In a tense battle between the reigning champions of Europe and South America, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) lost to Brazilian side Botafogo 1-0.
Igor Jesus’ first-half goal on Thursday provided the catalyst for Botafogo’s victory in front of a 53, 699-person crowd at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in front of a 53, 699-person crowd.
After a fantastic season that ended with a stunning 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League final last month, French champion PSG are widely regarded as one of the favorites for FIFA’s 32-team competition.
However, their hopes of capturing a victory, which would have allowed them to advance to the last 16, were thwarted by their Rio de Janeiro opponents’ unwavering efforts.
Goal scorer Jesus stated after the victory that “many people wondered, but we demonstrated how strong Botafogo is.” We did our job and scored a goal in a challenging game, and we did it well.
We’re extremely pleased because we already knew how crucial this game was. “added Jesus,” who had been closely linked with a move to English Premier League side Nottingham Forest earlier this year, before choosing to stay with the Brazilians to play in the Club World Cup, was champion of the Champions League and champion of South America.
Jesus remarked, “I think I made the right decision to stay in Botafogo.”
On June 19, 2025, Jesus scored the game-winning goal at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles in the 36th minute.
PSG’s setback
Luis Enrique, the coach of PSG, stated that his team had anticipated a difficult battle.
The Spaniard said, “We knew it would be a very difficult match; they defended very well.”
All the teams are extremely motivated, especially when playing against us, and this Club World Cup is very intense and challenging.
However, the PSG manager remained unwavering about the possibility of the European champions winning again.
He said, “Our team is the one who can turn things around,” and that’s what he meant. There are things we can do to improve upon this, but we have to analyze it. But I think it was a good performance.
In Sunday’s 4-0 Group B victory over Atletico Madrid, PSG continued their winning ways with a late curling effort from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia against Botafogo goalkeeper John.
In a scrappy first half, puncted by a number of niggling fouls, the European champions couldn’t settle into their passing game, but that early effort was as close as PSG could get.
Despite dominating possession, Botafogo’s midfield trio of Marlon Freitas, Gregore, and Allan worked tirelessly to stop Vitinha, denying the skilled PSG playmaker the opportunity to launch attacks.
Instead, Botafogo opened the scoring in the 36th minute, going over the break.
Jesus flew past PSG on goal with a perfectly weighted through ball from Jefferson Savarino.
The Botafogo striker misjudiciously headed past PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma before deflecting a fine ball past the covering Willian Pacho.
PSG spent a lot of time in the final third of the second half camped out, but they continued to dominate possession throughout the second half.
The Brazilians are now firmly in the last 16, with a final group game against Atletico Madrid scheduled for Monday in Pasadena, thanks to Botafogo’s defense remaining unwavering.
[Frederic J. Brown/AFP] Botafogo players celebrate their 1-0 victory over PSG.
After Donald Trump announced that he would make a decision on whether to join the assault on Tehran within two weeks, Iran will hold talks with the United Kingdom, France, and Germany in Geneva on Friday in an effort to stop an escalation of its conflict with Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated in a statement to the state news agency IRNA that “we will meet with the European delegation in Geneva on Friday.”
Jean-Noel Barrot, French Foreign Minister, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Johann Wadephul, German Foreign Minister, and Kaja Kallas, European Union foreign policy chief, are expected to speak at the scheduled meeting in Switzerland.
Early this week, Kallas and the E3 ministers spoke with Araghchi and talked about the need to bring the table back to terms with to prevent further escalation. The two sides agreed to meet face-to-face at Iran’s suggestion.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, claimed that Europe would consider agreeing to a negotiated resolution to the conflict. He requested on Wednesday that his foreign minister create a plan with “close partners” in this regard.
After discussing the crisis with Ayman Safadi, the Jordanian foreign minister, Barrot said on Thursday in Paris that the three countries “stand ready to bring our competence and experience on this matter.”
We are prepared to participate in discussions to get Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs permanently canceled, he continued.
Following his briefing in Washington, DC, where he met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Special Envoy to Middle East Steve Witkoff, Lammy made arrangements to travel to Switzerland.
We have a window of opportunity within the next two weeks to reach a diplomatic solution, Lammy said in a statement.
Kallas has argued that diplomacy is still the best course of action to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons in collaboration with other European nations.
Israel has asserted on numerous occasions that its series of strikes are a preemptive strike against Iran.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful despite the fact that it does not manufacture nuclear weapons. No evidence was found to support Iran’s claim that it was creating these weapons, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Trump weighs his intervention.
Trump said he is considering military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, and diplomatic efforts are now escalating.
Given the “substantial chance” of renewed diplomatic negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program, Trump said on Thursday that he would decide within two weeks whether to engage militarily in the conflict.
All but the so-called “bunker-buster” bombs from Iran’s well-defended Fordow uranium enrichment facility, which is buried beneath a mountain, are thought to be out of reach.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, expressed his confidence in Trump’s ability to “do what’s best for America.” He told reporters in Beersheba, “I can tell you that they’re already helping a lot.”
A preliminary agreement between Iran and the world powers to curb its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions was reached in 2013, and a comprehensive agreement was reached in 2015, and the talks will take place in Geneva.
Trump defied his first-ever diplomatic efforts by his European allies to persuade him otherwise during his first year in office, breaking with the Iran nuclear deal.
When Israel launched Operation Rising Lion against Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic capabilities on June 12, negotiations between Iran and the US had been ongoing.
A surprise wave of Israeli attacks targeted Iranian military and nuclear sites, killing senior generals and nuclear scientists, exacerbated the conflict.
Since Israel launched a surprise wave of airstrikes against Iran a week ago, at least 639 people have been killed and more than 1,300 have been injured in Iran, according to the US-based rights organization Human Rights Activists.
Iran has re-emerged at the centre of international attention, following Israeli attacks on the Middle East’s second-largest country on June 13.
Stretching from the Caspian Sea in the north to the Gulf of Oman in the south, Iran’s landscape is as varied as its history, with key access to critical waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil flows.
Iran’s history spans millennia, making it one of the world’s most ancient and culturally rich nations, continuously inhabited and influential throughout history.
In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera provides a snapshot of Iran’s geography, key cities, population makeup, and ethnic diversity.
Iran at a glance
With a population of 92 million, Iran is the 17th-largest country in the world by population and land area.
Iran’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP) is $418bn, ranking it 36th in terms of the economy size. It has an unemployment rate of about 7.2 percent.
The country’s adult literacy rate is 89 percent, with youth literacy nearing 99 percent, though these rates vary between rural and urban areas.
The country is rich in oil and gas, ranking as the world’s ninth-largest oil producer and third-largest natural gas producer.
How big is Iran?
Located in Western Asia, Iran is the second-largest country in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia and the 17th-largest in the world, covering approximately 1.65 million square kilometres (636,000 square miles).
Iran shares land borders with seven countries, the longest being Iraq, followed by Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Turkiye and Armenia.
Iran covers about one-sixth the equivalent land area of the United States, nearly as large as the state of Alaska.
It is about one-sixth the size of Europe, about one-fifth the size of Australia, roughly half the size of India and about 80 times larger than Israel.
Where are Iran’s main population centres?
Most of Iran’s 92 million people live in the western half of the country, where the terrain features rugged mountains alongside fertile valleys and river basins that sustain much of the population.
With 9.6 million inhabitants, Tehran has been the capital since 1795 and is the country’s largest city. Situated beneath the Alborz Mountains, Tehran’s history dates back more than 6,000 years.
Mashhad, in the northeast, is Iran’s second-largest city with 3.4 million people and a history spanning more than 1,200 years. It is a major religious and cultural centre and is home to the Imam Reza Shrine, which brings in millions of pilgrims from around the world.
Isfahan, the third-largest city, is home to some 2.3 million people. More than 2,500 years old, the city was once the capital of the Safavid Empire, which lasted from 1501 to 1722. Isfahan hosts major educational institutions and is a centre for textiles, steel and manufacturing, along with nuclear and aerospace industries.
Other populous cities across Iran include: Shiraz (1.7 million), Tabriz (1.7 million), Karaj (1.6 million), Qom (1.4 million) and Ahvaz (1.3 million).
Demographic breakdown
Nearly 60 percent of Iran’s population is below the age of 39, according to figures from the United Nations Statistics Division.
The country’s median age is 33-34 years, and about 77 percent of Iranians live in urban areas.
The largest age groups in Iran are those aged 30-34 and 35-39, meaning most of the population was born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Pahlavi Shah regime.
However, there has been a significant emigration of Iranian professionals in recent years, largely driven by economic hardship.
What are Iran’s ethnicities?
Iran is a highly diverse country, both ethnically and culturally. Persians make up approximately 61 percent of the population, while significant minority groups include Azerbaijanis (16 percent), Kurds (10 percent) and others, such as Lurs (6 percent), Arabs (2 percent), Baloch (2 percent) and Turkic groups (2 percent).
Iran is predominantly Shia Muslim, making up about 90 percent of the population, while Sunni Muslims and other Muslim sects account for roughly 9 percent. The remaining 1 percent includes roughly 300,000 Baha’i, 300,000 Christians, 35,000 Zoroastrians, 20,000 Jews, and 10,000 Sabean Mandeans according to the Minority Rights Group.
In border regions such as Kurdistan, Khuzestan and Sistan-Baluchestan, ethnic groups play a key role in shaping the country’s ethnic and religious diversity as well as its regional politics.
While Persian (Farsi) is the official national language, many regions across the country speak a variety of other languages.
Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa overnight, injuring at least 14 people and seriously harming railway infrastructure, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Residential structures, a higher education institution, a gas pipeline, and private cars were among the damage reported by Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper. According to emergency services, there have been at least 10 drone attacks in the area.
Power wires and rails were damaged during the attack, according to Ukrainian state railways Ukrzaliznytsia, according to a report from Ukrzaliznytsia.
Russian drones attacked Kharkiv overnight in northeastern Ukraine, killing several multistory homes and injuring them, according to Kharkiv officials.
According to the Ukrainian military, 86 drones were launched overnight by Russia, with 34 of them fatally, and 36 of them were lost. Neither was the case because the drones were drone simulators without weapons, or because they were drones that didn’t have warheads. According to the report, drones struck eight locations.
Sergei Sobyanin, mayor of Moscow, claimed that two drones were shot down while entering the Russian capital by air defense systems.
Military
Hennadiy Shapovalov, the head of Ukraine’s land forces, was replaced by Mykhailo Drapatyi, who resigned due to a deadly attack on a Russian training facility. As part of a military shake-up, Rapatyi was re-appointed as the joint forces commander.
diplomacy and politics
According to officials from both countries, the most recent exchanges took place in the framework of an Istanbul agreement, which included more prisoners of war.
Zelenskyy also indicated that he would like to speak with Putin.
Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister of Ukraine, claimed that the conflict between Israel and Iran had exposed Russian hypocrisy, with Moscow opposing Tehran’s nuclear program and condemning strikes while “ruthlessly” attacking Ukraine.
Economy
Since Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine in 2022, its $2 trillion economy has grown thanks to rising defense spending.
Few serious businesses, including Sergei Aleksashenko, a former deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, would consider Moscow, Russia, as a potential investment destination even if the war were to end tomorrow.
Trump’s support has splintered as a result of GOP hawks’ concerns about potential US airstrikes against Iran. Key MAGA allies warn that war could derail Trump’s domestic goals, while some Republicans support regime change and military action. Trump claims he will make a decision on Iranian actions in two weeks.
Field Marshal Asim Munir, the army chief of Pakistan, and United States President Donald Trump had an unprecedented one-on-one meeting at the White House, where the two leaders spoke for more than two hours, according to the Pakistani military.
The meeting, originally scheduled for an hour, was held in the Cabinet Room over lunch and then continued in the Oval Office, according to a statement released on Thursday by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
After a four-day conflict between India and Pakistan in May, Munir expressed “deep appreciation” for Trump’s efforts to broker a ceasefire, according to the ISPR. Trump praised Pakistan’s efforts to combat “terrorism,” according to the ISPR.
Trump spoke to reporters briefly after his discussions with Munir, but the White House did not release a statement regarding the meeting, which was held behind closed doors and without the use of photos for the media. He thanked the army chief and expressed his gratitude to him.
Trump also mentioned the ongoing military conflict between Israel and Iran, which the US president has suggested his country might join, amid the cheers and promises of a sharp uptick in relations after years of tension between Washington and Islamabad.
Trump claimed that the Pakistanis “know Iran very well, better than most people,” and that they are “not happy” with it.
According to analysts, Pakistan’s comment underscored how two crucial challenges will face Pakistan as they attempt to reestablish relations with the US. They predicted that Pakistan will have to find a diplomatic balance between Iran and the current diplomatic conflict with Israel. Pakistan might be drawn in conflicting directions by Islamabad’s close ties to China.
What were Trump and Munir discussing?
Munir spoke to Trump about “economic development, mines and minerals, artificial intelligence, energy, cryptocurrency, and emerging technologies,” according to the ISPR.
However, Islamabad acknowledged that the two leaders had “detailed discussions” about the rising tensions between Iran and Israel, with both Trump and Munir stressing the need for a peaceful resolution.
Lieutenant General Asim Malik, who also oversees Pakistan’s top intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was present for Munir.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, the president’s top Middle Eastern negotiator, joined Trump on the American side.
The lack of a media presence at the lunch, according to Marvin Weinbaum, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), could be interpreted as implying that “none of the parties wanted photo opportunities,” according to Weinbaum.
According to Weinbaum, neither party likely wanted to reveal much about “what was discussed,” but according to Weinbaum, the US may have wanted to know about Pakistan’s influence in the current situation in Iran.
Nearly three dozen figures from think tanks, policy institutions, and diplomatic circles were present at a dinner hosted by the Pakistani embassy later on Wednesday evening. Al Jazeera spoke with a number of participants who had requested anonymity to speak about Munir’s remarks at the dinner.
One participant claimed Munir’s conversation with Trump was “fantastic and could not have gone any better,” but he claimed he had not provided any specifics about it.
According to this person, Munir claimed that relations between Pakistan and the previous President Joe Biden administration had historically been “among the worst.”
Another attendee continued to tell Al Jazeera that Munir claimed that Pakistan believes that “every conflict can be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.” Munir also stated that the US “knows what it needs to do regarding Iran.”
Significant upswing
According to experts, the meeting is a significant boost for Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen ties with the US at the moment.
Since 1947, Pakistan has been a close US ally. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the US invasion of Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks, they both worked closely together there.
Despite the US providing more than $30 billion in aid to Pakistan over the past 20 years, it has consistently accused Islamabad of being a “duplicity” and a lacked trust in its security partners.
Pakistan has countered that Washington is constantly making demands of it “do more” without fully recognising the losses and instability that regional violence has caused Pakistan.
Munir’s visit, according to Elizabeth Threlkeld, director of the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, represents a “significant upswing” in US-Pakistan ties under the Trump administration.
Field Marshal Munir’s visit has helped to strengthen a relationship built during the recent crisis, she told Al Jazeera, “Given President Trump’s central role in shaping foreign policy and his preference for personal relationships.”
Although the meeting was significant, security policy expert Sahar Khan said, “the two countries are now friends.” It does, however, indicate a “thaw in the relationship.”
She continued, “Pakistan should consider striking a deal with Trump to prevent unrealistic demands regarding regional issues,” despite his unpredictable nature.
Munir’s advice to the Trump administration is to take the time to understand Pakistan and stop judging it from the perspectives of India, China, or Afghanistan, she said.
However, it won’t be simple to make that message stick, according to experts.
China: the actual strategic quandary
Pakistan’s most important trading partner, China, continues to have strong economic, strategic, and military ties. Beijing’s rise as a global superpower has also become Washington’s principal rival, though at the same time.
Working with both countries will put an emphasis on Islamabad’s commitment to a “no-camp politics,” according to Muhammad Faisal, a researcher studying South Asia security at the University of Technology in Sydney.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a significant infrastructure project connecting western China via Pakistan to the Arabian Sea, has received $ 62 billion in funding.
More than 80% of Pakistan’s military supplies come from China, and some of those products, particularly Chinese jets and missiles, were recently shown to be worth by their use in the recent conflict with India.
Both China and the US are important for Pakistan in their own right, Faisal told Al Jazeera. And while Islamabad may be preferred by the US and China, Pakistan’s popularity has a benefit for both.
He claimed that it “allows Islamabad to have a lot of diplomatic space” to expand cooperation with Beijing and Washington.
Iran’s challenge
Pakistan faces yet another difficult situation as a result of the recent intense Israeli assault against key infrastructure and senior military and nuclear figures.
Last month, Field Marshal Asim Munir and Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the head of the Iranian military’s general staff, met. In an Israeli airstrike on June 13, 2025, Bhagheri was killed. [Handout/Inter-Services Public Relations]
According to experts, Pakistan could serve as a potential mediator between the US and Iran due to its proximity and ties to Tehran.
“Playing a mediating role is in Pakistan’s best interest. Given its internal difficulties, it can’t afford another adversary to invade its western border,” Khan said.
Munir and Shehbaz Sharif, both of whom are prime ministers of Pakistan, traveled to Iran last month. He made contact with Iranian military chief of general Staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, during the visit. Bagheri was one of the several military officials who perished in Israel’s initial wave of strikes on Friday.
Pakistan has vigorously opposed Iran’s right to self-defense ever since the Israeli strikes began, branding the Israeli strikes as “blatant provocations” and claiming they violate Iran’s territorial integrity.
A significant Shia minority, which consists of 15 to 20 percent of Pakistan’s population, seeks Iranian religious leadership.
Faisal noted that Pakistan’s public support for any US military intervention would be constrained by these demographic and geographic circumstances.
In order to contain the conflict, Islamabad can continue to call for diplomatic action and the cessation of hostilities. He claimed that Pakistan’s neighbors don’t want instability in Iran.
