US-Iran hostilities resume amid concerns atHegseth’s military leadership | First Thing
Leading Democrat accuses secretary of defense of causing ‘lasting harm’ to US forces. Plus, the curious case of the 5,500 missing sheep
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Martin Belam2 Sept 2026, 11:25 amUpdated 7h ago2 min readAmericasUnited States
United States — Martin Belam
US-Iran hostilities resume amid concerns at Hegseth’s military leadership | First Thing
Leading Democrat accuses secretary of defense of causing ‘lasting harm’ to US forces. Plus, the curious case of the 5,500 missing sheep
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.”
Why are there concerns about US military leadership? A senior Democrat accused Pete Hegseth of having “hollowed out” the army’s senior ranks after its top civilian leader, Daniel Driscoll, resigned. Senator Jack Reed said: “It is far past time for Trump to recognize the lasting harm Pete Hegseth is inflicting on the Department of Defense … cultivating a culture where dissent is punished and competence is secondary to personal allegiance.”
How do officials appear to have profited from AI stocks? Emil Michael, a Pentagon official who is overseeing military artificial intelligence policy, reaped profits this year of up to $24m by selling his private investment in Elon Musk’s AI company. He has now sold his holdings in another AI company for between $5m and $25m, according to records seen by the Guardian.
What has a whistleblower identified as a risk to mail-in ballots? A new system to screen millions of mail-in ballots for the midterms was thrown together so hastily, and tested so little, that a single scanning glitch could mean entire batches of ballots are turned away, a whistleblower has told Congress .
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.
This report is published with credit to The Guardian. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on The Guardian →
Source: The Guardian · Martin Belam. Published 2 Sept 2026, 11:25 am.
