US blocks Iranian missile barrage as pause in fighting falters | First Thing

US military says it intercepted all Iranian missiles, as fighting threatens to resume. Plus, how Armenians seek to breathe more easily by heading underground

Good morning. The US military has claimed it knocked down an Iranian missile barrage and worked with Saudi forces to strike sites in Iraq that Tehran-backed militias have used to launch attacks in recent days. In what Washington cast ⁠as “an attempted surprise ⁠attack” by Tehran, Iran had launched multiple ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting. US Central Command (Centcom) said all Iranian missiles launched on Tuesday were intercepted.

Iran’s attack came as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited Washington. Netanyahu said he had an “excellent” meeting with Donald Trump. The closed-door meeting lasted nearly an hour and a half and was “positive and productive,” the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Why is the US-Iran war a threat to biodiversity? The closure of the strait of Hormuz has created conditions for an extreme global biodiversity threat, with scientists warning that thousands of stranded ships could spread invasive marine species across the world’s oceans once they begin sailing again.

Who else did Trump meet yesterday? Trump hosted back-to-back White House meetings with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Netanyahu on Tuesday. The Ukrainian leader was seeking more firepower for his air defenses and said: “We also spoke about diplomacy – it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated.”
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