The reduction in funding for Iranian groups, based largely outside Iran, is affecting the work of human rights monitors, news outlets and civic activists.

The Trump administration official overseeing deep cuts to U.S. foreign aid programs briefed members of Congress on Wednesday, but offered little insight into how he is changing the country's distribution of billions of dollars worth of international assistance,

The move came after Chief Justice Roberts temporarily paused a trial judge’s order requiring the administration to release more than $1.5 billion.

Chief Justice Roberts issued a temporary pause. Aid organizations said in a Supreme Court filing that they "would face extraordinary and irreversible harm if the funding freeze continues."

E NDING DEPENDENCE on foreign donors would not only lead to prosperity but also to “self-respect for our nation”. Thus argued Nana Akufo-Addo, then the president of Ghana, when he launched his “Ghana beyond aid” policy in 2017.

The justices split 5-4 on whether to halt a judge’s order to restart nearly $2 billion in State Department and USAID payments for work that has been done.

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court order for USAID to pay $2 billion in frozen foreign aid, rejecting Trump’s bid to block payments.

Trump imposed a 90-day freeze on all foreign aid on his first day in office. Programs funded by USAID and other agencies were thrown into chaos or shut down entirely, including recipients of PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief.