US and Iran exchange fire as Vance says deal could be months away | First Thing

Vice-president says he expects war to end in a week – or a few months. Plus, get ready for start of Fifa men’s World Cup Good morning.US forces have launched strikes against Iran in response to the downing of an Apache helicopter near the strait of Hormuz a day earlier, and Iran has retaliated by hitting American airbases in the Middle East. The exchange of fire came as the US vice-president, JD Vance, was vague on the possible timeframe for ending the Iran war, saying it could conclude in a week or a few months.What did Vance actually say? “Right now, I feel that we are in a position to get a deal that is good for the United States economically and that really does deal with the Iranian nuclear program. Not just now, not just while Donald Trump is president, but for the long term, to where my kids can say when they’re adults: ‘Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon.’”Who is Steve Hilton? Since arriving in the US 14 years ago, he has had stints as an entrepreneur, a policy analyst and a Fox News host after years of working in the background of Conservative party politics in Britain.Who has been supporting him? Hilton has assembled a broad coalition spanning working-class voters, Latino small-business owners, religious conservatives and Silicon Valley tech tycoons. He has managed to turn his British accent into an asset, priding himself on being a legal immigrant as opposed to the undocumented kind derided by the Republican establishment. Continue reading...