https://www.scmp.com/rss/522493/feed The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) is a prominent United States-based governmental intelligence and combat support agency, the DIA is dedicated to providing military intelligence to the Department of Defense and national security policymakers. Headquartered in Washington, its core activities include collecting and analysing foreign military, political, economic and technical intelligence, alongside human-source and measurement and signature intelligence. The DIA informs decision-makers on... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Alcott Wei Alcott Wei US air strikes may have weakened Iran’s ability to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, but in the short term it is probably too risky to provide a military escort for oil tankers because of the threat from drones and mines, according to Chinese analysts. Multiple media reports have said the United States was considering the use of ground troops to open the waterway, but many military observers have argued this would not be enough without further protracted fighting. The strait is a vital shipping... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3347370/can-us-reopen-strait-hormuz-many-military-analysts-are-sceptical?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3347370/can-us-reopen-strait-hormuz-many-military-analysts-are-sceptical?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Mar 2026 13:00:56 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Outdated intelligence likely led to the United States carrying out a deadly missile strike on a junior school in Iran that killed over 165 people, many of them children, in the opening hours of the conflict, according to a US official and a second person briefed on findings of a preliminary US military investigation into the incident. The bombing of the school and its casualties involving children has become a focal point of the war, and if ultimately confirmed to be at the hands of the US,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3346300/outdated-intelligence-us-faces-mounting-evidence-deadly-strike-iran-school?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3346300/outdated-intelligence-us-faces-mounting-evidence-deadly-strike-iran-school?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Mar 2026 03:52:03 +0000 Xinmei Shen,Lucy Quaggin,Teresa Elena Frontado Xinmei Shen,Lucy Quaggin,Teresa Elena Frontado US Central Command (CENTCOM) has urged civilians to keep clear of all port facilities in Iran, an announcement that drew a warning from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of Gulf-wide retaliatory strikes if those sites are targeted. On Wednesday, CENTCOM said that the Iran was using civilian ports along the Strait of Hormuz to conduct military operations, which would make the ports legitimate military targets under international law. Civilians should immediately avoid all port facilities, and Iranian... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3346273/us-military-warns-civilians-avoid-port-facilities-used-iranian-navy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3346273/us-military-warns-civilians-avoid-port-facilities-used-iranian-navy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:42:52 +0000 Reuters Reuters US President Donald Trump briefly laid out ⁠his case for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday, saying he would not allow the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism to have a nuclear weapon. Even while assembling a massive military force in the Middle East, Trump has done little to explain to the American public why he might be leading the US into its most aggressive action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution. In his speech, Trump... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3344568/iran-rejects-big-lies-after-trump-lays-out-case-possible-attack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3344568/iran-rejects-big-lies-after-trump-lays-out-case-possible-attack?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Feb 2026 07:07:48 +0000 dpa dpa The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has concluded that Ukraine did not target Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences in a recent drone attack, US media have reported. Various media, including The Wall Street Journal as well as the broadcasters PBS and CNN, cited unnamed US government officials in their reports published on Wednesday evening, contradicting serious accusations made by Moscow at the start of the week. Initially, US President Donald Trump also criticised... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3338416/cia-concludes-ukraine-did-not-target-putins-residence-drone-strike?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3338416/cia-concludes-ukraine-did-not-target-putins-residence-drone-strike?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Jan 2026 10:27:57 +0000 Orange Wang Orange Wang The United States may have played a “critical” role in shaping the situation that led to the brief but bloody border war between China and India in 1962, an academic study has argued. The Asian neighbours have been working to improve relations in recent months, following a deadly clash in 2020. But the sensitivity of the border issue – one of the most intractable disputes between the two countries – can be traced back to the 1962 conflict, which left a profound fault line. However, a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3334785/what-role-did-us-play-run-1962-war-between-china-and-india?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3334785/what-role-did-us-play-run-1962-war-between-china-and-india?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Dec 2025 01:30:18 +0000 SCMP’s Asia desk SCMP’s Asia desk South Korea flew military drones over Pyongyang just weeks before then-president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law last December, a provocation that triggered North Korea to prepare for war, according to Seoul’s defence intelligence agency. The revelation, disclosed in a closed-door parliamentary briefing on Wednesday, adds to mounting scrutiny over Yoon’s final months in office, with opposition lawmakers accusing him of attempting to fabricate a national security crisis to justify an... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3331899/north-korea-prepared-war-after-souths-drone-mission-during-yoons-last-months-report?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3331899/north-korea-prepared-war-after-souths-drone-mission-during-yoons-last-months-report?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Nov 2025 06:43:58 +0000 Seong Hyeon Choi Seong Hyeon Choi US President Donald Trump rejected media reports that US air strikes only partly damaged Iran’s nuclear facilities as “fake news” on Wednesday, maintaining his claim that the targeted sites had been “obliterated”. Speaking to reporters during the Nato summit in The Hague, Trump said that the US had carried out a “massive” precision strike on Saturday against Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. “It was very, very successful. It was called obliteration. No other military on Earth could’ve done... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3315841/trump-nato-summit-defends-us-strikes-iran-nuclear-facilities?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3315841/trump-nato-summit-defends-us-strikes-iran-nuclear-facilities?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jun 2025 19:13:11 +0000 Amber Wang,Enoch Wong Amber Wang,Enoch Wong Chinese defence experts expressed scepticism about US President Donald Trump’s claim that air strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s biggest nuclear facilities, following reports that core components of Tehran’s nuclear assets remained intact. The mainland is believed to have the world’s most extensive underground bunker systems and has developed its own bunker-­busting weapons, with ambitions to target facilities including those deep within the mountains of Taiwan. CNN reported on Tuesday that an... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3315830/did-us-strikes-wipe-out-irans-nuclear-facilities-chinese-military-experts-sceptical?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3315830/did-us-strikes-wipe-out-irans-nuclear-facilities-chinese-military-experts-sceptical?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:25:32 +0000