First thing: $37.5bn cost of Iran war revealed as senator warns of ‘another forever war’

Good morning.

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has told the Senate that the US-Israel war on Iran has cost $37.5bn so far, as he faced lawmakers furious over the conflict’s soaring price tag and the deaths last week of three American service members. He defended the Trump administration’s roughly $88bn supplemental funding request, calling it “urgent, necessary”.

Patty Murray, a Democratic senator from Washington, demanded Hegseth explain what the war had actually achieved, accusing the administration of shifting its rationale by the week and warning that the conflict risked becoming “another forever war”.

• What is happening in Iran? The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has described how he was pulled from the rubble of a leadership compound after the US-Israeli airstrike that killed the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war, and has survived since by constantly moving around Tehran by car. Deepa Parent, meanwhile, has reports from the ground with ordinary Iranians, who say “it’s truly hell here” as airstrikes, repression and water shortages become the “new normal”.

• What other developments have affected the region? Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor, has acknowledged he does not have the authority to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, but urged US federal authorities to do so if the Israeli prime minister visits the US later this year. The White House has announced that American airline carriers will be able to resume direct flights to Lebanon more than 40 years after the US suspended the route.

Saudis and US strike deal for kingdom to enrich uranium, reports say

Donald Trump has approved an agreement with Saudi Arabia that could provide the kingdom with uranium enrichment capability for its civilian nuclear programme. The agreement may be announced as early as Wednesday.

The deal is expected to last 30 years and is also expected to involve US firms in developing the program. It could allow for the building of a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia after a joint US-Saudi study.

• What is uranium enrichment? It is the process of increasing the presence of isotope uranium-235 so the substance can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. Enrichment is not an automatic path to a nuclear weapon, but could open the door to a Saudi Arabia weapons programme, something its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not ruled out if Iran obtains an atomic bomb.

US immigration agents arrested record number of people in June, data shows

The Trump administration arrested a record number of immigrants last month, according to newly released government data that revealed how US immigration agents have been quietly but steadily increasing operations across the country.

A Guardian analysis of the latest data published by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) found that federal immigration agents arrested 43,138 people in June – the highest number since Trump took office in January last year.

‘We were at their mercy’: inside the Amazon tactics that hiked prices across the internet

Internal emails revealed in court and interviews with former employees describe how Amazon’s practices drove up prices for competitors such as Walmart and Target. Over the last decade, Amazon has suppressed the sales of some suppliers’ products or demanded millions of dollars in compensation from them because of the low prices of its retail rivals. The California attorney general, Rob Bonta, alleges that Amazon’s tactics have coerced suppliers into raising the prices of their products with its rivals. Amazon denies the price-fixing claims and says it works to lower costs for consumers.

In other news …

• The actor Kaylee Hottle – who played a major role in Godzilla vs Kong – has died aged 18, following a car crash in Maryland.

• Canada has cancelled the joint opening celebrations of the Gordie Howe International Bridge with US amid trade tensions and Trump’s 50% tariff announcement.

• A new review by the Gates Foundation has found there were “roughly 30 meetings” between Jeffrey Epstein and foundation leaders and staff – including Bill Gates.

• OpenAI has revealed an autonomous AI agent went rogue and hacked a prominent startup by itself in an “unprecedented incident”.

• The Trump administration has sought phone records of several New York Times journalists in an unusually aggressive attempt to unmask the confidential sources of reporters

Stat of the day: Two in five Americans believe stock market only serves the top 1%

Two in five Americans believe the stock market isn’t for them and only benefits the top 1%, according to a Harris Poll poll exclusive to the Guardian. Meanwhile, almost 40% of respondents did not know that the economy and the stock market were not the same thing. In another stunning survey result, Americans are 10 times more likely than people elsewhere in the world to regard politics as the greatest threat to their personal safety, suggesting the country’s deep partisan divisions are poisoning everyday life.

Well Actually: I’ve heard menopause hormone therapy fixes everything. Should I take it?

For our Call the doctor series, Dr Keren Landman answers common medical questions. Here she says that timely treatment provides immense relief of menopause symptoms, and has the added benefit of lowering the risk of bone fractures. But ascribing all your ills to menopause and expecting treatment to fix them is a set-up for disappointment.

Don’t miss this: ‘The bed you thought was safe, isn’t safe’ – surviving drug-facilitated rape

In September 2024, Amanda Stanhope watched, transfixed, from her home in Manchester, England, as the Gisèle Pelicot case made headlines around the world. “Gisèle’s case was the first time I knew of somebody else who had been raped while they were drugged,” says Stanhope. “I remember feeling: ‘Thank God I’m not alone.’” Anna Moore speaks to survivors.

… or this: Wreckage of 1952 Pan Am plane crash that changed air safety found near Puerto Rico

A fascinating slice of aviation history has been rediscovered. The wreckage of a Pan Am flight that plunged into the ocean off Puerto Rico in 1952, in an accident that killed 52 people, has been found. The 17 people who survived told investigators everyone lived through the splashdown but panic set in as passengers struggled to find life vests. That directly led to the passenger safety briefings given on modern-day commercial flights.

Climate check: Japan records its first ‘cruelly hot day’ as cities swelter in 40-degree heat

Japan logged its first official kokushobi or “cruelly hot day” on Tuesday since the new term for when temperatures top 104F was introduced in April. The Japan Meteorological Agency coined the new designation to warn the public of the heat dangers of days that were once freak weather events but have now become more common.

Last Thing: Why are fans wetting themselves to stand front row at concerts?

I go to a lot of concerts, but I am yet – thankfully – to adopt the tactic of the “pit diaper”. Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan and Morgan Wallen have all dealt with audience effluence in recent weeks – but that is only one part of a fearsome subculture that has built up around fandom, endurance and “getting barrier”, as Kate Solomon explains.

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