The United States announced new restrictions on granting visas to South African citizens, after US President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized the racial justice policies adopted by the country since the end of the apartheid regime.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the South African government's policies regarding land ownership reform and addressing the economic and social legacy of the former apartheid regime, knowing that they aim to address the great disparities that still exist 30 years after the end of white minority rule.
The US State Department said that the new measures target South African citizens who “contribute to the expropriation of land without compensation, discrimination based on race, and/or incitement to imminent violence against members of racial or ethnic minorities.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “As President Trump has made clear, the people of South Africa are harmed by a government that is destroying the country’s economy through its excessive effort to resolve racial grievances at the expense of the Afrikaner minority.”
He added that visa restrictions would target people who “promote discrimination based on race, incite violence, or contribute to the confiscation of land without compensation.”
In 2025, the US President directed sharp criticism at his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, during a meeting in the Oval Office, against the backdrop of what he described as “white genocide.” He imposed high customs duties on South Africa, while boycotting the G20 summit hosted in Johannesburg that year.
US Vice President J.D. Vance said that the US conflict with Iran will enter “a completely different phase within two months,” which is in line with what President Donald Trump announced that the war would end “immediately after” the midterm congressional elections, after months of exchanged strikes between Washington and Tehran.
The US Vice President said, during an interview with the New York Post newspaper on board Air Force 2, that the Iranian regime will continue to lose control over the Strait of Hormuz until the elections, after traffic through this vital energy corridor globally has returned to “much more than 50 percent of its normal level.”
Vance added: “We cannot predict the future, but I think the president is right in saying that this matter will enter a completely different phase in two months... He is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and therefore he is the person who determines when conflicts begin and when they end.”
He continued: “I certainly realize that there is a degree of impatience among the American people, but what is essentially happening now is that the United States is not participating in aggressive operations. "We don't do that at all."
On Tuesday, Republican Representative in the US Congress, Thomas Massie, presented articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of abusing his position by carrying out an order to launch hostilities against Iran without the approval of Congress, according to what was reported by the Reuters news agency.
It is unlikely that the impeachment decision will be approved, but this step taken by the Republican representative from Kentucky may force a vote in the House of Representatives, which may pose a difficulty for some of his Republican colleagues who are preparing to leave Washington before the midterm elections scheduled for November.
“The entire department is united behind the secretary’s vision and will continue to work to put our warfighters and America’s interests first,” Pentagon spokesman Kingsley Wilson said in an emailed statement.
Massie presented the articles of impeachment against Hegseth as a priority, meaning the House must consider them within two days of legislative work.
Massie, an outspoken critic of the war on Iran and aid to Israel, will not run for re-election. He lost the primary election in May to a candidate backed by Republican President Donald Trump, after Massie angered the president by leading a campaign to unseal Justice Department files linked to the late businessman convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein.
Massie was defeated by Ed Gallerin, who is supported by Trump and has huge financial support from pro-Israel groups.
Opinion polls indicate that the war, which began with attacks launched by the United States and Israel on Iran on February 28, is unpopular with voters. Members of Congress, most of whom are Democrats, repeatedly voted in favor of resolutions calling on Trump to end the conflict unless he obtained the support of Congress, but these resolutions did not lead to a cessation of hostilities.
Opinion polls indicate that Republicans loyal to Trump face an uphill battle to maintain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate when voters go to the polls on November 3.
The results of a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos and published yesterday, Monday, showed that Democrats are ahead of Republicans by 44 percent compared to 37 percent in voting preferences for Congress.
Trump's popularity has declined since he launched the war that disrupted oil shipments and pushed fuel prices to levels close to their highest levels ever, which negatively affected the financial situation of American families.
