The most dangerous job on earth

For the crews operating Iran's ballistic missile launchers, says the FT, the past fortnight has been a "deadly game of hide and seek". Teams of between five and 10 soldiers, selected from the most ideologically committed members the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), live in vast cave complexes winding deep into the mountains. When the order comes, they load a missile on to their truck-style launcher, input targeting data and move out into the open. At that moment, the tiny cabin becomes "one of the world's most perilous places". Many are spotted at once by American and Israeli drones or fighter jets, and obliterated. Those that survive have a matter of minutes to reach their launch site, raise their missile and fire.

That second, "their cover is blown". Heat plumes and infrared signatures rise from the site and are picked up by satellites skulking overhead. On the ground, this kick-starts a mad dash to hide the launcher – which can be 20 metres long – in a barn, or a bush, or a tunnel, until the coast is clear. And though the bases themselves are impregnable, necessary supply runs inevitably reveal entrances, which may be bombed, sealing the crews and their weapons inside. Israel claims to have destroyed 300 launchers since the war began, and the IRGC is estimated to have as few as 100 left. The US says ballistic missile launches fell by 90% in the first four days of fighting. But these launchers are the only means Tehran has left of firing its most potent weapons, so they can't stop. "This is the most dangerous job on earth right now," says Iranian missile expert Farzin Nadimi. "We are probably talking about a life expectancy of days, and soon it will be hours."

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Heroes and villains

Finnbarr Webster/Getty

Hero
Rachel Millward, the deputy leader of the Greens, who has issued a passionate defence of immigration, declaring that Britain should "welcome asylum seekers". How "warm-hearted of her", says Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph. But can this be the same Rachel Millward who last November, as a councillor in East Sussex, vehemently opposed the government's decision to house 600 asylum seekers in a local army training camp, saying it would place "an additional strain on already over-stretched public resources"? Perhaps the Greens have another deputy leader also called Rachel Millward.

Hero
A thoughtful thief in New Jersey who reportedly used Google Translate to inform staff at an Ecuadorian restaurant that he was robbing them. Employees at Mi Rinconcito Ecuatoriano, who did in fact speak English, say the assailant scarpered after trying and failing to steal the cash register.

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🪖 The secret plan to send US special forces into Iran
🐠 Utrecht's "fish doorbell"
👽 The big-money bet on aliens being discovered this year
😔 What's your "sexual market value"?
🇨🇺 The next country Donald Trump has in his sights
🏃‍♀️ An insanely close finish in the LA marathon
😬 The AI agent caught launching a secret crypto side hustle
👞 Why Trump's team all wear the same shoes
✍️ A tool to turn your handwriting into a computer font
😍 Ginger Spice's 30-year friendship with the King
💰 An astonishing statistic about political spending by US billionaires
🕵️‍♂️ The coded messages being transmitted into Iran

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