Iran latest: Trump heads for China after reports Tehran retains missile capabilities

A former US official has told The Independent that Iran retains enough firepower to wreak “serious disruption†in the Middle East if a full-scale war with the US were to resume.

“Even after recent losses, my assumption is that Iran still retains enough of these capabilities to create serious disruption in the region,†said Frank A. Rose, former assistant secretary of state for arms control in the Obama administration.

He said Ian likely retains “significant inventories†of ballistic and cruise missiles, drones, and naval mines.

It also still has the capacity to launch attacks via their proxy groups in the Houthis of Yemen and Lebanese militants Hezbollah. 

“Even a degraded Iran can threaten maritime traffic and energy infrastructure in the Gulf,†Mr Rose added.

A series of nine small earthquakes struck the Pardis area east of Tehran overnight, Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday.

The tremors have renewed fears among experts and residents that the Iranian capital could face a major seismic disaster.

The repeated activity has revived concerns that accumulated tectonic pressure beneath and around the capital, which lies close to several active fault lines, could at some point in the future trigger a much larger earthquake.

While tremors in the area are frequent, it is far less common for several to take place in a row.

The tremors, recorded over a single night in eastern Tehran province, were felt in an area close to the Mosha fault, one of Iran’s most active seismic zones.

Donald Trump’s war in Iran has failed to break Tehran’s missile capability, US intelligence assesses, despite the president’s claim to have completely defeated the regime’s military.

Intelligence agencies have reportedly told lawmakers that Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities after a month of ceasefire.

Iran is believed to have restored access to all but three of its 33 missile sites stationed along the Strait of Hormuz, allowing it to project power across the vital waterway and continue testing the American blockade.

The storage and launch facilities buried underground across the country have fared as well, with some 90 per cent now “partially or fully operationalâ€, sources told the New York Times.

Two separate Israeli strikes targeted two cars in Lebanon’s Jiyeh area south of Beirut on Wednesday, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA is reporting.

We haven’t yet heard any information on any casualties and there has been no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

As a two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the BRICS grouping gets underway in New Delhi on Thursday, the Iran war is casting its long shadow from thousands of miles away.

The grouping, which originally included Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has expanded over the years with the inclusion of Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran has been urging India, the BRICS chair for 2026, to use the platform to build a consensus condemning US and Israeli actions in the Gulf conflict.

But the United Arab Emirates, which is more closely allied with the US, has opposed this.

Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said in March that some BRICS members were involved directly in the conflict, due to which it had been “difficult for us to forge a consensus.”

Another ministry official told Reuters India was hopeful to get a joint statement after the latest round of meetings with foreign ministers.

We’ll be reporting on the meeting over the next couple of days.

Iran has threatened to accelerate its nuclear weapons programme after Donald Trump lashed out at its “garbage†response to a US peace proposal.

Tehran could enrich uranium up to 90 per cent purity – a level considered weapons-grade – if the country is attacked once more, a top parliamentary official, Ebrahim Rezaei, said on Tuesday.

“One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 per cent enrichment. We will review it in the parliament,†he posted on X.

Israeli bulldozers have demolished dozens of Palestinian shops this week on the edge of a town located southeast of Jerusalem, clearing ground for a settlement-linked road project within the occupied West Bank.

Authorities in Israel state the demolitions are essential to construct a road intended to serve local Palestinian communities. However, Palestinian officials present a contrasting view, asserting the road forms part of a broader scheme designed to keep Palestinian vehicles off a new highway being built specifically for nearby Israeli settlements.

This contentious project is situated in E1, a strategic section of the West Bank. Israel’s development of this area is widely understood as a move to obstruct the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after three consecutive sessions of gain as Donald Trump headed to China for a high-stakes summit with Xi Jinping.

Brent crude lost 73 cents to settle at $107 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate fell 62 cents to $101.60, pulling back from a rally that had pushed both benchmarks up on fading hopes for a lasting ceasefire to end the US-Israeli war against Iran.

The benchmarks have hovered at or above $100 since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February and Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz. Brent has surged from roughly $70 per barrel before the war began.