First Thing: US-Iran hostilities resume amid concerns at Hegseth’s military leadership

Good morning. The US has launched more airstrikes on Iranian targets, prompting counterstrikes by Tehran targeting American interests in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq. The six-month conflict had shifted into an economic standoff before this weekend’s strikes, but recent promises by both sides to respond to further attacks have highlighted how quickly the conflict could spill back into military action.

The Iranian Red Crescent said four people, including a child, were killed and more than 50 were injured when shrapnel from a US missile attack hit a home where a wedding celebration was taking place in the city of Kuhestak. The US central command spokesperson Capt Tim Hawkins said: “The US military never targets civilians.”

In another move that threatens to intimidate voters at November’s midterms, the US homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, on Tuesday said that federal immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) officers could be deployed to polling sites across the country.

Mullin said: “ICE’s job is immigration, customs enforcement. If we’re serving a warrant we will be where we need to be.” In a separate statement, the department said: “ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement, and if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action.” Federal law prohibits military personnel or other “armed” agents from being “at any place where a general or special election is held”.

Authorities in Tucson, Arizona, are investigating a shooting outside a gay bar that left three people dead as a possible hate crime. Police said: “Initial evidence suggests the suspect confronted the victims in the parking lot. The suspect was in possession of a note with several LGBTQIA+ associated businesses written on it. The department is currently investigating this homicide as a hate crime.”

Trump administration officials have defended a highly contentious deal giving the US control of a significant chunk of Venezuelan oil reserves. Last week, Donald Trump announced a deal that would give the US “majority” control over 65bn barrels – roughly one-fifth – of Venezuela’s oil reserves.

US officials said the agreement would create a stable economic platform to restore Venezuelan democracy after nearly three decades of autocratic rule, but the pact has provoked outrage among Venezuela’s opposition, already furious that democracy has yet to return to the country eight months after the removal of Nicolás Maduro by US special forces.

The US aircraft carrier at the center of a row over conditions on board after months at sea as part of Trump’s war against Iran has finally arrived at a Thai port. Reports of deteriorating living conditions and poor mental health on the vessel have made headlines around the world.

Elle Hunt speaks to Dr Lucy McBride, whose new book aims to help people navigate US healthcare – and to tread carefully in the wellness industry.

Cait Kelly has been in Kathmandu in the aftermath of the devastating floods in Nepal. A week on from the disaster, she reports how authorities are urging relatives of the thousands of missing and dead to provide blood samples.

The on-screen love between Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) in Modern Family was a rare example of a gay couple raising a child on TV. Hannah Verdier has spoken to the two actors whose chemistry made them one of the most adored on-screen couples of the era.

A report by the UN Environment Programme has confirmed overshooting the 1.5C goal inscribed in the Paris agreement is now “unavoidable”. It said the best hope to limit the impact was to adopt an “overshoot, peak and decline” pathway, but that human health, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure and economies could all be severely damaged, and some losses would be irreversible.

It sounds like a heist at an incredible scale. Queensland police are investigating after about 5,500 Dorper sheep worth more than $1.2m USD were allegedly stolen from a farm in western Queensland.

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