Iran War Costs, Pan Am Wreckage & World Cup Ratings Boom - Wednesday, July 22, 2026

**Erica Mandy** (0:00)
Today is Wednesday, July 22nd. We'll tell you the price tag of the Iran War so far, and how top military leaders defended it at a tense hearing on Capitol Hill. Also how the White House says Cuba has been influencing Americans for decades, and how hundreds of non-citizens were able to vote in US elections. Plus a storm outbreak that cut off highways and canceled flights, a historic discovery that took more than 70 years to uncover, and another record broken by new and old soccer fans in America.
Those stories and even more news coming up.
Welcome to The NewsWorthy, all the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica Mandy. Thanks so much for being here. Let's do this.
America's top military leaders say they're running out of money to keep fighting the war in Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Cain were questioned by senators yesterday. At the hearing, Hegseth said the war has now cost about $37.5 billion so far. So he's asking Congress to approve another $67 billion in emergency funding. And that's separate from the historic $1.5 trillion-based budget request the Pentagon already made. Since cash is tight, Hegseth says the Pentagon has had to impose new limits on maintenance and training. And other readiness programs could start getting cut within weeks if Congress doesn't approve more money. So some Republicans are preparing a package now to fund the military, along with other White House priorities. But other lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing back. They say they still haven't gotten a clear explanation of the Trump administration's long-term strategy in the Middle East, or how it calculated the war's costs to begin with. Some Democrats also said it's not fair for taxpayers to keep footing the bill, when polls have shown most Americans don't support the war continuing. There were quite a few heated moments in this hearing, including one in which Democratic Senator Gary Peters called Hegseth a failure, to which the Defense Secretary said Senator Peters had no political courage, accusing him of refusing to commit to anything meaningful because of so-called Trump Derangement Syndrome. Meanwhile, the US and Iran are still exchanging strikes, and it doesn't look like diplomatic efforts are going well, since yesterday, President Trump said the US had no interest in a meeting, even though he says Iran is desperate for one, to be continued.
The Trump administration is now accusing Cuba of turning America against itself. The US. State Department just released a nearly 100-page report claiming the Cuban government has spent decades building influence inside the US., even within the highest reaches of the US government. It specifically accuses Cuba of supporting a range of left-wing activist groups and movements. It linked the Cuban government to a range of protests, including the racial justice ones that broke out in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in 2020 And now it says some groups with Cuba ties are preparing protests targeting US military bases, ice facilities and other federal buildings if the US moves closer to military action against the island. So far, no public response from Cuba. But some outside experts are questioning whether the report includes enough evidence to support most of its sweeping claims. Of course, the Trump administration has already taken an increasingly hard line on Cuba. And the Washington Post reports, this new assessment could be a pretext for even more aggressive action soon.
President Trump has approved a landmark nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, and it's expected to be signed today. The 30-year deal would allow American companies to help the kingdom build a civilian nuclear energy program, a project expected to be worth tens of billions of dollars. Trump administration officials say it would give the US influence over the Saudi nuclear program and would prevent it from being misused. But this agreement is expected to raise concerns about the possible spread of nuclear weapons, particularly in the Middle East. Uranium can be enriched at lower levels to fuel nuclear power plants, but the same technology can also be used to produce material for a nuclear weapon. Saudi Arabia says its program would be peaceful. But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has previously said the kingdom would pursue a nuclear bomb if Iran developed one. The agreement is expected to go to Congress for a review in the coming days.
New Jersey is now removing thousands of non-American citizens from the state's voter rolls. State officials say there was a serious software error that wrongly registered them to vote a couple of years ago. And because of it, about 400 non-citizens were actually able to cast votes. Democratic Governor Mikey Sherrill disclosed that 6,600 non-citizens were registered when they applied for driver's license and identification cards from 2023 to 2024