targets

Tehran, Iran – Several days of military attacks by the United States across Iran have marked the most intense rounds of bombardment since the two sides reached a vague memorandum of understanding last month.

US fighter jets and warships have hit hundreds of military targets and a number of civilian ones in nearly a week of strikes, with Iranian authorities reporting attacks in at least 10 provinces, mainly in southern Iran near the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.

In Tehran, life for more than 10 million people has carried on mostly as usual since the capital has not been recently attacked. But the economy is in the doldrums and the outlook is increasingly uncertain, more than four months after the US and Israel began their aerial campaign.

“Everything is too chaotic right now to guess what will happen next but it doesn’t look good,” Farshad, a 21-year-old resident of eastern Tehran, said on Sunday.

“I just really hope all-out war doesn’t start again because I don’t have the nerve for daily bombing on top of everything else,” he told Al Jazeera.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said overnight into Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz was once again considered closed due to US military intervention. Two vessels opting to transit using the Western-backed southern route near Oman, rather than Iran’s designated path to the north of the strait, had been struck, the IRGC added.

Iran said it had also attacked US interests across the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar and Oman, in response to US strikes, as prospects for negotiations to replace military escalation remained slim.

Another Tehran citizen, Nastaran, said the overnight escalation felt more serious than previous attacks.

“I didn’t expect it would be this bad when I picked up my phone this morning to check the news,” she said. “I think there will be more attacks soon.”

Growing US aggression

The US military has been expanding its attacks over the past week.

US Central Command said more than 300 military targets were hit during three waves, including coastal surveillance, logistics, communications, as well as missile, drone and naval assets. It has not acknowledged striking civilian objectives.

As with other flare-ups over recent weeks, numerous attacks were launched on the province of Hormozgan, including the major port city of Bandar Abbas, as well as on Siri, Qeshm and Jask overlooking the strait. Port, fishing, coastal-control infrastructure and air defences were extensively bombed, reportedly killing a soldier and leaving multiple fishermen dead or wounded in separate strikes.

US projectiles have also targeted multiple areas in Bushehr province, with one attack impacting the perimeter of Iran’s only nuclear power plant without damaging it.

Provincial authorities in the southwestern province of Khuzestan said three areas were hit, but not the capital, Ahvaz. Local authorities in the provinces of Kohgiluyeh, Boyer-Ahmad and Lorestan also reported projectile attacks.

In Sistan and Baluchestan to the southeast, attacks were reported in Chabahar, Konarak and Iranshahr, where a strike on airport facilities killed a firefighter. Video recorded by a local from Chabahar and shared online showed the destruction of the city’s renowned maritime control tower.

Over the past week, the US military has launched some of its deepest strikes into Iranian territory since full-scale military operations were suspended by the “ceasefire” agreed in April.

One of them was in the northern province of Golestan, where the Aq Tekeh Khan railway bridge was struck on the Gorgan-Incheh Borun line.

Authorities said the bridge, which carries both passengers and cargo, was repaired and services resumed quickly. However, the attack showed that inland corridors could also become targets to increase pressure on Iran by limiting its trade, including imports of essential goods.

The transit route connects Iran to Turkmenistan and onwards to Kazakhstan, Russia, China as well as Eurasian rail networks. Crucially, during the US naval blockade of Iran’s southern ports, it provided an overland alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, when assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was being buried in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, authorities said the US struck a bridge about 55km (34 miles) from the city, disrupting passenger journeys to the funeral procession.

Iranian authorities say electricity infrastructure – which Trump has repeatedly threatened with more strikes – has also been significantly impacted since the start of the war, worsening the long-running energy crisis.

The attacks have reduced Iran’s capacity for electricity generation by about 4,200 megawatts, just as summer temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) this week, Mohammad Allahdad, head of Tavanir, the government-owned parent company for the operation of Iran’s power grid, said on Sunday.

After the conclusion of the funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei, a statement from new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen public since succeeding his father, emphasised the necessity for revenge.

Similar messages continue to be broadcast by state media and hardline religion-backed factions supporting the Islamic Republic, who on Sunday also cheered the death of US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. State television hailed what it called the “dispatching to hell” of a pro-war hawkish politician.

For its part, Israel has effectively undermined the MoU signed between Iran and the US on June 17 by pushing deeper into southern Lebanon and signalling readiness to return to military strikes in Iran.

Speaking to an Israeli programme on Saturday night, Defence Minister Israel Katz, who has threatened to assassinate Mojtaba Khamenei, said “southern Lebanon would become Gaza” and that the Israeli army will “apply the Rafah model” of conquest there.

July 10 (Asia Today) — Qcells is accelerating its push into the North American renewable energy market as investment in power infrastructure grows rapidly amid the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers in the United States.

The Hanwha unit said Friday it will handle engineering, procurement and construction for Atlas Energy Park, one of the largest solar and energy storage complexes in the United States. The project will be built in La Paz County, Ariz.

Atlas Energy Park will include 2.8 gigawatts of solar generation capacity and 5.7 gigawatt-hours of energy storage capacity by 2028. The complex will consist of 14 solar and energy storage projects and cover an area about 22 times the size of Yeouido, Seoul’s main financial district.

Qcells will handle engineering, procurement and construction for all projects in the complex and supply all solar modules.

The company completed the sale in May of two solar power plants with a combined capacity of 357 megawatts after carrying out their early-stage development and construction. The deal is seen as evidence that Qcells has expanded beyond equipment supply into project development, construction and asset sales.

The company’s competitiveness is backed by its U.S. supply chain. Qcells operates Solar Hub, a solar manufacturing complex in Georgia, giving it module supply capacity. It has also built a supply chain for energy storage equipment.

Industry analysts say companies with U.S. production bases are gaining a stronger advantage as Washington expands policies favoring domestically made equipment.

Analysts also expect Qcells’ expansion in North America to help improve earnings. Hana Securities projected Hanwha Solutions’ second-quarter operating profit this year at 230.7 billion won, about $153 million, roughly 29% above market consensus.

“The oversupply of solar modules in the United States is easing, and prices are continuing to rise, while the expansion of local production capacity in the United States will drive earnings improvement,” said Yoon Jae-sung, an analyst at Hana Securities.

Analysts say AI will further accelerate growth in renewable energy demand.

“Power demand is structurally increasing because of AI data centers, electrification and manufacturing reshoring, making solar power and energy storage key pillars of global power infrastructure,” said Han Byung-hwa, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities. “In particular, rising power consumption by AI data centers will continue to increase demand for large-scale projects combining solar power and energy storage.”

Qcells has completed or is pursuing more than 11 gigawatts of solar and more than 6 gigawatt-hours of energy storage projects in North America, expanding its local business base.

“Atlas Energy Park is a symbolic project that once again demonstrates Qcells’ EPC capability, U.S. supply chain and comprehensive business capacity from development to construction and asset sales,” said Chris Hodrick, head of Qcells’ EPC business division.

“We will lead the growth of the North American renewable energy market by increasing customer value and business competitiveness through integrated solutions that combine solar power and energy storage,” Hodrick said.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260710010003926

Iran said on Thursday it had targeted U.S. military infrastructure across the Gulf in retaliation for fresh American strikes on Iranian territory, marking the latest escalation in a conflict that is increasingly testing a fragile ceasefire brokered just weeks ago.

The renewed exchange of attacks came as Iran prepared to bury its late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the holy city of Mashhad following a week of nationwide funeral processions.

Although oil prices eased after surging on fears of wider disruption, investors and governments remained focused on whether the latest violence represented a temporary escalation or the beginning of a broader collapse of efforts to end the conflict.

Iran retaliates after U.S. strikes

Iranian armed forces said they targeted U.S. military facilities in neighbouring Gulf states after American forces struck military infrastructure across Iran’s southern coast and eastern provinces.

According to Iranian officials quoted by state media, the latest U.S. attacks killed 14 people and wounded 78 others across five provinces on July 8 and 9.

The semi-official Fars news agency reported that one strike hit a railway bridge used for trade links with Russia and China.

Explosions were also reported on Thursday morning in Bushehr province, home to Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant, though authorities did not immediately provide details on the cause.

Gulf military installations targeted

Iran’s military said it launched drone and missile attacks against several U.S.-linked military facilities across the Gulf region.

According to Iranian state media, the targets included:

• U.S. Patriot missile systems in Kuwait
• An early-warning installation in Qatar
• A U.S. military fuel storage facility in Bahrain

Kuwaiti authorities said their air defences intercepted a cruise missile, three ballistic missiles and ten drones. Officials reported one person was injured by falling debris.

Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, called for restraint and urged all sides to return to diplomatic negotiations.

During a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani also condemned attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Strait of Hormuz remains at the centre of tensions

The latest military confrontation follows attacks on commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes.

The U.S. military said Wednesday’s strikes were designed to protect international navigation after blaming Iran for attacks on three commercial vessels.

Although Tehran has not officially claimed responsibility for those attacks, analysts say Iran has increasingly used pressure around the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in negotiations with Washington.

Before the war began in late February, roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies passed through the narrow waterway.

Iran has since exercised significant control over maritime traffic in the strait, giving it considerable strategic influence over global energy markets.

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said American forces struck around 90 Iranian military targets.

According to CENTCOM, the operation targeted:

• Air defence systems
• Coastal surveillance infrastructure
• Missile and drone storage facilities
• Naval assets
• Military logistics centres along Iran’s coastline

“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” CENTCOM said.

President Donald Trump defended the operation on Wednesday, writing on Truth Social: “This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse.”

Trump says ceasefire agreement is effectively over

While attending the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said he believed the memorandum of understanding signed with Iran to halt the fighting had effectively collapsed.

Asked whether the agreement remained in force, Trump replied:”It’s a very interesting question. To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them.”

He later added that even if another agreement were reached, he doubted Tehran would honour it.

Despite the renewed military exchanges, Trump said he did not expect the confrontation to develop into another prolonged war.

“Anything that happens is going to be over very quickly… and will only make it safer, including for oil,” he told reporters.

Iran vows continued retaliation

Iranian officials condemned the latest U.S. military operation as another breach of understandings reached after the ceasefire.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington that future attacks would receive a military response.

“The U.S. has yet to learn that bullying and breaking its commitments no longer come without a cost,” he wrote on social media.

“The Strait of Hormuz will be reopened only under Iranian arrangements, not through U.S. threats.”

Oil markets remain on edge

Oil prices retreated on Thursday after jumping sharply a day earlier, as traders assessed whether the latest fighting would significantly disrupt Gulf energy exports.

Shipping also remains under close watch.

One of the vessels struck this week the Qatari LNG tanker Al Rekayyat remains stranded off Oman after suffering an engine-room fire following a projectile strike.

Industry sources said its liquefied natural gas cargo appears secure and that the immediate risk of explosion remains low.

Future outlook

The latest exchange of strikes has significantly weakened confidence in the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, even if neither side appears ready for a return to full-scale war.

Attention is now focused on whether further attacks occur around the Strait of Hormuz, where any prolonged disruption could quickly tighten global energy supplies and drive oil prices higher.

Diplomatic efforts led by Gulf states are likely to intensify, but Trump’s declaration that the interim agreement is “over” and Iran’s vow to continue retaliating have raised doubts over whether negotiations can still produce a lasting settlement.

With information from Reuters.

June 28 (UPI) — The Iranian military launched fresh attacks at U.S. sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday morning amid an escalation of violence that threatens a fragile peace agreement.

Bahraini and Kuwaiti government sources said each intercepted attacks from Iran, including two ballistic missiles in Kuwait’s airspace. Bahrain said one of the strikes damaged a residential building near an international airport, The Guardian reported.

Neither country declared any casualties, The New York Times reported.

The renewed violence came after an Iranian drone struck a Singapore-flagged cargo ship while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. The U.S. military accused Iran of also striking a Panama-flagged tanker carrying oil on Saturday.

The United States responded Saturday with its own attacks targeting Iranian drone sites. U.S. Central Command said the strikes were “in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping.”

President Donald Trump announced the U.S. strikes in a post on Truth Social that also threatened further violence against Iran. He accused the country of violating a memorandum of understanding that both he and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed earlier this month.

“It is very possible that they will never learn!” Trump wrote of Iran.

“There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”

Shipping via the Strait of Hormuz largely came to a halt in March after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran beginning Feb. 28. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that under the MOU signed June 17, Iran is the sole country responsible for managing the strait.

He warned the United States against interfering in shipping through the waterway, the Times reported. He said that further interference could delay the full reopening of the strait.

“Under the memorandum of understanding, no other entity or country has any responsibility in this regard,” he said at a news conference in Baghdad.

President says his country will readmit genuine nationals but insists Europe must first verify deportees’ identities.

Mogadishu, Somalia – The European Union has imposed visa restrictions on Somali citizens, escalating a dispute with Mogadishu over the return of Somalis living in Europe illegally.

The bloc’s member states approved the measures on Thursday, acting on a report that Somalia was not doing enough to take back nationals who had been refused the right to stay.

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pushed back, saying his government would readmit its citizens, but said that many returnees were not Somali nationals.

“We haven’t rejected our people; they own this country. And we cannot reject them,” the president said at an Independence Day event on Thursday, adding that Somalia had “questions about how those people would be returned.”

People across the Horn of Africa share a similar appearance, he said, and some present themselves as Somali to claim asylum in Europe. He pointed to past cases in which individuals sent back as Somalis turned out not to be, including some who “don’t know the Somali language.”

“If they are Somali, then we’ll take them. If they aren’t, we’ll help you find out where they are from, and you can send them there,” Mohamud said.

The pressures driving people to leave are rooted in decades of upheaval.

Somalia is still rebuilding after the collapse of its central government in 1991 and the long civil war that followed.

Recovery efforts have been stifled by the ongoing armed rebellion of al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked armed group that has waged deadly attacks since 2006.

Those conditions have pushed many young Somalis to attempt the dangerous journey to Europe, often through Libya, where migrants have faced detention, extortion and violence.

The prime minister regularly handled such cases, Mohamud said, adding that Somali embassies had been instructed to help citizens return.

Magnus Brunner, the bloc’s migration commissioner, said countries of origin had to meet their commitments “otherwise, there can be consequences.”

A European Commission assessment concluded that Somalia’s cooperation on readmission was insufficient.

Under the new rules, member states can no longer issue multiple-entry visas to Somalis, and the fee waiver for holders of diplomatic passports has been removed. The standard processing time for visa applications has also been extended from 15 to 45 days.

The suspension has no fixed end date and is intended as leverage to push Mogadishu towards closer cooperation.

Somalia now joins a short list of countries hit with such measures.

The EU imposed similar restrictions on The Gambia in 2021 and Ethiopia in 2024, lifting the Ethiopian curbs in May after deciding cooperation had improved.

The visa restrictions add to a run of setbacks for Somali travellers.

The United States imposed a sweeping travel ban in 2025, after President Donald Trump returned to office, covering citizens of a dozen countries, including Somalia.

The policy drew attention this month when Omar Abdulkadir Artan, named Africa’s referee of the year in 2025, was denied entry to the US and couldn’t officiate at the World Cup, despite holding a valid visa.

The standoff comes as the EU tightens its wider approach to migration, pursuing return centres beyond its borders and faster deportations for people refused the right to stay.

June 25 (Asia Today) — South Korea is preparing to conduct the fifth launch of its homegrown Nuri rocket in September as the government moves to expand launch infrastructure and accommodate growing commercial demand.

Taeseog Oh, administrator of the Korea AeroSpace Administration, said Wednesday that the agency plans to convene a launch management committee in early August to set the final launch date.

“At this point, we expect the launch to take place in September,” Oh said during a news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Sacheon, about 190 miles southeast of Seoul.

Assembly of the rocket’s individual stages is expected to be completed this week. Full assembly of the three-stage launch vehicle is scheduled to begin next week.

After the fifth launch, the agency plans to begin upgrading the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, which has handled South Korea’s major space launches.

“The supplementary work required under the Naro Space Center modernization project is moving forward,” Oh said. “The project is currently undergoing a preliminary feasibility review, and work is expected to begin next year.”

The agency is also planning a second national space center to meet an expected increase in government and commercial launches and support future launch vehicles.

Oh said South Korea plans to begin the second space center project in 2028 and establish infrastructure capable of supporting reusable launch vehicles by the mid-2030s.

“A reusable launch vehicle requires not only a launch site but also a landing site,” Oh said. “By the mid-2030s, we intend to secure future-oriented launch infrastructure capable of operating reusable vehicles.”

The agency began accepting applications Monday from local governments seeking to host the center. A final candidate site is expected to be selected in October.

Oh said some South Korean companies have reported difficulty securing launch slots from U.S. companies such as SpaceX because of rising global demand.

“We will work to establish conditions in which satellites developed domestically can be launched aboard our own launch vehicles,” he said.

The agency also plans to upgrade the existing Naro Space Center while developing the second facility.

The expansion is intended to support more frequent satellite launches, newly developed launch vehicles and the reusable rocket South Korea aims to develop by 2035.

Oh also emphasized the need to increase government investment as the country seeks to shift toward NewSpace, an industry model driven more heavily by private companies.

The government is reviewing the agency’s budget proposal for next year.

“The government recognizes the importance of the aerospace budget, and we will work to expand it,” Oh said.

“In South Korea, even the government-led Old Space model was not sufficiently developed,” he said. “Government investment and private-sector participation must occur simultaneously for an aerospace industry ecosystem to take shape.”

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260625010008848

The U.S. military wants to see if it can enhance the capabilities of the 2,000-pound-class Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) precision-guided bomb as a bunker-busting munition. JDAM-ERs already come with wing kits that allow them to glide dozens of miles to their targets, helping keep the launch platform away from threats. This would also open up new opportunities for low-angle, lateral attacks on hardened targets. In general, bunker-buster bombs are released relatively close to and above what are often higher-value and better-defended targets. TWZ has highlighted the inherent risks this entails on several occasions just in the context of the recent conflict with Iran.

Interest in expanding the role of the JDAM-ER as a bunker buster is tucked away in a section of the Pentagon’s proposed 2027 Fiscal Year budget covering requested funds for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). DTRA is a multi-faceted organization focused on responding to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) threats. Since deeply buried and otherwise hardened facilities are often tied to WMD programs, a key area of the agency’s work is helping devise new and improved ways to hold those targets at risk. A prime example of this is the key role DTRA played in the development of the 30,000-pound-class GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bomb.

Now, DTRA wants to “evaluate current hard target defeat capabilities with 2000lb Joint Direct Attack Munition Extended Range (GBU-64 JDAM-ER) and provide recommendations on future JDAM-ER development to enhance HDBT penetration capabilities,” according to Pentagon budget documents.

GBU-64/B is the formal designation the U.S. military has given to the 2,000-pound-class JDAM-ER. As is the case with standard JDAMs without supplemental wings, the JDAM-ER is a kit that turns various types of unguided bombs into ‘warheads’ for the resulting precision-guided munitions. Additional versions of the JDAM-ER kit are available for use with 500-pound and 1,000-pound-class bombs.

Prime contractor Boeing has said that the BLU-109/B bunker-buster bomb can be combined with the JDAM-ER kit, but it is unclear if that configuration is already in operational U.S. service. At the time of writing, the GBU-64(V)1/B still looks to be the only subvariant officially confirmed to be in use anywhere across the U.S. military. The GBU-64(V)1/B uses the Mk 64 Quickstrike air-dropped naval mine as its warhead. There is also a 500-pound-class GBU-62(V)1/B, which pairs a JDAM-ER kit with the smaller Mk 62 Quickstrike mine. You can read more about these versions, also called Quickstrike-ERs, here.

B-52 Deploys Quickstrike-ER Naval Mines (2019 OP TEST)

It’s not clear whether bunker-buster JDAM-ERs are in inventory today outside of the U.S. military, either. Versions of the JDAM-ER using general-purpose high-explosive bombs as warheads have been in service at least in Australia and Ukraine for years now.

Wingless bunker-busting 2,000-pound-class JDAMs are a staple in the U.S. military’s aerial munition arsenal, and were very publicly employed in large numbers in strikes on Iran earlier this year. Tactical jets and bombers were used to deliver them.

If it has not been put into U.S. service already, a 2,000-pound-class JDAM-ER would offer clear benefits when configured as a bunker buster, in general. Depending on how it is released, a standard JDAM can hit targets up to 15 miles away, according to the U.S. Air Force. With the wing kit, JDAM-ERs have a maximum reach of roughly 45 miles, though the exact range is also dependent on release altitude and flight profile. As noted, being able to release bunker buster bombs further away from the target can help reduce risks to the launch platform.

The additional drag of the JDAM-ER wing kit could also reduce the bomb’s kinetic energy, which is important for bunker-busting. It is possible that the bombs could be programmed to glide to a certain point above the target before diving onto it for maximum effect.

At the same time, the gliding capabilities of a JDAM-ER open the door to additional operational possibilities enabled by low-angle attack profiles. Being able to focus the effects of a bunker buster bomb directly on the side of a structure rather than at steeper angles from the top could offer major benefits.

Furthermore, it would be possible to get the bombs deeper down inside the entrance tunnels and through the sides of other fortified structures, magnifying the warhead’s effectiveness. Lobbing precision-guided bombs into tunnels and cave entrances is already a well-established tactic, and one that can hamper access to underground targets that might otherwise be unreachable. This is something we will come back to in a moment. Striking dams, bridge pylons or even ships in port, among other targets, at shallow angles, would also be a new weaponeering option for heavy bunker buster warheads not often found on cruise missiles.

What further enhancements might emerge as a result of the JDAM-ER bunker-buster testing DTRA has planned remains to be seen. As an aside, the U.S. military also looks set to field a jet-powered derivative, called the GBU-75/B JDAM-LR, which features even greater range, as you can learn more about here.

With all this in mind, DTRA’s budget request notably includes a separate mention of plans to “conduct R&D [research and development] in ‘skip’ bombing capability to develop new tactics and weaponeering options,” which could help in “enabling deeper access for penetrating weapons.”

Skip bombing specifically involves releasing munitions in a way so that they bounce off the ground or the surface of a body of water. This sends them further forward on a flatter trajectory that can be beneficial in various scenarios. The core tactic here is decades old now. British bombers famously used bombs specially designed for skip bombing attacks against German dams during World War II. During the war, skip bombing was also heavily used when attacking ships, especially by U.S. military aircraft in the Pacific Theater. Doing this could help ensure more serious hits on a target’s hull near the waterline.

Barnes Wallis – Bouncing Bomb Tests, Dambusters

Skip Bombs (1940-1949)

NEWSREEL: SKIP BOMBING TACTICS – DOCUMENT – ARCHIVE

Improved skip bombing tactics could be paired with new precision-guided bunker busters, including versions of the GBU-64/B, for further increased effect. Being able to penetrate deeper into tunnel entrances and other weak spots on the ground could create additional complications for an opponent trying to dig out key assets afterward.

In recent months, Iran has been observed working to regain access to nuclear and other facilities that the United States and Israel have targeted in the past year or so. This includes sites the U.S. military struck during Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025. This has contributed to continued questions about the overall effectiveness of the aerial strikes on many of these targets.

It’s also worth noting here that Iranian authorities themselves took steps at various points to cover entrances and ventilation shafts to try to make underground facilities even harder to reach, including by any raiding forces on the ground.

While U.S. bunker-busting strikes on targets in Iran have been front-and-center in recent months, the new capabilities that DTRA is interested in would be applicable in conflict scenarios, as well. There’s something of a global trend, especially among America’s adversaries and competitors, toward more underground and/or hardened facilities. China, Russia, and North Korea, in particular, all have significant and still-expanding networks of subterranean military infrastructure, including air and naval bases, missile silos, command and control bunkers, and more.

This, in turn, has already been driving the U.S. military to pursue other new bunker-busting capabilities. These efforts are known to include a conventional Next Generation Penetrator (NGP) successor to the MOP and a new nuclear bunker buster bomb referred to currently as the Nuclear Deterrent System-Air-delivered (NDS-A). The U.S. military has also added a new conventional 5,000-class bunker buster bomb, the GBU-72/B, to its arsenal in recent years.

Bunker-buster versions of the JDAM-ER would offer valuable additional options for U.S. commanders at the lower end of the capability spectrum, if they haven’t already entered service to a degree.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Israeli attack reportedly kills one person in central Gaza’s Bureij camp, as a disabled Palestinian is shot in the West Bank.

Israeli forces have carried out a deadly attack in a refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Palestinian media reports, as casualties continue to mount in the enclave despite a “ceasefire” declared months ago.

The Israeli drone attack in the Bureij camp on Saturday killed one person and injured two others, reported the Wafa news agency.

The Palestinian Information Center identified the person killed as Muawiya al-Aydi, a local municipality worker.

Further north, a separate Israeli attack injured a person at a gathering in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood, according to Wafa.

Despite a ceasefire technically in effect since October, Israel’s military has regularly attacked Gaza, over half of which is under Israeli military control in defiance of the ceasefire’s terms.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least two Palestinians have been killed and 11 injured in Israeli attacks on the enclave in the past 48 hours.

The ministry said 983 people have been killed and 3,122 injured in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire was declared.

Hamas has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the agreement through its continued attacks and by shifting the so-called “Yellow Line” that demarcates Israeli-controlled areas in Gaza.

“Israeli actions reflect its unwillingness to implement the ceasefire agreement and aim to blow up the negotiation track and thwart the efforts being made, while continuing escalation to serve political and electoral considerations,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem on Friday.

Disabled Palestinian shot, injured in West Bank

Israeli troops also carried out a series of violent raids in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, part of a pattern of near-daily operations since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

According to Wafa, Israeli forces deployed stun grenades and tear gas during two separate incidents near Bethlehem, causing numerous injuries: one during a raid on the Dheisheh refugee camp and the other while blocking access to the Solomon’s Pools reservoirs.

A disabled Palestinian man was also shot and injured in the town of Duma, near Hebron.

Wafa said Israeli forces shot the man, while Israeli media cited Israeli police as saying an Israeli settler was responsible. According to Israeli police, the settler felt threatened by the man who was carrying a rock.

Other Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and vandalised property near Bethlehem, including assaulting Palestinian electrical workers and stealing water pipes, said Wafa.

Tehran remains defiant amid US attacks, orders complete closure of Strait of Hormuz to all vessels.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has vowed to prioritize elevating Seoul into a “global top three city” during his new term following his victory in the June 3 local elections.

Oh made the pledge in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday after winning last week’s local election against ruling Democratic Party rival Chong Won-o, his third consecutive and fifth non-consecutive election as Seoul mayor.

“A global top three city is not merely a slogan to raise the ranking but a goal to increase quality of life,” Oh said at his office. “(I) will concentrate the new city government’s capabilities to create a warmer and healthier Seoul.”

Seoul ranked sixth in the Japan-based Mori Memorial Foundation’s Global Power City Index 2025. London topped the list followed by Tokyo, New York, Paris and Singapore.

The index evaluates cities based on six major indicators — economy, research and development, cultural interaction, livability, environment and accessibility.

Oh said he plans to establish a committee to achieve the “global top three city” goal, noting that it will serve to set the direction of the city government for the next four years.

“If (we) continuously work on areas that the city can be good at and can handle, Seoul can rise to a global top three city rivaling London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Singapore,” he said.

Meanwhile, Oh said he has no plans set up for the presidency, even after his victory cemented his place as a political heavyweight with his party suffering a rout in last week’s elections, winning only four out of 16 key mayoral and gubernatorial seats up for grabs.

“There is no plan for the presidency,” he said, pledging to focus on elevating the city’s status. “(I) don’t think politics works out just by making plans.”

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June 7 (UPI) — The Israel Defense Forces confirmed it struck military targets in western and central Iran on Monday in retaliation for a wave of airstrikes launched against the Jewish state by Tehran hours earlier.

“A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran. Details to follow,” the IDF said in a post on Telegram as a fragile cease-fire in the Iran War continued to unravel.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, meanwhile, confirmed the attack, according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency.

“The Zionist enemy has attacked targets on our country’s soil using air-launched ballistic missiles,” the IRGC said.

Official Iranian media also said residents in neighboring Iraq heard explosions in parts in the capital Baghdad while unidentified objects were seen over the Iraqi city and in Beirut.

The strikes against Iran came just hours after the Islamic regime lobbed missiles into northern Israel for the first time since the beginning of the cease-fire, which came into effect on April 8.

Tehran said those strikes were in response to Israeli bombings targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Iranian missiles, which the IDF said had been intercepted, were the first direct attack on Israel since the cease-fire.

The attacks follow an announcement on Sunday that Israel had launched strikes at alleged Hezbollah targets in Beirut — attacks which it has continued throughout the cease-fire — and some of which have been in suburban neighborhoods.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who reportedly has been briefed on Iran’s actions, told Iran “that’s enough, get back to the table” for peace negotiations, Fox News reported.

“The Israeli army must stop its attacks on southern Lebanon and the suburbs, and if it expands its attacks to that region or responds to Iran’s action, it will face more devastating and regrettable blows,” General Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya command, said in a statement.

Trump has reportedly also told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold back after the Iranian strikes, which Netanyahu agreed to on the condition that Hezbollah — which is funded by the Iranian regime — not launch strikes into northern Israel from Lebanon.

The United States and Iran have been negotiating an end the war for more than a month, as a cease-fire has mostly held but the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked, preventing the shipment of oil and other products from the Middle East.

The US military says it carried out ‘self-defence’ strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island after Iran earlier launched missiles and drones at US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. Despite the exchange, the US says the US-Iran ceasefire remains in effect.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has proposed a new 25 percent tariff on imports from Brazil amid allegations of unfair trading practices.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the new punitive tariffs late on Monday, stemming from issues including digital trade and illegal deforestation.

The new tariffs would be imposed under Section 301 of US trade policy — a statute that gives the US government broad authority to impose trade sanctions based on violations of trade agreements, as well as what it deems “unfair” trade practices under the Trade Act of 1974.

Greer said there has been an investigation that began in July. The practices under investigation were related to issues such as illegal deforestation, ethanol market access, and anticorruption enforcement, among other key issues, according to the summary released by the US Department of Commerce on Tuesday.

In the 107-page document, the US government said that trade practices between the two nations “are unreasonable and burden or restrict US commerce”, and pointed to agreements that Brazil has with Mexico and India.

“Brazil’s trade arrangements with Mexico and India also create incentives to offshore US production by creating a financial advantage to exporting to Brazil from these countries, as opposed to exporting from the United States,” the document says.

There is a comment period for the general public to weigh in on the proposed tariffs, which begins on Thursday. The written comment period ends on July 1, and there will be a public hearing in Washington on July 6.

Beef, coffee, rare earths, other metals, energy, and aircraft parts are among the products that would be exempt from the tariffs.

On CNBC, Greer said that it would release more findings on unfair trade practices in the next several weeks in order to address what Greer called a “giant” trade deficit.

However, the data shows that the US maintains a trade surplus with Brazil. In March, Brazil bought more goods, worth $3.3bn, from the US than it exported at $2.9bn, representing a $420m trade surplus.

Other countries under investigation include China and Vietnam.

The new tariff would partially replace a tariff of 50 percent on many Brazilian goods imposed last year by Trump, with 40 percent serving as a punishment for Brazil’s prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.

The White House also recently dropped tariffs on select aluminium, copper, and steel imports, which include agricultural equipment such as harvesters. Those tariffs will drop from 25 percent to 15 percent. The tariffs expire in December 2027.

The new tariffs come after the Supreme Court, in February, struck down the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the White House used to impose its sweeping global tariffs.

“They are the first of many new tariffs to replace the IEPPA national security tariffs. The period of public comment will allow for potential modest tweaks and exemptions. Ultimately, it will add to some inflation pressure compared to the last few months but not compared to a year earlier,” Rachel Ziemba, a senior adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Al Jazeera.

Political tensions

The changes come despite President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s visit to Washington last month, as relations have deteriorated in recent months.

The US State Department has also designated two of Brazil’s criminal gangs as “terrorist organisations”, a move that supported Senator Flavio Bolsonaro’s position, Lula’s main rival in October’s election, and over the objections of Brazilian officials.

“I expressly asked President Trump not to tariff our companies,” Bolsonaro wrote on X on Tuesday. “Tariffs are not the solution.”

The White House did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

May 26 (Asia Today) — The South Korean government said Tuesday it aims to launch its first nuclear-powered submarine by the mid-2030s and deploy the vessel to the Navy in the late 2030s.

The plan was presented during the first meeting of the Future Defense Strategy Committee in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province, attended by President Lee Jae-myung.

According to the government, South Korea plans to domestically develop and build the submarines to strengthen the independence and stability of its military procurement, maintenance and operational systems.

The submarines are expected to use low-enriched uranium fuel enriched below 20%, allowing for long operational cycles without frequent refueling.

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back briefed Lee on the government’s basic plan for developing nuclear-powered submarines.

The announcement came seven months after Lee said he received support from President Donald Trump during a bilateral summit in October for South Korea’s submarine program.

“Based on the strong South Korea-U.S. alliance, the nuclear-powered submarines we will build symbolize our determination to take responsibility for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula ourselves,” Lee said.

He added that the project would also contribute significantly to strengthening South Korea’s defense industry capabilities.

Lee also emphasized the importance of regaining wartime operational control, known as OPCON, from the United States.

“The recovery of wartime operational control is a core element of self-reliant national defense,” Lee said. “It will serve as an opportunity for South Korea to more clearly establish itself as the main actor in defending the Korean Peninsula.”

He said Seoul and Washington would continue close consultations to finalize a roadmap for the transfer, including the timing of the transition.

Lee also called for integrating advanced science and technology into national defense to build what he described as a “smart military” capable of dominating future warfare.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260527010007660

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto unveiled ambitious economic growth and fiscal deficit targets for 2027 while promising reforms aimed at restoring investor confidence and strengthening state institutions. The announcement comes after months of market concerns over government spending plans, policy uncertainty, and weakening confidence in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Government Sets Ambitious Economic Targets

Prabowo outlined a growth target of 5.8 percent to 6.5 percent for next year while aiming to lower the fiscal deficit to between 1.8 percent and 2.4 percent of gross domestic product. The government also expects inflation to remain under control and pledged to improve food security and attract greater investment.

Investor Confidence Faces Pressure

Indonesia has faced growing scrutiny from investors and rating agencies this year. Credit rating outlooks were downgraded due to concerns about policymaking credibility, fiscal discipline, and transparency. Market fears intensified after discussions around possible changes to the country’s long standing fiscal deficit ceiling and rising state spending commitments.

Commodity Control Plan Sparks Market Concerns

Prabowo confirmed plans to establish a new state agency to oversee exports of major commodities including coal, palm oil, and nickel. The government says the move is intended to reduce revenue losses and strengthen national control over natural resources, but investors worry it could disrupt pricing systems and reduce private sector profitability.

Private Sector Role Remains Important

Despite increasing state involvement in strategic sectors, Prabowo stressed that Indonesia still welcomes private companies and small businesses as partners in economic development. He called for cooperation between the government and the private sector to achieve long term prosperity.

Analysis

Indonesia’s latest economic strategy reflects a balancing act between ambitious state led development goals and the need to maintain investor confidence. While the government aims to accelerate growth and strengthen control over key resources, markets remain cautious about rising fiscal risks and unpredictable policy changes.

The proposed commodity export agency could significantly reshape Indonesia’s role in global resource markets because the country is one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and palm oil. However, stronger government intervention may create uncertainty for foreign investors and commodity traders.

At the same time, maintaining fiscal discipline will be critical as Prabowo moves forward with large welfare programmes and economic reforms. The success of his agenda will likely depend on whether the government can reassure markets while delivering growth, stability, and stronger institutional credibility.

With information from Reuters.