Trump-backed candidate in Iowa loses primary

A candidate hoping to run for governor in the US state of Iowa has lost a closely watched primary contest, despite getting the backing of Donald Trump.

Randy Feenstra, who was seen by many as a frontrunner, conceded the race on Tuesday, having received a last-minute presidential endorsement ahead of the vote.

The three-term Iowa congressman, who was running for his party's nomination for November's governor contest, had also been a reliable Trump supporter.

But for his part, the winner, farmer and businessman Zach Lahn, campaigned on a decidedly Trumpian platform – with slogans like "Make Iowa Healthy Again" and "Iowa first".

He campaigned on limiting foreign and out-of-state ownership of Iowa land and railed against "global elites".

Lahn also had the backing of Turning Point USA, the conservative group founded by the late Charlie Kirk, and grassroots conservatives in the state who viewed Feenstra as too much a part of the Washington establishment.

Trump has been out of the public eye the past six days, other than prerecorded interviews with friendly media and his postings on Truth Social, which included an assertion that negotiations with Iran over the war "have been going on continuously".

While the talks may be ongoing, they don't seem to be making much progress. It's been a rough week for Trump domestically as well - his administration has abandoned plans to create a $1.8bn (£1.3bn) "anti-weaponisation" fund. The fund had been designed to compensate individuals who claimed to be targets of political investigation by previous presidential administrations.