US and Iran exchange fire as Vance says deal could be months away | First Thing
Vice-president says he expects war to end in a week or a few months with ‘a deal that is good for US economically’
Good morning.
US forces have launched strikes against Iran in response to the downing of an Apache helicopter near the strait of Hormuz a day earlier, and Iran has retaliated by hitting American airbases in the Middle East. The exchange of fire came as the US vice-president, JD Vance, was vague on the possible timeframe for ending the Iran war, saying it could conclude in a week or a few months.
US Central Command said Donald Trump had directed the military to launch strikes, which White House officials reportedly said were targeting radar and air defense facilities along the strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that in response it had struck at the al-Azraq base in Jordan using long-range missiles, while Kuwait reported its air defenses were intercepting hostile missile and drone threats. Jordan’s armed forces said it intercepted and shot down five missiles. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, accused the US of “harming” diplomatic efforts to end the war.
What did Vance actually say? “Right now, I feel that we are in a position to get a deal that is good for the United States economically and that really does deal with the Iranian nuclear program. Not just now, not just while Donald Trump is president, but for the long term, to where my kids can say when they’re adults: ‘Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon.’”
Republican Steve Hilton advances in tight California governor’s race
Steve Hilton, a former UK political operative turned Fox News personality then Republican candidate, has advanced to the November election in the race to become California’s next governor. He will face off against the Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former congressman, state attorney general and US health secretary.
Hilton finished ahead of Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund investor running as a progressive. Donald Trump, who has backed Hilton, has accused the state of election-rigging without providing any evidence.
Who is Steve Hilton? Since arriving in the US 14 years ago, he has had stints as an entrepreneur, a policy analyst and a Fox News host after years of working in the background of Conservative party politics in Britain.
Who has been supporting him? Hilton has assembled a broad coalition spanning working-class voters, Latino small-business owners, religious conservatives and Silicon Valley tech tycoons. He has managed to turn his British accent into an asset, priding himself on being a legal immigrant as opposed to the undocumented kind derided by the Republican establishment.
Anthropic releases ‘safe’ version of Claude Mythos AI model to public
Anthropic, the maker of the Claude artificial intelligence (AI) models, made a new version of its technology available to the public on Tuesday while restricting its use in sensitive areas.
The new model, Fable 5, is the first to be made widely available from the company’s new Mythos class, which it says is its most advanced lineup of AI technology, unveiled in April but restricted to a small set of partner institutions for months. Anthropic promoted Fable 5 as useful for writing and debugging software code, answering complex research questions and analyzing images.
What were the cybersecurity concerns about this model? Anthropic has restricted access to Mythos because of what the company calls the LLM’s ability to quickly identify vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, including banking platforms and power grids. Anthropic says most queries about cybersecurity or biology and chemistry to Fable 5 will be routed instead to the lower-tier model, Opus 4.8, which is billed as less capable.
Why is there also a national security component? Anthropic has said it has identified large-scale attempts to extract its technology to train competing AI models in authoritarian countries, and claims these type of queries will also fall back to the less powerful model.
In other news …
Protests against immigration have erupted into violence in Northern Ireland after graphic video circulated of a knife attack. Elon Musk has amplified far-right calls for a response, which a local lawmaker has described as a “race-based pogrom”.
Graham Platner won the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in Maine, despite never having held elected office and after a campaign that was shadowed by accusations that he mistreated women, which he denies.
Republican Nancy Mace blamed an Epstein files backlash as she conceded in the South Carolina governor’s race.
Alabama has been barred from using nitrogen gas to execute a man after a federal judge declared the method violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Stat of the day: Only one in 10 Europeans now see US as an ally, survey suggests
A survey has revealed “deep European distrust in the US”. Confidence in the American “security guarantee” has hit a historical low, with only one in 10 people across 15 countries on the continent seeing the US as an ally. The majority in all 15 doubted the US would come to their aid if they were attacked.
Well actually: ‘Overconsumption isolates us’ – how to start shopping less
Madeleine Aggeler breaks down why modern online shopping makes it so difficult to stop buying things we do not actually want. Paring down your spending habits does not mean adopting a drab, minimalist lifestyle, she says – it is just about freeing up the time and mental bandwidth that mindless consumerism drains away.
Don’t miss this: The men’s Fifa World Cup starts tomorrow
At 2pm EDT tomorrow, Mexico will play South Africa in the opening match of the men’s Fifa World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by Mexico, Canada and the US. To get yourself in the mood you can check out our interactive guide to every one of the 1,248 players selected, and our write-up of all 48 teams in the tournament. You can also play Bracketology, where you predict a path to ultimate victory in the world’s greatest sporting event. Zohran Mamdani has.
… or this: Tears and catharsis as Kyiv premieres opera about Ukrainian children abducted by Russia
Charlotte Higgins and Mariana Matveichuk report on the Kyiv premiere of excerpts of Mothers of Kherson, an opera about the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russian occupiers – a continuing, raw story of real-life loss and agony.
Climate check: Scientists reveal the hidden human health costs of the world’s disappearing bees
Amid concerns about the world’s disappearing wild bees, the first study of its kind to provide direct evidence of the bond between pollinators and human health found they were directly responsible for more than 20% of inhabitants’ vitamin A, vitamin E and folate intake, and 44% of their farming income in a remote district of Nepal.
Last Thing: Nasa astronaut captures aurora australis from space
The Nasa astronaut Jessica Meir, a member of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission, has released a stunning time-lapse video showing the southern lights as seen from their spacecraft. Watch it here.
Sign up
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com