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TODAY’S IRAN WAR story

Hegseth puts Iran war cost at $37.5B, seeks $67B more

What happened
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday told a Senate committee that President Donald Trump’s Iran war had cost an estimated $37.5 billion so far and said the $67 billion in requested supplemental war funding was an “urgent, necessary” stopgap as Congress debates Trump’s $1.5 trillion annual Pentagon budget request. He faced “fiery questions,” mostly from Democrats, during the “combative Senate Appropriations Committee hearing,” The Associated Press said. But the scrutiny from “frustrated lawmakers” was “bipartisan,” The Washington Post said, as they pressed Hegseth to “explain the Trump administration’s strategy for the war in Iran amid renewed hostilities.”

Who said what
Hegseth’s appearance “represented an attempt by the administration to sell the unpopular conflict as a necessary expense,” Politico said, but Senate Democrats “questioned both the success of the war so far and the need for more military money, citing $75 billion in unused funds” from last year’s huge GOP-only spending package. “The problem is not a lack of money, but poor planning,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told Hegseth. “This war is now spiraling out of control again,” and Trump is “asking for $70 billion more — and for us to just trust him it’ll all work out fine.”

What next?
The House plans to leave Washington tomorrow “for a month-long recess,” the Post said, “leaving any deal on military funding weeks away at the earliest.”

TODAY’S NUCLEAR Story

Trump approves nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia

What happened
President Donald Trump has approved a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could open the door to uranium enrichment inside the kingdom, multiple news organizations reported last night, citing U.S. officials. The 30-year agreement is “designed to give American companies a central role” in developing Saudi Arabia’s civilian nuclear infrastructure, The Wall Street Journal said. But it’s “certain to prove controversial” among U.S. allies and lawmakers opposed to the “spread of nuclear technology in the volatile Middle East.”

Who said what
The nuclear cooperation agreement “has been under discussion for years,” The New York Times said. Trump dropped a Biden administration stipulation that the Saudis first normalize relations with Israel, and to “get the deal done with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” he “had to agree to terms that may limit international inspectors” from visiting sites “they think could be a pathway to diverting fuel to weapons projects.” Bin Salman has vowed to build nuclear weapons if Iran does.

The White House argues that the U.S. role “would ensure enrichment remains peaceful,” the Journal said. But if the Saudis can enrich uranium, “so goes the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt,” said Henry Sokolski at the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. “The idea that this will have a happy ending is delusional.”

What next?
U.S. and Saudi officials are expected to sign the accord today.

It’s not all bad

Europe’s air quality is improving, thanks in part to sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions dropping by 3% to 5% every year since 2015, according to a report from the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. The toxic gases, which irritate the respiratory system, are released by burning fossil fuels. Governments across the EU are making “sustained efforts” to reduce these emissions from transportation, industry and residential heating, resulting in “steady progress” toward cleaner air, said CAMS Director Laurence Rouil.

Under the radar

Scientists could soon live on the ocean floor

A new underwater research facility is making waves. Deep, a U.K. ocean engineering company, has installed a subsea human habitat almost 60 feet underwater in the Tennessee Reef, part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Called Vanguard, the habitat allows for four aquanauts to live in a dry environment underwater for five days without needing to resurface. And Vanguard is just the first of Deep’s proposed network of underwater habitats.

To install Vanguard, engineers “first needed to install a base foundation and then lower the habitat onto the platform using a boat crane,” said Popular Science. It’s “tethered to a surface buoy,” a “bright-yellow structure” that “holds multiple vital support services, such as communications arrays, breathable air and power.” The habitat has received the “green light from Det Norske Veritas, an internationally recognized accreditation institution used by oceanographic organizations and companies,” so it should be a safe environment for aquanauts.

Underwater facilities are not new. They have been used for professions such as underwater welding and in the energy and defense industries. The Florida Keys are also home to another underwater research habitat, Florida International University’s Aquarius Reef Base. Deep hopes to enable permanent underwater living in more sophisticated habitats by as soon as 2027.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the Tennessee Reef as a “research-only zone.” The goal of Vanguard, Deep said in a statement, is to allow scientists to conduct marine science research, mainly related to “coral reef restoration, long-term monitoring, climate impact studies, human performance research and training for extreme environments.”

On this day

July 22, 1933

Aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo flight around the world, accomplishing the feat in seven days. Post died in a plane crash two years later, but his legacy remains, with two airports named after him. His record-breaking airplane is also on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

TODAY’S newspaperS

‘Plea for war clarity’

“Pentagon seeks $70 billion as Iran war drags on,” the Los Angeles Times says on Wednesday’s front page. In Congress, “a plea for war clarity” as “fighting intensifies,” The Washington Post says. “U.S. launches 11th night of strikes” on Iran, overshadowing “diplomatic efforts to salvage ceasefire,” the Houston Chronicle says. “Tehran’s missile barrage shows U.S. hasn’t erased lethal threat,” The Wall Street Journal says. “U.S. abandoning fuel efficiency as prices surge” and “Red Sea strait” threat poses new “risk for global oil,” The New York Times says. “Trump officials seek to bypass public review of major projects,” says The Philadelphia Inquirer. New study finds that “multiple cups” of coffee won’t harm your health, says USA Today, but “for java benefits, how you drink it matters.”

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Too smart for your own good

After a student in Tampa graduated with an 11.99 weighted grade point average, his Hillsborough County school district is recalculating how it determines GPAs. Vaibhav Bhaskar set a Florida record with his nearly 12-point GPA — on a nominal scale of 0 to 4 — by taking 20 advanced placement classes and 24 dual enrollment college courses. The district said its new policy will discourage students from trying to “achieve an inflated GPA,” as that can cause “stressful and unhealthy learning habits and mental health concerns.”

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.