The top photos of the week by AP's photojournalists

July 11-17, 2025

This photo gallery, curated by photo editors Patrick Sison and Courtney Dittmar, highlights some of the most compelling images worldwide published by The Associated Press in the past week.

Kansas City Royals' Jonathan India warms up on deck during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Friday, July 11, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

A priest participates in a celebration of the Virgen de Carmen (Our Lady of Mount Carmel), Chile's patron saint, in La Tirana, Chile, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Katy Perry, center, performs with dancers as part of the "Lifetimes Tour" on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Chelsea team members, accompanied by President Donald Trump, celebrate with the championship trophy after the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

U.S. State Department employees applaud as their laid off colleagues leave through the lobby of the agency's headquarters in the Harry S Truman Building in Washington, on Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Siblings mimic the sound of sirens that alert incoming rocket and missiles, inside an open concrete bomb shelter in Al-Zarnug, an unrecognized Bedouin community in the Negev Desert, southern Israel, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Philadelphia Phillies Kyle Schwarber celebrates after winning the tiebreaker at the MLB baseball All-Star game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Iga Swiatek of Poland reacts after winning the women's singles final match against Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Saturday, July 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Joanna Chan)

A rat which is trained to detect land mines with the humanitarian demining organization APOPO works in a field in Siem Reap, Cambodia, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado)

Vendors wait for customers at the trunk of their American classic car carrying homemade baked goods in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Luis Baños)

Men rest in hammocks underneath a tree in Manila, Philippines, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Golden State Valkyries center Temi Fagbenle (14) loses the ball against Seattle Storm forward Ezi Magbegor (13) and guard Erica Wheeler, right, during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A competitor drives through a shaft of light during the eleventh stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Toulouse, France, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland swings on the 7th tee during a practice round for the British Open golf championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Bullfighter Rafaelillo reacts after being gored by a bull at the San Fermín festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

A protester runs from tear gas fired by federal immigration agents to clear a path for vehicles during a raid in an agricultural region of Camarillo, Calif., Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

Federal agents detain Carlos Javier Lopez Benitez, center, from Paraguay as they pull away his sister, Porfiria Lopez, a U.S. citizen, left, outside immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits federal building in New York, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A Syrian government soldier, who was injured in Sweida city during clashes between Syrian government forces and Druze militia members, is treated at a clinic in the village of Busra al-Harir village, southern Syria, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

The body of a Druze militia member lies in front of a rocket launcher on the outskirts of Sweida city in southern Syria, Monday, July 14, 2025, where clashes erupted between Sunni Bedouin clans and the Druze militia. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

A man walks through a stairwell to vote at Union Temple Baptist Church during the Ward 8 special election, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Boniface Kariuki, a vendor who was shot at close range by a police officer during protests in June, is laid to rest at his parents' farm in Kangema, Muranga County, Kenya, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A girl runs past crosses at a makeshift memorial for Guadalupe River flood victims in Kerrville, Texas, on Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Cultural elder Davis Wakane speaks during an interview in Mbale, Uganda, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Hossam Azzam holds the body of his child, Amir, who was killed in an Israeli military airstrike on Gaza, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Children run through a water fountain in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela will pose a fresh test of his ability to hold together a restive Republican coalition during a challenging election year that could be defined by domestic concerns like health care and affordability.

While most Republicans lined up behind the president in the immediate aftermath of the stunning U.S. mission to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and bring him to New York to face criminal charges, there were signs of unease across the spectrum within the party. In particular, Trump's comments about the U.S. positioning itself to “run” Venezuela have raised concerns that he is abandoning the “America First” philosophy that has long distinguished him from more traditional Republicans and helped fuel his political rise.

“This is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of that doesn't serve the American people, but actually serves the big corporations, the banks and the oil executives,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a former Trump ally who is resigning on Monday, in an interview with NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Those concerns were shared by some who are not associated with the party's far-right flank.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a moderate who is one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the November midterms, said in a statement that “the only country that the United States of America should be ‘running’ is the United States of America.”

Those comments reflect the sensitive dynamics between Trump and his fellow Republicans at the outset of an election year in which their party risks losing control of Congress. While the president's dominance remains undisputed, the ironclad grip that he has held over the party has faced unusual challenges in recent months. Blocs of Republicans have banded together to pressure Trump to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Others have been vocal in encouraging Trump to take concerns about affordability more seriously.

Few issues are as central to Trump's political brand as ensuring that the U.S. does not get entangled in seemingly endless foreign conflicts at the expense of domestic goals. During a 2016 Republican presidential debate, for instance, he described the war in Iraq as a “big, fat mistake."

But on Saturday, Trump said he was “not afraid of boots on the ground” in Venezuela if that was deemed necessary, and he framed his actions as prioritizing the safety and security of Americans. He articulated an aggressive vision of U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, and he told reporters it was important to “surround ourselves with good neighbors."

However, much like the Iraq War, a president's early confidence after a dramatic military action can sometimes meet more sobering realities that drain domestic political support.

In Venezuela, U.S. troops could be placed in harm's way again as Trump warns that more military operations may be in the works. An ongoing conflict could worsen the hemisphere's refugee crisis, something the White House has tried to tamp down with stricter border controls. In addition, there are questions about how much cooperation the U.S. will receive from officials still in Venezuela or how easily the country's oil reserves could be tapped to fulfill Trump's goal of extracting more energy with Maduro out of the picture.

Trump's comments this weekend about revitalizing the oil industry in Venezuela are in line with some of the earliest critiques he made of the handling of the Iraq War. During a 2013 speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said the U.S. should “take” oil from Iraq and “pay ourselves back.”

Frustration with the handling of the Iraq War contributed to major gains for Democrats in the 2006 election and helped create the conditions for Barack Obama to be elected to the presidency two years later. Given the baggage surrounding those wars, Trump allies insist that the actions this weekend in Venezuela are different.

“Venezuela looks nothing like Libya,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on “Meet the Press. “It looks nothing like Iraq. It looks nothing like Afghanistan. It looks nothing like the Middle East other than the Iranian agents that are running through there plotting against America, okay?”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton argued that the 1989 ouster of Manuel Noriega in Panama is a better comparison.

“That was a successful operation,” Cotton said on CNN's “State of the Union.” “I believe, in the long run, this will be too.”

Still, amid some of the pushback about the U.S. taking expansive responsibility for managing Venezuela, Rubio suggested a more limited role. He said that Washington would not handle day-to-day governance of the South American country other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on Venezuela.

It is not clear that any forceful, organized opposition to Trump's Venezuela policy is emerging within the GOP. Instead, many lawmakers appear to be giving the Republican administration some room and, at most, offer some warnings.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who faces a potentially challenging reelection campaign this year, called Maduro a “narco-terrorist and international drug trafficker” who should stand trial even, as she said “Congress should have been informed about the operation earlier and needs to be involved as this situation evolves.”

Even Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who often criticizes military interventions, did not specifically oppose Trump's actions. He wrote on social media that “time will tell if regime change in Venezuela is successful without significant monetary or human cost.”

Many Democrats denounced Trump's actions in Venezuela and the Democratic National Committee quickly sought to raise money by blasting “another unconstitutional war from Trump.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., rejected the administration's argument that it was combating drug crimes, saying on X that the White House is instead focused on “oil and regime change” while seeking to “to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs.” Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the strike was part of an “old and obvious pattern” where an “unpopular president — failing on the economy and losing his grip on power at home — decides to launch a war for regime change abroad.”

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump listens to a question during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Secretary of State Marco Rubio watches. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)