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US Says Iran War Cost at $37.5 Billion

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 21, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 21, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
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US Says Iran War Cost at $37.5 Billion

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 21, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 21, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)

Fresh US strikes triggered air defenses in Tehran on Wednesday after President Donald Trump warned he was "not finished" with a war with Iran that has already cost his nation $37.5 billion.

After the foes' fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz led to the collapse of a preliminary deal, the Middle East war has expanded to include the region's other key chokepoint for global oil supplies.

The US military said its latest attacks hit targets such as "military logistics infrastructure", while Iranian state media reported strikes around the country, including Bushehr, which hosts a nuclear power plant.

"News sources reported minutes ago that air defense activity was heard in the west, east and northeast of Tehran," state TV posted on Telegram.

As the war nears the five-month mark and November legislative elections approach, Trump has faced intense political pressure to end the conflict, which is unpopular even with segments of his base.

Critics have pointed to the cost of the war that Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth said Tuesday had soared to $37.5 billion, defending a request for tens of billions in additional funding for the military.

The US military said Tuesday it had launched an eleventh consecutive night of strikes against Iran, saying it targeted military sites to "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said Tuesday that the next US target could be an underground complex known as Pickaxe Mountain, a subterranean nuclear site near Natanz where Western intelligence suspects Iran is building an undeclared enrichment facility.

Iran threatened reprisals, with the Khatam Al-Anbiya military command saying it would "consider it as an expansion of war in the region" if such an attack were carried out, threatening strikes on "all the interests of America, the allies and supporters", state-run broadcaster IRIB reported.

Two weeks after fighting resumed between the decades-old foes, Trump said Iran would need more than 20 years to recover from the damage inflicted in the Middle East war.

"If we left right now, it would take Iran 20, 25 years to rebuild," he said. "We're not finished at all... we're not leaving right now.

Kuwait's army said Wednesday its air defenses were engaging with drone attacks from Iran, the latest round of Tehran's reprisals.

Bahrain said Tuesday it intercepted Iranian attacks as sirens sounded repeatedly, while Kuwait and Jordan said they had intercepted drone and missile strikes.

Despite the fighting, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said diplomatic exchanges with Washington through mediators were continuing.

Mediator Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for restraint during a meeting with Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni.

Sharif urged all sides to "refrain from actions that could further destabilize the region", his office said.

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World

Russian Attacks Kill 4 in Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv Prepare for Visit by US Envoys

Firefighters work at the site of a warehouse hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a warehouse hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)
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Russian Attacks Kill 4 in Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv Prepare for Visit by US Envoys

Firefighters work at the site of a warehouse hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a warehouse hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)

Russian attacks killed four people in Ukraine overnight, as Moscow and Kyiv await the arrival of US envoys to begin a new push for peace in the Kremlin’s 4 1/2-year-old invasion.

The planned visit by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is also US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is hoped to revive peace talks amid escalating aerial attacks by both sides. The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, was in January, when they met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. They have never visited Kyiv, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was expecting them in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday.

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) front line. Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv.

The strikes come even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine would halt air attacks during Witkoff and Kushner’s visit and urged Moscow to do the same.

In a social media post on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that Russia had carried out overnight strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil International Airports, and linked the attack to the planned US visit.

“Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,” he said.

“We have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace, which has become dangerous because of our drones and missiles in the sky. Of course, there are and will be no threats to diplomacy from our side.”

Russian attacks killed four people and wounded five more at an industrial facility in Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

He described those killed as employees at the site. “A locksmith, an electrician, a plumber and a machinist. People of peaceful professions. They were simply working their shift. They were doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives,” he said.

A 62-year-old man was also wounded and several private homes and an apartment building were damaged in a separate attack on the region’s Nikopol district, Hanzha said.

In a statement Saturday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had carried out strikes on two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as “major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production.”

A further two people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv region, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration. In the Boryspil district, a fire sparked by a strike partially destroyed a nine-story residential building.

Russian forces also repeatedly struck a shopping center in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones overnight, damaging retail premises and sparking fires, Ukraine’s state emergency services said. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were hurt.

Emergency crews responding to the incident were repeatedly forced to withdraw to safety because of the threat of further strikes, returning whenever conditions allowed, the emergency services said.

Russia launched ballistic missiles from its Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said. The drones included Shahed-type aircraft — around half of them jet-powered — as well as Geran and decoy drones. Ukrainian air defenses shot down or suppressed 128 drones, according to the Air Force.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, local officials said.

In a statement, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its forces had shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.

World

Five European Nations Seek Deals to Send Migrants Out of the EU

Denmark's Minister for Immigration and Integration Morten Boedskov, Netherlands' Minister for Asylum and Migration and Deputy Prime Minister Bart van den Brink, Germany's Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt, Austria's Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner, and Greece's Minister for Asylum and Migration Thanos Plevris attend a press conference after a meeting of the Ministers for Immigration and Integration from the Five Country Group in Copenhagen, Denmark, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)
Denmark's Minister for Immigration and Integration Morten Boedskov, Netherlands' Minister for Asylum and Migration and Deputy Prime Minister Bart van den Brink, Germany's Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt, Austria's Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner, and Greece's Minister for Asylum and Migration Thanos Plevris attend a press conference after a meeting of the Ministers for Immigration and Integration from the Five Country Group in Copenhagen, Denmark, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)
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Five European Nations Seek Deals to Send Migrants Out of the EU

Denmark's Minister for Immigration and Integration Morten Boedskov, Netherlands' Minister for Asylum and Migration and Deputy Prime Minister Bart van den Brink, Germany's Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt, Austria's Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner, and Greece's Minister for Asylum and Migration Thanos Plevris attend a press conference after a meeting of the Ministers for Immigration and Integration from the Five Country Group in Copenhagen, Denmark, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)
Denmark's Minister for Immigration and Integration Morten Boedskov, Netherlands' Minister for Asylum and Migration and Deputy Prime Minister Bart van den Brink, Germany's Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt, Austria's Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner, and Greece's Minister for Asylum and Migration Thanos Plevris attend a press conference after a meeting of the Ministers for Immigration and Integration from the Five Country Group in Copenhagen, Denmark, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)

Five European nations aim to sign deals this year to send migrants without legal residency to countries outside the European Union, they said at a meeting hosted by Denmark on Friday.

Germany, Austria, Greece, Denmark and the Netherlands said they had agreed on concrete steps towards a deal with a non-European Union country on return facilities, the latest effort by European nations ‌to reduce ‌immigration.

The countries, known as the Group of Five, did ‌not ⁠name the nations they ⁠expect to host return centers.

"We want to reach an agreement with third countries this year that will enable the establishment of return hubs," German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters at a press conference in Copenhagen.

The group, which has held a series of meetings this year, plans to reconvene in Munich, Germany, at the end of September.

The European Parliament in June approved an ⁠overhaul of migration policy aimed at speeding up deportations and ‌allowing member states to set up centers abroad, ‌in what critics say could weaken safeguards for asylum seekers.

HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS

The Council ‌of Europe, a non-EU body that promotes human rights, democracy and the ‌rule of law across the continent, in July said return hubs posed "considerable human rights risks", and several other groups have also criticized the plan.

Danish Refugee Council Secretary General Charlotte Slente said it would be better to implement the EU Pact on Migration and ‌Asylum, which focuses on stricter border screening, faster asylum and return procedures, and expanded digital systems for managing asylum ⁠claims.

"Return hubs focus ⁠on a small number of returns, they will not stop people from taking even more dangerous routes, and they could violate basic human rights," Slente said.

Denmark expects to be ready to send migrants to the return hub by the end of 2027, Immigration and Integration Minister Morten Bodskov said.

"It's a new chance to have a life in a partner country," he said, adding that the five nations would be in dialogue with the UN body, the International Organization for Migration, and the UN Refugee Agency for their next steps.

A UNHCR spokesperson said the agency had not been approached with details of a proposal and could not comment on the arrangements being discussed.

World

Localized Ceasefire in Effect to Enable Repairs to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant, IAEA Says

A view shows Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine June 16, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine June 16, 2023. (Reuters)
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Localized Ceasefire in Effect to Enable Repairs to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant, IAEA Says

A view shows Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine June 16, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine June 16, 2023. (Reuters)

A ‌local ceasefire brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has taken effect to enable repairs for the restoration of external power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power ‌plant, the agency ‌said on ‌Saturday.

The ⁠Russian-controlled nuclear power ⁠plant, located in Ukraine, has been without external power since August 20 and has relied on ⁠emergency diesel generators ‌to ‌cool its vital safety systems.

The ‌plant is running ‌low on diesel fuel reserves and faces a possible station blackout ‌within days unless power is restored or more ⁠diesel ⁠is transported to the site, the UN atomic watchdog said, adding that Ukrainian technicians will begin power line repairs later on Saturday after demining the area.