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A $499 gold phone built entirely in the United States and a mobile plan boasting telehealth services have been announced by the Trump Organization as part of an effort to entice the US president’s supporters away from major telecom providers and wireless services.

The mobile service is the latest example of the president’s family striking business deals off of the Trump name.

The eponymous Trump Mobile was announced in a Monday statement issued by the Trump Organization, which is led by President Donald Trump’s son Eric.

Dubbed the 47 Plan, the service will cost consumers $47.45 a month and will offer “5G service through all three major cellular carriers” – T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T. According to the statement, it will offer telemedicine, unlimited texting plans with 100 counties, and roadside assistance.

Some key details about the venture, including those about the family’s partner in the business and the financial terms of their licensing deal, were not immediately disclosed.

The “T1 Phone” is advertised as “proudly designed and built in the United States” and listed with a release date in August, although a tech writer from The Verge questioned the viability of building a phone in the US so quickly.

Speaking on Fox Business, Eric Trump said Trump Mobile would have call centres in St Louis, Missouri.

The Trump family, long known for its real estate empire, luxury hotels, and golf resorts, has in recent years ventured into newer arenas including digital media and cryptocurrency.

President Trump has said he put his business interests in a trust managed by his children to avoid conflicts of interest, but income from such business ventures will eventually enrich Trump, who sits atop the series of Trump family firms. In the president’s financial disclosure released on Friday, he reported more than $600m in income from licensing deals, crypto projects, golf clubs and other ventures – though that figure appeared to be only through the end of 2024, before his inauguration.

Targeting Apple?

The Trump Mobile announcement coincides with increased tension between the Trump administration and Apple in particular. The White House explicitly called for 25 percent tariffs on Apple products unless they are made in the US.

“It’s pointed at Apple, that’s a really big downward price pressure on what Apple’s trying to do,” Brian Mulberry, client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, told the Reuters news agency.

Despite a recent pledge to spend $500bn in the US on manufacturing, research and development – comparable to pledges the Cupertino, California-based tech giant made in the past – the company recently doubled down on moving key parts of its production from China to India.

“There’s been kind of an opening for this type of device, if you will, simply because not just Apple, but Samsung devices to a certain extent as well, have really gotten so expensive in the moment in time and we haven’t really seen that big of a measurable increase in utility,” Mulberry said.

The Trump Organization, which is the main holding entity for most of the US president’s business ventures, said ahead of Trump’s inauguration that control of the company would be handed to his children, replicating the arrangement from his first term, though concerns about potential conflicts of interest remain.

“No one who has been paying attention could miss that President Trump considers the presidency a vehicle to grow his family’s wealth. Maybe this example will help more come to see this undeniable truth,” Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Harvard Law School, told Reuters.

Will it land?

While the Trump Organization is privately held, Trump-related stocks have not performed well on the news of the new smartphone and service plan. ​​Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, which is traded under the ticker DJT, is down 1.59 percent for the day as of 11am ET (15:00 GMT). The stock has already been on the downturn. It has tumbled more than 10 percent in the last five trading days.

“I don’t see much impact from Trump Mobile across the industry, as half of its addressable market is negated by political parties, and then from there, this industry already has a lot of stickiness to current providers,” David Wagner, head of equities at Aptus Capital Advisors, told Reuters.

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‘You hear the sound of the aggressor attacking the truth’ This is what Iran’s state TV presenter Sahar Emami said moments before an Israeli missile struck the studio, halting her broadcast. Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari breaks it down.

US President Donald Trump said Iran and Israel “should talk immediately” about de-escalating their conflict “before it’s too late.” Speaking at the G7 summit in Canada he said Tehran is “not winning this war.”

Washington, DC – A prominent Democratic senator has introduced a bill to require United States President Donald Trump to first seek authorisation from Congress before ordering military strikes against Iran.

The measure, put forward by Virginia Senator Tim Kaine on Monday, came amid growing calls by pro-Israel groups for the US to join the Israeli bombing campaign against Iran as the attacks between the two countries intensify.

“I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict,” Kaine said in a statement.

“The American people have no interest in sending service-members to fight another forever war in the Middle East. This resolution will ensure that if we decide to place our nation’s men and women in uniform into harm’s way, we will have a debate and vote on it in Congress.”

The bill invokes the War Powers Resolution of 1973, passed during the Vietnam War to constrain unilateral presidential powers to engage in military hostilities.

The US Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, but successive US presidents have used their positions as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces to mobilise troops, initiate attacks and start conflicts without clear congressional authorisation.

Kaine’s proposal adds to the pressure Trump is facing from antiwar advocates in both major parties, advocates said.

Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, said the bill sends a message to Trump against going to war with Iran and to the Israelis that “they’re not going to just get blank-cheque US support”.

It could also gauge the level of opposition to war with Iran in Congress, especially among Republicans. A growing contingency of right-wing lawmakers has been warning Trump against being dragged into a conflict that they said does not serve US interests.

‘De-escalatory signal’

While Trump’s Republican Party controls both houses of the US Congress, the resolution may pass if conservative lawmakers who oppose foreign military interventions join the Democrats in backing it.

To become law, the bill needs to pass in the Senate and House of Representatives and be signed by Trump, who would likely block it. But Congress can override a presidential veto with two-thirds majorities in the House and the Senate.

During his first term, Trump successfully vetoed two war powers resolutions, including a 2020 bill that aimed to curb his authority to strike Iran, which was also led by Kaine.

El-Tayyab said the 2020 push helped warn Trump against further strikes against Iran after the killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani despite the presidential veto, adding that the current measure may have a similar effect.

“Even if it passes and Trump vetoes it, it still sends a de-escalatory signal, and it reminds the administration that only Congress can declare war,” El-Tayyab told Al Jazeera.

Trump has not ruled out US strikes against Iran. “We’re not involved in it. It’s possible we could get involved,” he told ABC News on Sunday.

At the same time, the US president has called for ending the war.

Israel launched a bombardment campaign against Iran on Friday, targeting military and nuclear sites as well as residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, killing dozens of people, including top military officials and nuclear scientists.

The assault came just days before US and Iranian negotiators were to meet for a sixth round of nuclear talks in Oman.

Iran has responded with hundreds of ballistic missiles, many of which have penetrated Israel’s air defences, causing widespread damage across the country.

Hawks urge Trump to ‘go all-in’

With Israel under fire and seemingly unable on its own to take out Iran’s nuclear programme – including facilities buried deep underground and inside mountains – the US ally’s supporters are calling on Trump to come to its aid.

“The US has the bombers to carry deep-penetrating bombs that Israeli jets can’t. … This will be a missed opportunity if some of Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity survives when US participation could have made a difference,” The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote on Saturday.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also said the US should “go all-in to help Israel finish the job”.

However, many US politicians have cautioned against American involvement in the war. Trump ran last year as a “peace” candidate, slamming his Democratic opponents as “warmongers”.

Right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said in a social media post on Sunday that Americans are “sick and tired of foreign wars”.

“We have spent TRILLIONS in the Middle East and we have dealt with the aftermath of death, blown apart bodies, never ending suicides, and disabling PTSD,” she wrote in a post on X.

“All because they told us propaganda as to why we must sacrifice our own to defend some other country’s borders and some other country’s borders.”

Some US lawmakers have also stressed that war with Iran without the approval of Congress would be illegal.

“The president cannot circumvent congressional war powers and unilaterally send US troops to war with Iran,” Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said last week.

“The American people do not want another endless war in the Middle East that will cost lives and tear their families apart.”

‘Devastating regional war’

Antiwar advocates have long called on Congress to assert its powers over conflict. On Monday, several groups expressed support for Kaine’s proposed legislation.

“This is a critical moment for Congress to step in and exercise its constitutional authority to prevent the US from being dragged into another war,” Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now, told Al Jazeera.

“Democrats and Republicans should unite in rejecting any US involvement in a devastating regional war launched by a genocidal maniac – one that would needlessly risk American lives and squander national interest,” he added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel, which is carrying out a military campaign in Gaza that major rights groups have described as a genocide, has been warning for years that Iran is on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon.

While Israel has portrayed its strikes as “preemptive” to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Tehran says the war was unprovoked and violates the United Nations Charter’s rules against aggression.