North Korea has begun a “very serious increase” in its nuclear weapon production, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned. The isolated totalitarian state is believed to operate multiple facilities for enriching uranium, a key step in making nuclear warheads, South Korea’s spy agency has said. The bases include one at the Yongbyon nuclear site, which Pyongyang purportedly decommissioned after talks but later reactivated in 2021. The Communist regime is now thought to have assembled around 50 nuclear warheads. “In our periodic assessments, we have been able to confirm that there’s a rapid increase in the…

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is one of the most powerful and feared organisations in Iran, playing central roles in the country’s projection of power, internal security and economy. Among the organisation’s many prominent military duties, the corps operated what was Iran’s formidable ballistic missile arsenal. The IRGC also oversaw the Quds Force, an expeditionary arm that partners with Iran’s various regional affiliates, including Hamas and Hezbollah. Billions of dollars have been channelled through the IRGC to fund proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Gaza, known as the Axis of Resistance, which have carried out attacks against the US…

The US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday evening, which included a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz.The breakthrough came after a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, canceling an ultimatum from Donald Trump for Iran to surrender or face widespread destruction.Trump’s announcement of the ceasefire agreement came less than two hours before the US president’s self-imposed 8pm Eastern time deadline to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges in a move that legal scholars, as well as officials from numerous countries and the pope, had warned could constitute war crimes.Just hours earlier, Trump had written…

US President Donald Trump has issued a stark warning ahead of his self-imposed deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, declaring that “a whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if Tehran does not comply. Posting on Truth Social Tuesday, Trump framed the coming hours as potentially decisive for both Iran and the wider international order. “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he wrote. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” He added that the situation could still shift rapidly if political change occurs inside…

President Donald Trump told Americans the United States is approaching the final phase of its military campaign against Iran, warning the conflict could intensify over the coming weeks while offering limited detail on how or when the war will end. In a 20-minute address delivered from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday night, Trump said the administration’s “core strategic objectives are nearing completion” and projected “another two to three weeks” of operations. He also warned the United States was prepared to escalate further military action, stating: “We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next…

United States President Donald Trump said Washington could withdraw from NATO after allies declined to support American military operations alongside Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Asked by The Telegraph whether he was reconsidering United States membership of the alliance, President Trump replied: “Oh yes… I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration.” He said NATO had failed to support United States efforts during the conflict with Iran and attempts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies. President Trump also said Iran had requested a ceasefire during the current crisis. “Iran wants a ceasefire,” he said. He said the United States had supported Ukraine despite…

By Andre Pienaar Andre Pienaar writes on how Operation Epic Fury may reshape the Middle East, with its most enduring result the potential for autonomy for Iran’s ethnic minorities. The world’s attention has been fixed on missiles, centrifuges, and command bunkers. But as Operation Epic Fury reshapes the strategic landscape of the Middle East, the most consequential and durable outcome may not be the destruction of Iran’s nuclear programme. It may be the liberation of Iran’s peoples. Iran is not, and has never been, a nation-state in the European sense. It is a multi-ethnic empire held together – often by…

South Africa’s top police officer has been served with an arrest warrant and is facing charges under a sprawling anti-corruption investigation that has thrown the beleaguered service into turmoil. Gen Fannie Masemola, the country’s national police commissioner, has been ordered to appear in court next month as part of a widening probe into procurement fraud. Twelve senior police officers, including a major general and several brigadiers, have also been arrested by anti-graft investigators and face charges of corruption and fraud. The arrests are the latest embarrassment for the nation’s police, who have been under scrutiny since last summer when a…

United States President Donald Trump has proposed a 15-point ceasefire framework to end the escalating conflict involving the Islamic Republic of Iran, but Tehran has rejected the plan as “excessive” and said any end to the war would take place only “on Tehran’s own terms and timeline”, according to Iranian state media.The proposal, which was reportedly delivered through Pakistan, has not been officially published by Washington. However, details reported by Israeli and United States media suggest it would require the dismantling of major elements of Iran’s nuclear programme and restrictions on its regional military activity in exchange for sanctions relief and civilian nuclear…

Iran is recruiting petty criminals to carry out attacks on British soil, the head of parliament’s intelligence and security committee has warned. More than 200 additional police officers are being deployed to protect Jewish communities following the arson attack on four charity ambulances on Monday. Laurence Taylor, head of UK counterterrorism policing, said investigations are ongoing into whether Iran may have been behind the attack in Golders Green in northwest London. No arrests have yet been made in connection with the incident. Mr Taylor said there has been a 50 per cent increase in national security investigations into hostile state…

The corporation that co-owns Iran’s largest mobile network also built its first satellites, manufactured its missile guidance systems, signed the agreement that makes its ballistic missiles GPS-jamming resistant, and provides the telecommunications intelligence that guides them to their targets. MTN Group holds a 49 per cent stake in that corporation’s joint venture. There is a sentence buried in the Iran Watch database entry for Iran Electronics Industries — a single clause that, properly understood, constitutes one of the most consequential corporate disclosures in the history of weapons proliferation accountability. Iran Electronics Industries, it states, “holds shares in Iran Electronic Development…

By Andre Pienaar The Trump Administration’s Cyber Strategy for America signals a decisive shift — from reactive compliance to proactive deterrence, with the protection of critical infrastructure elevated to a first-order national security imperative. For the Collective Defence community, this is the policy framework we have been waiting for. On 06 March 2026, the Trump Administration released a seven-page Cyber Strategy for America, accompanied by an Executive Order on Combatting Cybercrime. Together, these documents represent the most substantive recalibration of American cybersecurity posture in years: lean, action-oriented, and built around a recognition that the infrastructure underpinning modern civilisation is the primary…