economy, especially in developing countries, “is the illegitimate war by the US and Israel.
