Theme: Deterrence

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Tuesday again called for discussions on reviewing the country’s Three Non-Nuclear Principles and expressed support for considering the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines, Kyodo News reported. Speaking at a seminar in Tokyo, Koizumi said an environment should be created in which necessary security policies can be discussed openly and frankly without prejudice, and that as Japan revises its three key security documents by the end of the year, society as a whole should develop a shared understanding of nuclear threats. The Three Non-Nuclear Principles stipulate that the country will not possess, produce or permit the introduction of nuclear weapons, and the current National Security Strategy explicitly states that the policy will remain unchanged. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told parliament in October that her government would “deepen concrete and realistic considerations” regarding the potential introduction of nuclear-powered submarines for the Self-Defense Forces.

A People's Liberation Army (PLA) air defence unit intercepted two new types of missile simultaneously during a drill for the first time, including one that made a sudden change of direction in flight, according to Chinese state television. The system used was the HQ-9B, of the Central Theater Command Air Force's “Shenwei Missile Battalion”, according to CCTV; the targets included ballistic missiles and one missile that suddenly changed direction during flight.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered the armed forces on Saturday to give an “immediate, effective and with no geographic limits” response to any threat from the United States and Israel, according to the EFE news agency, in a text republished by swissinfo.ch.

North Korea tested on November 2 a dispersal warhead for a strategic cruise missile, according to state media. The KCNA claimed the middle-sized dispersal warhead can turn a target area of 5 to 6 hectares into ashes, in a November 2 launch that came a day after the cluster-bomb warhead test, amid rising tension with Seoul after a landmine blast wounded three South Korean soldiers at the border.

The chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Ebrahim Azizi, warned the US of a devastating response from the Armed Forces if Iran is attacked.

Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said that identifying new targets and planning operations across additional geographical areas had been placed on the Corps’ agenda, according to the Tehran Times. Iran warned that any renewed war with the United States could last longer than the previous round of fighting, after President Donald Trump said he still had to “take care” of more targets, according to Middle East Eye.

A senior adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Mohammad Mokhber, said in a post on X on Sunday that Iran is “rapidly” changing its defense doctrine and will no longer limit its retaliation to attacks on the aggressors’ regional assets, according to Mehr News. “The geography of the threat no longer determines the geography of the response,” he wrote in Farsi. Mehr News also reported that on Saturday Ayatollah Khamenei directed the country’s top military brass to prepare to deliver a swift and powerful response to any threat, “without any geographic limitations.”

North Korea’s Missile Administration tested on Saturday a cluster-bomb warhead for tactical ballistic missiles, assessing the warhead’s combat adaptability and power, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Research institutes under the administration said the Standard Type 2 cluster-bomb warhead is capable of turning into ashes a target area of 12 to 13 hectares with its highest-density power, according to KCNA. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday that the missile was fired toward the Yellow Sea from an area around the northwestern county of Chongju, and that, under information sharing with the United States, it tracked relevant activities before the launch and maintained a readiness posture.

Iranian Defense Minister Mehrdad Akhlaghi said the country is committed to strengthening combat readiness and to ensuring an immediate, effective and proportionate response to any threat, anywhere, without geographical limits. The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, warned that any attack on Iran will be met with devastating strikes, using new and modern weapons, and said Tehran remains open to diplomacy if its seven conditions are fulfilled.

The cluster warhead North Korea tested on Saturday for its tactical ballistic missile can devastate an area of 12 to 13 hectares (29 to 32 acres) with what research institutes described as ultra-high density, according to TRT World. The standard Type-2 warhead was assessed in a test conducted by the Missile Administration to examine how effectively it could be used in combat and the extent of damage it could inflict, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The United States Central Command (Centcom) said that as of October 31 its forces had redirected 144 commercial vessels to ensure compliance with the naval blockade against Iran. In a post on X, Centcom said the vessels were redirected “to ensure compliance” and that the George Washington aircraft carrier was supporting enforcement of the blockade, according to Middle East Eye.

US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, after discussing with military commanders options for restarting major combat operations, according to The Wall Street Journal, in a Jerusalem Post report. In Atlanta, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran, amid stalled peace talks.

North Korea’s Missile Administration tested on Oct 31 a cluster-bomb warhead intended for tactical ballistic missiles, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The test assessed the warhead’s adaptation to combat and its power. The agency said the Standard Type 2 warhead can turn a target area of 12 to 13 hectares into ashes with its highest-density power. Analysts quoted by Reuters said the tests could be part of efforts to modernize the military, which gained experience in modern warfare by sending troops to the war in Ukraine alongside Russia, according to Reuters, in a report republished by the Straits Times.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered commanders to update the country’s target list to include “all types of tangible and intangible assets belonging to the American-Zionist enemy”, according to France 24. At the meeting with top military commanders, he said that “any level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a G20 press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, that Trump has not yet decided on new attacks: “We can achieve military objectives if we seek to. He hasn’t made a decision. I have no announcement in that regard with you today, and nor do we take any of it lightly.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “currently, there are no plans for meetings with American officials.”

The commander of the United States (US) Army in the Pacific, General Ronald Clark, said that the 2027 window for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan remains valid as a readiness benchmark. “The question is, is the window still valid? The answer for us at USARPAC is yes,” he told an industry conference in Hawaii on Tuesday, Breaking Defense reported; according to the commander, US Army Pacific is positioning equipment, materiel and personnel on a rotational basis across the first and second island chains west of the International Date Line, with the goal of being ready by April 2, 2027.

Mojtaba Khamenei met with senior commanders of Iran's armed forces and issued what his office described as “important and strategic orders”, according to the Middle East Eye. He also ordered the army to prepare “an immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response” should its enemies resume attacks, and said that Iran will set the “timing and terms for ending any new conflicts,” according to the Jerusalem Post. The order also directs the Revolutionary Guard to update its target list to place “all tangible and intangible assets” of the US and Israel within reach of the armed forces, according to the newspaper.

Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader, Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, described calls to review Iran’s nuclear doctrine as a growing national demand rooted in the Iranian people’s experience of Western conduct and in the need to strengthen the country’s deterrence, according to the Tehran Times. He cited previous surveys in which more than 70 percent of respondents supported reviewing the doctrine. The cleric said the final decision rests with the Leader and urged universities and experts to prepare studies and proposals.

The Iranian Navy’s deputy coordinator said the navy targeted the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with a strategic cruise missile during the 40-day Ramadan War, according to the Tehran Times. According to him, the vessel halted flight operations for three days after the strike before moving farther away from Iran’s coastline.

10 United States Air Force transport aircraft arrived at Israeli bases in southern Israel as part of a larger Middle East air convoy, according to KAN News, in a text published by The Jerusalem Post. The aircraft came from Fort Bliss in Texas and would carry air defense systems to protect regional assets, according to KAN, and United States Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper briefed Trump on military options for Iran, according to The Wall Street Journal, in a text published by The Jerusalem Post. An Israeli source told KAN the United States and Israel are coordinating closely and preparing for whatever decision Trump makes, with no decision yet made.

President Vladimir Putin said the West failed in its goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Moscow and is unlikely to succeed by 2030, at a press conference following the Russia-Africa Summit, according to the Russian state agency TASS. Putin said that many are only talking about preparing for war by 2030, that Russia is prepared, but that it does not want any kind of war with Europe.

North Korea fired about 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Thursday, launched at around 12:30 p.m. local time from the Wonsan area and flew about 250 km, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, according to G1. The South Korean Joint Chiefs said further analysis of other specifications was under way in coordination with the United States, according to Yonhap. The launch came about a week after Seoul proposed holding military talks with Pyongyang, as tensions have heightened since the Sept. 21 land mine blast that injured three South Korean soldiers, Yonhap reported.

Russia fired an RSM-56 Bulava ballistic missile on Wednesday, October 28, from the Generalissimo Suvorov nuclear submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk, the Russian Defense Ministry said, according to G1. The missile can carry a multiple-warhead nuclear payload.

North Korea launched more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The South Korean military said it detected the launches from the Wonsan area at around 12:30 p.m. Japan’s government said the suspected North Korean missile has already fallen, according to Kyodo News.

Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk’s genius and said he was in touch with Starlink’s controlling shareholder as Russia develops its own satellite communications for its military to use against Ukraine, according to The Guardian. “We are in close contact with our American partners — including Mr. Musk — because it is very important, in orbit, not to get in each other’s way and to maintain a certain level of discipline and order,” he said.

The Pacific Fleet’s strategic nuclear-powered submarine Generalissimo Suvorov test-fired a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from a submerged position in the Sea of Okhotsk toward the Chizha range in the Arkhangelsk Region, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry cited by TASS. The launch went ahead under the combat training plan, with the crew of the Project 955A Borei-A-class strategic submarine, according to the ministry.

Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Japan plans to boost “denial defense”, according to Kyodo News. In the meeting, the two discussed munitions production and the strategy the two governments call “deterrence through denial”, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) defense chiefs' summit in the Philippines, according to the Japan Times.

Donald Trump described the summer ceasefire with Iran as a waste of time, according to TASS. On Monday he declared that past ceasefires with Iran were ineffective, brushing aside previous efforts to de-escalate tensions. The US-Iran ceasefire took effect in April and was later formalized and extended under the 60-day Islamabad Memorandum signed in June, before collapsing in July.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed US President Donald Trump to carry out a joint strike on Iran before the Israeli election, and Trump did not give the green light, according to CNN, in an account reproduced by Israel Hayom. Netanyahu’s office rejected the report and called it fake news, according to Israel National News.

France is working with allies on a forward deterrence plan involving the creation of new infrastructure, communications, early warning, intelligence sharing and deployments of nuclear-capable Rafale jets, which the UK, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark have joined to varying degrees since March, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a video on Sunday in which he warned Iran and its proxies that they would suffer blows out of all proportion if they tried to disrupt the elections, according to the Middle East Eye. There are intelligence indications that Iran and its proxies could attack to disrupt the October 27 election, according to Iran International.

Donald Trump said he has a decision to make on Iran: “finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or make a deal”, the Hindustan Times reported. The president said every Iranian nuclear site is under watch and that if there is any movement at the site, the United States knows exactly what to do: “but there won’t be”.

Japan is considering including in its revised three key security-related documents plans to study and research the possibility of introducing a nuclear-powered submarine, according to The Japan Times. The Japanese government is considering starting an investigation into whether to acquire nuclear-powered submarines as part of the upcoming regular update to its defense strategy, according to Nikkei Asia.

Iran said on Saturday that “we will under no circumstances and at no time allow rusty U.S. military vessels to enter the Persian Gulf” and that, if attacked, it “will achieve absolute victory in this apocalyptic war”, according to The Hindu. The apocalyptic war remark was attributed to state-run Press TV. The comments by Iranian military officers came after US and Israeli media reported that both countries have drawn up plans to resume strikes against the Islamic Republic.

Kim Jong-un urged the North Korean military to train to become the strongest armed forces in the world at a two-day meeting of company commanders in Pyongyang, state media said, in a South China Morning Post report.

US President Donald Trump said the country may launch “another little Epic Fury” on Iran, a reference to the joint Israeli-American military operation that sparked the war with Iran at the end of February, according to France 24. “We may do another little Epic Fury,” Trump said at a rally in Florida as he spoke about the war.

France and the United Kingdom carried out their first joint nuclear air strike simulation, with French Rafale jets in a mock mission called “Rummy” escorted by British Royal Air Force Typhoons, according to The Times of Israel. The exercise comes as Paris and London deepen nuclear coordination amid rising tensions with Russia.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced it was preparing to unveil a new weapon dubbed the “Father of All Bombs,” in response to US threats to use the most powerful conventional bomb against Iranian nuclear facilities, saying through spokesperson Hossein Mohabi that it was in the preparatory stages of the unveiling, according to The Jerusalem Post, citing the Young Journalists Club. US defence officials prepared a range of options for the president to consider as he weighs military escalation in Iran, sources told ABC News, according to ABC News.

The United States and Israel have drawn up plans for renewed strikes on Iran for after the November 3 legislative elections, according to The New York Times in a text republished by The Times of Israel, with likely targets at energy sites, nuclear facilities and missile and drone arsenals — the new detail after the reports of a US veto and flights to the border. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel this week to discuss the new strikes, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted a sortie on Monday, flying as far as the Iranian border, according to Israeli and US officials cited by Axios. Israel notified Washington in advance and described the operation as a training exercise intended for “power projection”, aimed at deterring Iran from attacking ahead of next week’s election, Axios reported. The Times of Israel reported the same advance notice, described as a military exercise and a show of force.

The Pentagon is sending the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Middle East, according to two US officials cited by Fox News, in a report carried by The Jerusalem Post. According to the report, the carrier group is due to arrive in the region by the end of November.

Kim Yo-jong said North Korea’s military leadership is considering increasing the deployment of tactical strike means near the entire southern border and resuming loudspeaker broadcasts against South Korea, as “preemptive and suppressive” measures for any contingency, the Korea Herald reported. She accused the South Korean military of 2,870 warning broadcasts and of firing warning shots on 201 occasions between Aug. 1 and Oct. 17. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the warnings are delivered through smaller speakers installed at South Korean guard posts and used for military operations toward North Korea.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said on Saturday that Taiwan seeks to deter war by increasing its defense spending. In his National Day speech, he said that the aim of increasing investment in national defense is to deter war, not provoke it, according to the Japan Times.

North Korea said it conducted an underwater test of a new torpedo weapon system on Thursday, according to state news agency KCNA, in an account by the South China Morning Post, which described the test as a success and a significant step in the country's naval development. KCNA said artificial intelligence was used for target detection and guidance in the new high-speed precision-guided torpedo, whose propulsion technology was verified through more than 180 tests over the past five years.

Iranian Army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said on Friday that the country has new operational plans underway that will force US naval forces to withdraw farther from Iran’s coastline in the coming days, according to West Asia News Agency (WANA).

The United States is in talks with Russia and China on a path to denuclearisation, President Donald Trump said. Trump said the US and Russia each have more than 4,000 warheads and that China, with about 620, could catch up within five years.

US Space Command chief General Stephen Whiting said an international conflict in space is possible and that the country therefore needs to expand its arsenals, according to TASS, in a text published by Axios. Whiting pointed to key gaps in the arsenal, citing as an example the self-protection of high-value assets on orbit.

NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, said at the Warsaw Security Forum that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would destroy “anything and everything” if someone was “foolish enough” to attack the alliance, that it would block the initial attack, blunt a persistent offensive and, if required, break the enemy’s forces and war-fighting system, without mentioning Russia by name, according to Al Jazeera.

The US Navy aims to field a relatively low-cost hypersonic missile on its carrier-based fighters, a weapon that could pose a new challenge to the air defences protecting Chinese warships and coastal military installations, according to experts quoted by the South China Morning Post. The Navy awarded US$ 200 million this week for the production of low-cost Blackbeard hypersonic missiles that will be fielded from carrier-based fighters. According to the service, in a statement cited by USNI News, Blackbeard is an air-launched hypersonic strike weapon that provides carrier-based strike fighters with a responsive, long-range, high-speed strike option against maritime and land targets.

Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alexus Grynkewich said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is deliberately ambiguous about what would trigger Article 5, in an interview with Poland’s TVP World, according to TASS. According to him, the alliance could also invoke “other articles” if needed, including Article 4, which calls for consultations within the NATO Council if a member state believes its security is under threat.

Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali slammed as a figment and campaign rhetoric US President Donald Trump's allegations that Iran can destroy Los Angeles and San Diego, according to TASS. Jalali said Iran's military doctrine is clear, responsible and based on defense and deterrence and that the country has never initiated any wars, according to the same source.

The United States will gain a base for anti-submarine operations near the GIUK gap, between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom, under the September 22 agreement with Denmark and Greenland, Troy Bouffard, director of the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience, told Sputnik. The agreement includes Narsarsuaq as an air bridge and a base on the western edge of the gap and a smaller installation at Mestersvig, for radar and communications.

NATO’s military command has drawn up a new defense plan for the alliance’s eastern flank, focusing on drones and artificial intelligence, to be presented on October 12 to NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alexus Grynkewich, according to TASS. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of the NATO Military Committee, said the plan, dubbed “Theory of Victory”, is meant to ensure that war never begins, because those who threaten the alliance are convinced not to start it, and is not directed against Russia, according to TASS, citing an interview with La Repubblica.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, accused French President Emmanuel Macron of a double standard on nuclear deterrence, according to Mehr News. In a post on X, Baghaei said that during a test of a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, Macron said that in order to be free, one must be feared, and to be feared, one must be powerful. According to Baghaei, Macron asserts regarding Iran, which has never sought to acquire nuclear weapons, that the country “must never possess nuclear weapons. Neither today, nor in five years, nor in ten years. Never.”

NATO will host its annual nuclear deterrence exercise Steadfast Noon beginning on Tuesday 13 October 2026, in Italy, with 17 nations and no live weapons, according to the alliance itself. The drills run from October 13 to 23, with 17 member states, according to RT.

France test-fired its new M51.3 nuclear-capable ballistic missile for the first time on Tuesday, a variant of the M51, launched from the Le Vigilant nuclear submarine off Brittany, according to the French defence ministry. The missile carried no warhead and impacted in the North Atlantic, hundreds of kilometres from any coastline. President Emmanuel Macron made an unexpected appearance at the launch, according to Le Monde.

Lithuania's parliament voted Tuesday, in a first reading, to advance a constitutional amendment that would remove the ban on weapons of mass destruction from the constitution, LRT reported. The vote passed with 106 lawmakers in favour, 18 against and six abstaining. A final vote cannot be held until at least three months later. TASS described the vote as a removal of the ban on nuclear weapons deployment.

US President Donald Trump said the United States moved its bombers out of RAF Fairford because of “some threats” to the base, according to the BBC. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US still has full confidence in the security of all its bases and that British authorities have been cooperative since the incident.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey agreed to immediately implement their collective defence commitments, with the rapid deployment of agreed military forces and capabilities into Saudi Arabia, according to the Times of India. Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman said the alliance committee agreed to activate collective deterrence measures in response to attacks by the Houthi group. Pakistan and Turkey announced military support for Saudi Arabia after the emergency meeting of the alliance committee, in a joint statement by the three foreign ministers, according to the Middle East Eye.

Turkey said the Strategic Political and Defense Committee of the Mecca defence pact, which includes Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, will meet in Riyadh on Monday, according to Middle East Eye. The meeting will address recent developments in the region and the stage reached in the Alliance's institutionalisation efforts, the Turkish ministry statement said. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will travel to Riyadh with the defence minister and the chief of staff for the committee meeting of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, an alliance founded in August with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, according to the Anadolu Agency.

Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran is aware of Russia's proposal to transfer enriched uranium to Russia but will decide based on its national interests, according to TASS. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on October 1 that Moscow's proposal remained on the table.

Iran's Army spokesman, Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia, said the country will expand the range and speed of its missiles, justifying the decision by saying the enemy now operates farther from the coast, at distances of up to 1,000 km. The current Iranian arsenal, according to Sputnik, consists mainly of missiles with a range of up to 2,000 km.

The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, said Iranian elites are holding serious discussions on the possibility of the country withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), TASS reported. According to him, Tehran continues to fulfill all its obligations under the treaty for the time being, and the ministry will abide by the decision of the competent authorities. Iranian lawmakers, meanwhile, are pushing a fast-tracked motion calling for the country's withdrawal from the treaty, according to Tasnim News Agency.

Iran opened a military training centre in Tehran on Saturday aimed at preparing citizens to confront US and Israeli forces, according to reports cited by the Middle East Eye. Ali Kowsari, deputy for training at the Basij organisation, said 1,000 battalions had been prepared for training.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally supervised the launch of an intermediate-range strategic missile, which according to KCNA flew 1,000 km before hitting its designated target, Sputnik reported. The Russian state agency TASS registered that the North Korean hypersonic missile hit a target 1,000 km away.

US President Donald Trump said he is confident that Iran has abandoned all plans to acquire nuclear weapons, according to TASS. Trump added that he still has to make a decision on Iran, without giving details, and said the country has been defeated and that the conflict could end either well or badly.

North Korea said it launched an intermediate-range missile from the country’s east on Saturday that hit a target 1,000 km out at sea, in a drill overseen by Kim Jong Un, according to The Hindu, in a Reuters report. South Korea’s military said on Saturday it had detected a ballistic missile launch and assessed the missile had flown more than 700 km toward the sea off its east coast. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the drill was intended to train troops operating a hypersonic strategic weapon system and to assess the reliability, efficiency and mobility of the country’s war deterrent.

The United States delivered to Taiwan the first two new F-16V Block 70 fighter jets, the first of 66 aircraft approved for sale by Washington in 2019, according to RT. The two aircraft arrived on Friday.

North Korea said on Saturday it had tested an intermediate-range missile with built-in artificial intelligence, according to G1. In its statement, Pyongyang said the missile was able to change its trajectory on its own at low altitude. South Korea’s armed forces said the launch flew more than 700 kilometres toward the sea off the east coast. According to Kim Yo-jong, sister of the leader, Kim Jong-un personally oversaw the exercise, in a statement cited by Sputnik.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said it will take compensatory measures to strengthen its defense capability in response to what it calls Japan's remilitarization, according to Sputnik. Japan announced plans to use Type 25 missile systems, stationed in the country a few months ago, during the joint Japan-US Keen Sword 27 drills scheduled for October, Sputnik reported.

Japan issued an emergency alert on Saturday about the launch of a suspected North Korean ballistic missile, on the day South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North fired at least one ballistic missile from the Wonsan area, on the peninsula’s eastern coast, towards the sea. The projectile flew more than 700 km, according to the same Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited by the Yonhap news agency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday attended the active phase of the Center-2026 strategic exercise at the Chebarkul training ground in the Urals, held from September 28 to October 3, involving more than 47,000 military personnel and contingents from seven foreign states, according to the Kremlin. Troops from China are taking part in the drills, according to the Washington Post.

A live-fire exercise against a maritime target was conducted at the Caspian Flotilla during the Center-2026 drills, the Russian Defense Ministry said. According to the drills' scenario, a simulated enemy attempted to seize a section of the coastline and launch an offensive.

The United States sent one additional Patriot battery to Saudi Arabia to protect a key oil facility and another to Qatar to protect a natural gas facility, according to Axios, in a report published by Middle East Eye. Gulf allies, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, already operate their own batteries, but have relied on Washington for additional protection as they have borne the brunt of Iran's retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.

Iran said, in a statement, that the era of cost-free threats against it has come to an end, according to the Tehran Times. The statement was issued on October 2 to mark the second anniversary of Operation True Promise 2, of October 1, 2024. The statement also says that a new threat would trigger an immediate and more destructive response than True Promise 2.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on 1 October the first combat use of the FP-7 tactical ballistic missile, of Ukrainian manufacture. The FP-7 was developed by Ukrainian company Fire Point.

The third aircraft carrier the United States is deploying to the waters around Iran is the USS Theodore Roosevelt, whose strike group left its San Diego base on Sunday, followed a day later by the Makin Island Marine Expeditionary Force with more than 2,000 Marines. By the end of November, three aircraft carriers and two amphibious groups will be positioned around Iran, a US official told Al Jazeera. The Pentagon is adding Marine Corps ships, up to 10,000 troops, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Taiwan’s first two F-16V Block 70 fighter jets are expected to arrive within a few days, according to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Wang Ting-yu. Wang said the two aircraft have taken off from Hawaii and will land at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung either Friday or Saturday. The sale of 66 F-16V Block 70s was approved by the United States in 2019, with deliveries originally scheduled to begin in 2023.

The United States deployed two additional Patriot air defense batteries to protect oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to TASS, citing an Axios report. According to that report, Washington wants to assure its allies that it will protect their key energy sites in case a decision is made to resume a full-fledged operation against Iran.

The Pentagon will deploy a third aircraft carrier strike group and additional Marine Corps ships to the Middle East, increasing the US military presence in the region by another 9,000 to 10,000 servicemen, The Wall Street Journal reported, in a text published by TASS. The ships, jet fighters, Marines and sailors will arrive in the region by the end of November, the officials said. The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt departed San Diego on September 27 as part of a scheduled deployment, according to TASS.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would consider using all weapons at the country's disposal in the event of a direct attack on Russia, including Kaliningrad, according to Bloomberg. The Hindustan Times also reported the warning about using all types of weapons if Kaliningrad is attacked.

Belarus is prepared to restore verification and early warning mechanisms, as well as other military transparency measures, provided North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries show a reciprocal willingness to do so, Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov told TASS.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy announced it had captured a US Remus 600 unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) operating in the Strait of Hormuz for espionage. According to the Tehran Times, it is the second US underwater drone captured in less than a month, while Washington keeps its bid to reopen the passage. The IRGC warned that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and said it will continue confronting what it describes as dangerous movements.

US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Time magazine that the United States has been actively increasing its weapons stockpiles over the past six months. “We have a lot of weapons. You know, we’ve been stocking up for the last six months,” he said, according to TASS.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday a 20% cut in the positions of generals and admirals by January 1, 2027 and the creation of a new four-star command to expand drone, autonomous and robotic warfare, according to India Today. Reuters had reported he was set to make the announcement when he spoke with hundreds of junior service members at Quantico, Virginia.

The Russian Embassy in Ireland said in a statement on Wednesday that Moscow would be ready to use its entire arsenal, including nuclear weapons, to defend Kaliningrad if the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) tries to isolate the territory, according to the Kyiv Independent. The embassy said NATO is preparing an air and naval blockade of the region, without providing evidence or identifying the source of the claim. A Russian document sent to the alliance and obtained by Reuters says Moscow would use “its entire arsenal” to defend Kaliningrad, according to G1. NATO confirmed it had received an “informal document” from the Russian Embassy in Belgium with the warning about Kaliningrad, according to RTE.

The Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, plans to allocate nearly €3.4 billion for the purchase of American Typhon Mid-Range Capability (MRC) systems equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 1,600 km, according to RT. At the beginning of September, the German Navy conducted its first test launches of Israeli LORA (Long Range Attack) ballistic missiles from an F125-class frigate, according to the same report.

US President Donald Trump called Kim Jong-un a friend and played down North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, according to Al Jazeera. The remarks came in Washington on Tuesday in reply to a question about why North Korea could have nuclear weapons but Iran could not, according to Al Jazeera.

The Russian Embassy in Ireland said, according to the TASS news agency, that Russia is ready to use its entire arsenal, including nuclear weapons, to defend its territory if countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) try to isolate the Kaliningrad Region from the rest of the country. The diplomatic mission said there has been information that NATO is preparing an air and naval blockade of Kaliningrad and the Kaliningrad Region.

Taiwan’s defence minister said US arms sales to the island remain unchanged and that Taipei remains in talks with Washington over individual deals, on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, according to The Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by The Hindu. A record 14 billion arms package to the island, however, remains stalled. The United States paused the 14 billion deal after a May summit in Beijing between Trump and Xi Jinping, and China pressed Washington to halt the arms sales to the island, according to AP, in a text published by Mercury News.

The Kremlin said it would not want Iran to leave the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and hopes the country remains an important and responsible party to the treaty, which it called the cornerstone of the non-proliferation regime, according to TASS. Ali Nikzad, vice speaker of Iran’s parliament, said Tehran is considering withdrawing from the NPT, the agency reported.

The mayor of Kadena Town in Okinawa Prefecture visited the Japanese Defense Ministry's Okinawa Defense Bureau on Monday to protest the planned storage of the US Typhon mid-range missile system at Kadena Air Base, China Global Television Network (CGTN) reported. According to Japan's Defense Ministry, the US Army will temporarily store the Typhon system and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa starting in mid-October. The Typhon system includes launchers, missiles and a battery operations center and can fire both SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles.

Taiwan aims to quadruple its stockpile of combat ammunition from 30 days to 120 days under a six-year, NT$27.59 billion procurement program, according to the Taipei Times. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) allocated NT$7.3 billion for the program after the Executive Yuan approved it on Sept. 3, according to the paper. The program must be accelerated to replenish ammunition depleted during military exercises and drills, which have become more frequent in the past few years, according to strategic planning director Lieutenant General Huang Wen-chi, cited by the paper.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the US approval for South Korea to build its first nuclear submarine is “a dangerous development” that adds new instability to the region, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Straits Times. According to the ministry, the move is another demonstration of US nuclear proliferation through the AUKUS pact (Australia, United Kingdom and United States). The statement was published by state media, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The Russian embassy in Belgium warned NATO that the alliance’s policy on Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad heightens the risk of a direct military confrontation. The diplomats said Russia has the means to repel potential aggression and stands ready to deploy its entire available arsenal of weapons, according to TASS.

The Kremlin said on Monday that arms control negotiations between Russia and the US are far behind and that, once resumed, they will require lengthy and careful talks, according to Reuters, in a text republished by G1. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such negotiations should have resumed “yesterday” and that China has repeatedly made clear that it would not take part in the trilateral arms control negotiations proposed by US President Donald Trump, a position that, as far as Moscow knows, has not changed.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said that Russia does not trust Japan’s promises to remove US missile systems after the joint military drills are over and warned that such actions will not go unanswered, according to TASS. In an interview with the Izvestia daily, Rudenko said the Japanese authorities promised that the missiles would supposedly be removed after the drills ended. According to earlier reports, US forces were set to deploy on Kyushu Typhon ground-based systems, designed to launch intermediate- and shorter-range missiles, along with HIMARS launchers, during drills held from June to September.

According to the chief of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the relevance of the bloc’s joint exercises being held in Russia is due to the extremely complex military-political situation in the world, the Russian state news agency TASS reported. At the opening, the Interaction-2026 command-and-staff exercise, the Poisk-2026 special reconnaissance exercise and the Echelon-2026 logistics support exercise are taking place in Russia.

Iran's Army spokesperson, Brigadier General Akraminia, said the Army Force is fully prepared to confront the enemy with might and power in reaction to possible US attacks, according to the Mehr News Agency. Akraminia said air defenses prevented 25,000 enemy aerial operations and that the Air Force responded about two and a half hours after the aggression.

The Typhon missile systems will stay in Japan after the exercises. According to the Russian agency TASS, Japan’s Defense Ministry said the Typhon systems deployed at Kanoya air field in Kagoshima Prefecture during the June and September exercises will be transferred to storage at Kadena air force base in Okinawa by mid-October, aboard C-17 transport aircraft. The ministry said the American side explained that storing the equipment at Kadena is not a permanent deployment in Japan. For the Daily Sun, the longer Typhon presence in the country creates a distributed network of strike, air-defence and targeting capabilities that complicates Chinese military operations around Taiwan.

U.S. intelligence assesses that Saudi Arabia has not ruled out developing nuclear weapons, according to the Washington Post.

Swedish and Finnish fighter jets were scrambled to intercept and identify Russian military aircraft in international airspace over the Gulf of Finland on Thursday, September 24, 2026, according to the Finnish Air Force, cited by The Hindu. The Russian group included a transport plane and several fighter jets, according to the Finnish statement, cited by The Hindu.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada examined the possibility of U.S. military action as an “extreme tail risk”, while insisting that an American invasion is not Ottawa’s base-case scenario, according to CTC News. The remarks were made in an interview published on 23 September, amid a sharp deterioration in the economic relationship between the two countries and repeated statements by Donald Trump about Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state, according to CTC News.

Belarus’s Defense Ministry said Belarusian troops are heading to a training range in Russia, where the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will hold drills with its Collective Rapid Reaction Forces, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. The exercises are Interaction 2026, a command and staff drill, Search 2026, for special reconnaissance forces and assets, and Echelon 2026, for logistics, the ministry’s statement said.

Even with the final approval that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he received from Donald Trump to produce Patriot missiles under licence, building industrial capacity would take more than a year and would not cover the acute interceptor shortage Ukraine faces now, according to France 24.

Imagery and intelligence support from Chinese groups has helped Iran threaten ships in the Strait of Hormuz and launch precision strikes on U.S. military bases in the Middle East, CNN reports, citing sources the network does not identify. The imagery allowed Iran to hit a U.S. base in Jordan in July 2026, a strike that killed three American service members with a level of precision that U.S. officials believe was beyond Iran’s capabilities. In May 2026, the U.S. government sanctioned three Chinese satellite companies for providing imagery that, according to Washington, “enables Iran’s military strikes against U.S. forces in the Middle East.”

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold an urgent meeting of their chiefs of staff, announced by the Saudi foreign ministry, to discuss ways to back Riyadh in the escalation with Yemen’s Houthis. The barrage of ballistic missiles and drones against Saudi targets, which included the holy city of Mecca, is testing the mutual defence pact signed in August with Turkey and Pakistan. The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement states that an armed attack against one of the three countries is considered an attack against all of them.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Wednesday, 23 September 2026, for a three-day state visit, with formal talks scheduled for Thursday, 24 September, and a visit to the US National Archives on Friday, 25 September, and is expected to press President Donald Trump to halt arms sales to Taiwan, invoking the third of the joint communiqués the two countries signed in 1982, according to Reuters, which spoke to three sources familiar with the discussions. In that communiqué, Washington said it intended to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan and did not seek long-term weapons sales to Taipei; an accompanying memorandum by then president Ronald Reagan conditioned that willingness on China’s continued commitment to a peaceful solution of differences over Taiwan. A package worth about US$ 14 billion in arms for Taiwan has been on hold for months. After the summit with Xi in Beijing in May 2026, Trump said he was keeping the package in abeyance and described it as “a very good negotiating chip”, according to Reuters. The sources said China has also asked the United States to stop deliveries of weapons already ordered by the island, and has offered help in pressing Iran over the war in the Middle East in exchange for concessions. The South China Morning Post, citing sources, reported that Washington is weighing postponing the announcement of new arms sales to Taiwan until after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen in November and the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Florida in December; one source said Trump considered delaying the decision until late 2028 or January 2029 but backed off after loud opposition from China hawks. In Taipei, Le Monde quoted Su Tzu-yun, a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research: “We need to stay alert, but not panic, because the United States’ geopolitical interest remains keeping China at arm’s length from Taiwan.” Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it was closely monitoring the talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, that European countries hosting US military bases or helping to prepare or execute US attacks could be “complicit in aggression”. He made the remark to his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to Middle East Eye, which cites an Iranian statement. Araghchi said rising fuel and commodity prices in global markets are a direct result of the US-Israeli war on Iran and warned of “the dangerous consequences that the normalisation of law-breaking and aggressive US unilateralism poses to the rule of law”.

Iranian lawmaker Hossein-Ali Haji Deligani said in parliament on Sunday, September 20, 2026, that a triple-urgency bill, a mechanism that allows fast-track consideration, to withdraw the country from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has been submitted to the presiding board and is awaiting the approval of Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf to be put to debate, according to Press TV, Mehr News and Türkiye Today. “Given the circumstances facing the country and the aggression that the enemy has launched against us on two occasions, remaining in the NPT brings us nothing but losses,” he said, citing the referral of Iran’s case to the United Nations (UN) Security Council by the 35-member Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over alleged non-compliance with the inspections regime, a decision Russia and China opposed. The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Major General Mohsen Rezaei, said on Saturday, September 19, 2026, that the country remains committed to not producing nuclear weapons, but that leaving the treaty is a possibility in the face of threats from the United States and Israel. Iran International reported that similar proposals have circulated for months and that parliament’s leadership has kept them off the floor, and that neither Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei nor the Supreme National Security Council has said anything about pursuing a nuclear weapon, an option endorsed in separate remarks by hardline lawmakers.

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, that a new rotation of US troops is “already on its way” to the country, resolving part of the uncertainty over the military presence in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally bordering Russia, as reported by Reuters, Stars and Stripes and Mezha. Nausėda thanked Donald Trump and said the “US military presence in Lithuania is an indispensable part of our deterrence and collective defence”; Lithuanian foreign minister Kęstutis Budrys said “US boots on the ground are essential for deterrence, defence, and security on NATO’s eastern flank”. The United States has kept rotations in Lithuania since 2019, with battalions of about 1,000 troops. Stars and Stripes reported that the contingent is normally drawn from the Poland-based brigade, that the number and origin of the troops have not been disclosed and that the Pentagon had not publicly confirmed the deployment: in May 2026 defence secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a rebalancing of forces in Europe, withdrawing up to 5,000 troops from Germany and cancelling the move to Poland of the armoured brigade based at Fort Hood, Texas, which left the troops in Lithuania without a replacement.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it is ready for a “counteroffensive” and warned it will “change the geography of the war” if the United States attacks the country again, in the words of the force’s spokesperson, Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, in an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency published on Monday, September 21, 2026, and reproduced by ABC News. “If a new aggression takes place, there will definitely be significant changes in our defense and our counteroffensive,” Mohebbi said, adding that Iran will bring “new weapons with new capabilities” into the battlefield and that the world will be surprised. On the same day, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the country has reached a stage where its missiles can hit any target Tehran chooses and that it is answering a “hybrid conflict” of economic, military and diplomatic pressure, according to Middle East Eye, citing the state broadcaster Press TV. The statements answer the threats Donald Trump made in a Fox News interview on Sunday, September 20, when he said the options under consideration were “wiping [Iran] out, letting them rot economically or making a deal”, according to The Guardian. The two countries remain deadlocked over the Strait of Hormuz, closed by Iran, with commercial traffic disrupted and a US counter-blockade on Iranian ports, according to The Guardian.

Lithuania’s prime minister, Mindaugas Sinkevičius, told BBC News his country has drawn up evacuation plans for “a variety of scenarios” in the face of the Russian threat, while saying Lithuanians “will not surrender” if attacked: “we will fight back, we will engage”. In an interview with the Newsnight programme, also BBC News, he said Lithuanians feel “constantly threatened” by Russia, in part because of the drones entering the country’s airspace, and gave the example of getting elderly citizens out of cities “smoothly”. Lithuania borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and is a NATO member that shot down a drone entering its airspace a week ago; Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas told BBC News the aircraft came from the direction of Belarus, a Russian ally, which did not comment on the incident.

German leaders are preparing to deny the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) access to the country’s secret war plan, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, September 22. The roughly 1,000-page document, known as OPLAN Deutschland, was drafted in 2024 to set out how the German military would respond to another Russian attack in Eastern Europe, and the full version is held by the heads of Germany’s 16 states. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius raised on September 8, in a closed-door meeting with defence policy experts from the governing coalition’s parliamentary groups, the option of withdrawing the OPLAN from the Saxony-Anhalt state chancellery if the AfD takes power there, to prevent the plan from reaching Moscow, according to the German network RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) and Bloomberg. The AfD won Saxony-Anhalt’s state election on September 6 with 43.8% of the vote, and Germany’s domestic intelligence service classifies the party’s branches in Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony as confirmed right-wing extremist organizations.

Britain and the United States test-fired a torpedo from an uncrewed underwater vessel instead of a crewed submarine for the first time, the UK government said on Monday, September 21. According to London’s statement, the live firing took place in UK waters last week as part of the alliance of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) and “marks a major advance in the future of submarine technology” for the three countries. The heavyweight torpedo, jointly developed by the United States and Australia, was launched from a 12-metre undersea drone built in Britain and named XV Excalibur. In 2025, an operating centre in Australia, more than 16,000 kilometres from the vessel’s home in Plymouth, took remote control of XV Excalibur during Exercise Talisman Sabre, according to the British Royal Navy. Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, told AFP that the test was “noteworthy” and that “the employment of a lethal payload illustrates that uncrewed systems can play roles which extend beyond surveillance”. The announcement came on the day Prime Minister Andy Burnham flew to New York for the UN General Assembly, where he will hold his first meeting with Donald Trump since taking office in July and will announce a “new AI and autonomy partnership” with Washington, according to the UK government.

North Korea confirmed on Tuesday that what South Korea identified as two short-range ballistic missiles on Sunday was a test of a “new combat weapon system,” carried out in the presence of Kim Jong-un, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim called the test “an unquestionable demonstration of advanced defense technology” and “a clear renewal in the modernization of the armed forces,” and said the country’s adversaries would better understand what the technological advance means militarily, according to the state agency. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had said the two launches, from the Wonsan area about three hours apart, flew roughly 450 kilometers and more than 600 kilometers. The North did not specify what type of weapon was tested.

The United States plans to reopen a Cold War-era military base in southern Greenland and set up a military presence at Mestersvig, an east coast outpost now used by the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, the Danish special forces unit that enforces sovereignty on the island, according to Reuters, which cites three people familiar with the talks. Both sites are part of the agreement the US, Denmark and Greenland sign on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. ET on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, according to The Jerusalem Post, which cites a White House official. Narsarsuaq, home to the Bluie West One base that Washington closed in the 1950s, now has a few dozen residents. The text of the agreement has not been released and the details will only be settled at signature; the Danish and Greenlandic governments and the White House did not respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told TV2 that Arctic security will not rest with Danes and Americans alone and that, to a large extent, NATO will look after the Arctic. During the Cold War the US kept 17 military installations and more than 10,000 personnel on the island; today only Pituffik Space Base remains, with about 150 troops.

Poland wants about 15,000 US troops on its territory by 2039, both permanently stationed and rotational, Deputy Defence Minister Stanisław Wziątek told broadcaster RMF FM. According to him, the target includes about 10,000 troops on a rotational basis and between 3,500 and 5,000 stationed permanently; Wziątek said the base should be in western Poland and that the final decision on its location rests with the Americans. Poland currently hosts between 6,500 and 7,000 US troops, according to Euractiv, and formally proposed a permanent base in June, after Washington announced the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany.

China expelled General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the country’s highest-ranked officer, and Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department, from the Communist Party and the military. The state news agency Xinhua said the two were accused of disloyalty, of forming cliques and factions and of accepting “exceptionally large sums of money”, with their cases sent to military legal organs for review and prosecution, according to Reuters. The expulsion still requires ratification at a plenary session of the party’s Central Committee, and the announcement came three days before Xi Jinping’s trip to Washington and weeks before the October plenum on internal party discipline.

US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he will create an “AI Force” and appoint an artificial intelligence “czar”, in a Truth Social post in which he said his administration will not “in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry”, according to CBS News, CNN and The Guardian. Trump called a “hoax” the warnings from researchers and industry executives that the technology could slip beyond human control and said the criminal and civil justice systems are enough to deal with “bad actors”. He likened the new body to the Space Force created in his first term, said only “High I.Q. individuals” may apply for the czar job, without naming anyone, and gave no details on how the AI Force would work. Trump also said artificial intelligence could reach 25% of US gross domestic product (GDP) and that the United States is “leading China” in the field. The announcement followed a public call by Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei for a slowdown in the technology’s development, according to CBS News.

Russia’s Central Election Commission said that, with 95% of ballots counted, United Russia took 57.83% of the party-list vote and is set to win around 355 of the State Duma’s 450 seats, according to The Moscow Times and Meduza. Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said the result surpasses the party’s previous record of 343 seats in 2016 and preserves its constitutional supermajority, which requires 301. Turnout was close to 60%, the highest since 2003, according to Kommersant. The European Union dismissed the vote as “sham elections,” RFE/RL reports, and independent analysts described it as the least competitive in modern Russian history. The commission said final results will be released by Friday at the earliest.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Monday that in the event of a new US attack it will introduce “new weapons with new capabilities” to the battlefield and hit targets not yet attacked, according to AP; the force says it is prepared for a “prolonged war”. Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said, according to the Tasnim news agency, that Tehran sent Qatar a list of seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and Mohsen Rezaei told Al Jazeera they include an end to the war on all fronts, the release of frozen funds and an end to the naval blockade.

The AfD won the state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 38.2% of the vote, ahead of the SPD on 35.5%, while the CDU was shut out of the state parliament with 4.9%, according to NDR and AP — the party’s worst result in any state in its history. The same night in Berlin, the Left won with 25.7% and the CDU-SPD coalition lost its majority, Reuters reports; Alice Weidel said the AfD has “already replaced” the CDU as the “party of the people”, according to AFP.

Russia’s Defence Ministry says its units have taken the settlements of Polnaya and Novoaleksandrovka in the Kharkiv region, according to Sputnik; TASS reports an expert assessment that the North battlegroup advanced 100 sq km in the region over the past week. Both claims are Russian and have no independent confirmation.

The agreement on Greenland between the United States, Denmark and Greenland is set to be signed on Tuesday at the UN General Assembly, and Copenhagen says the text puts Arctic security under NATO, according to Reuters. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told TV2 that “to a large extent it would be NATO that looks after the Arctic”; the contents of the deal have not been made public and Donald Trump describes it as giving the US “permanent” control over the island’s security.

The North Korean group WaterPlum infected around 30,000 devices across several countries, according to a joint law enforcement advisory cited by BleepingComputer. The notice attributes the campaign to the North Korean government.

The US cybersecurity agency flagged three Linux kernel vulnerabilities as actively exploited, according to Linuxgram. The flag comes from the US government itself and there has been no independent confirmation of who is behind the attacks.

The United States issued a travel warning and urged its citizens to leave Iran, according to The Hindu, and the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) threatened “significant changes” if the US strikes again, according to Middle East Eye and TASS.

A US police association warns that advances in artificial intelligence are raising the risk of hostile drone use, according to the New York Times. The warning comes from the association and names no author.

Israeli forces set up a checkpoint in southern Syria, according to Mehr News, and explosions hit a Syrian army munitions depot near Aleppo, injuring four people, according to the Hindustan Times and Al Jazeera.

Iran’s military command says the United States is preparing to resume strikes on the country, according to Al Jazeera; the accusation comes from Tehran and has not been confirmed by Washington.

United Russia leads the State Duma count with 57.85% of the vote as 87.91% of ballots were processed, according to Sputnik; TASS put the share of processed ballots at 90.43%. The vote was marked by cyberattacks and drones, The Hindu reports.

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian paid tribute to the students killed in the Minab bombing, according to Mehr News, and Tehran accused France of “crocodile tears” for pressing Iran on freedoms while staying silent on the school attack, the Hindustan Times reports. Both outlets reproduce the Iranian position.

Three South Korean military officers were injured in an explosion in the Demilitarised Zone, according to the country’s military, cited by Reuters, AP and The Hindu; none of the sources has attributed the incident to North Korea so far.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) says it downed another US MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz, according to Mehr News and Middle East Eye; the claim comes from the IRGC itself and has no independent confirmation.

Israeli strikes hit the Nabatieh area in Lebanon, including an ambulance team, according to Middle East Eye, and towns around Tyre, according to Mehr News. Both outlets attribute the strikes to Israel.

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles three hours apart over the East Sea, according to G1, the Hindustan Times, The Hindu, CGTN World and Reuters. Seoul and Tokyo are monitoring the launch and Washington played down any immediate threat, according to G1.