Why šµ UnitedStatesNews-NoOpEd picked: Hegseth promises execution live stream as Trump appears to āpauseā war on Iran | First Thing
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Source: theguardian.com
<p>US president says US will not attack Iran before midterms, while defense secretary says Nidal Hasan will face a firing squad next month. Plus, Sofia Coppola looks back on her glittering directorial career</p><p>Good morning. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/08/hegseth-fort-hood-shooter-public-execution" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">execution of Nidal Hasan by firing squad will be livestreamed</a> next month, in a radical departure from the previous norm. Hegseth said: āWeāll make sure that people are able to watch it, that itās public, because people need to understand thereās serious consequences for these types of things.ā</p><p>Hasan opened fire at a medical processing center at Fort Hood, Texas, on 5 November 2009, killing 13 people and wounding dozens more. A military jury sentenced him to death in 2013 and he has been held at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas ever since. The last known case of a military firing squad in the US was in November 1945.</p><p>Why is Hegseth being criticised over the Iran war? The Democratic senator Chris Murphy said Hegseth was ādetermined to hide the cost and the consequences of this war from the American publicā. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/08/chris-murphy-pete-hegseth-iran-war-costs" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">Murphy claimed</a> the Pentagon blocked him from visiting a military base in Qatar and that an Iranian strike on the US embassy in Riyadh was far worse than the public were led to believe.</p><p>What has Donald Trump said about the US war on Iran? The US president has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/08/trump-iran-pause-attack-midterms" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">promised not to attack Iran before Novemberās US midterm elections</a>, outlining a pause on the protracted war he has struggled to end after almost eight months. A Reuters/Ipsos survey from late September found that only about a third of Americans approved of the strikes on Iran.</p><p>Why are some voters calling Missouriās elections ādizzying and embarrassingā? Thanks to a protracted legal battle over an effort by Republicans to redraw the stateās congressional map, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/08/missouri-voters-confusion-trump-backed-maps-midterms" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">some voters are no longer sure which congressional district they live in</a> or who will be on their ballot paper for the midterms.</p><p>What happened in last nightās crucial midterm debates? Rachel Leingang, George Chidi and Auzzy Byrdsell have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/09/us-midterms-michigan-georgia-maine-senate-debate-key-takeaways" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">rounded up the key takeaways</a> from debates in the battleground states of Michigan, Georgia and Maine.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/09/first-thing-hegseth-promises-execution-live-stream-trump-pause-war-iran" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">Continue reading...</a>