Iran Secures Hundreds of Chinese Missiles to Use Against U.S.

REPORT: Iran Secures Hundreds of Chinese Missiles to Use Against U.S.

NationalPulse

 Iran has reportedly struck a deal to purchase between 300 and 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile systems to rebuild its air defense capabilities, which have been degraded after months of American and Israeli strikes. 

The contract, valued at between $60 million and $70 million, according to three sources who spoke to Reuters, includes QW-12 and FN-16 man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), with the first shipment expected to arrive within weeks, although some delivery details remain subject to change. The purchase represents Iran’s largest known effort to strengthen its short-range air defenses since the conflict began.

The deal was reportedly arranged through Hong Kong-based Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, with initial shipments expected to depart from Urumqi in western China and transit through Pakistan before reaching Iran. However, Pakistan has denied any involvement, with the country’s military calling reports linking it to the transfer “absolutely concocted and false.” China also rejected the claims, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman describing the reports as “completely groundless” and claiming that Beijing has sought to promote peace and end the conflict.

The alleged acquisition underscores Iran’s focus on strengthening its short-range air defenses, and raises questions aboutChina’s role in global arms sales and strategy to bypass international scrutiny through intermediaries and alternative transport routes.

 Iran has heavily invested in drones, ballistic missiles, and radar systems over the past two decades, and has maintained its capacity to launch strikes throughout the Iran war, but its arsenal has undoubtedly been depleted through large-scale use and U.S.-Israeli strikes.

New Age of Missiles, Drones Reshapes Battlefields Around The World

New Age of Missiles, Drones Reshapes Battlefields Around The World

superadmin

The world is on the cusp of a third missile age, with conventional ballistic weapons proliferating at unprecedented speed in the wake of widespread, battlefield-warping deployment in Iran and Ukraine.

Paul Scharre, Executive Director at the Center for a New American Security, discusses this new age of military technology and his Foreign Affairs piece, “Losing the War of the Future: How New Technologies Threaten America’s Military Advantage.”

The New Age of Drone and Robot Warfare: Who’s Winning on Today’s Battlefields

A recent piece on Dedicated Issues highlighted how a new age of missiles and drones is reshaping battlefields around the world. That observation holds up. Cheap drones, ground robots, and growing doses of artificial intelligence are changing how wars are fought more than almost any technology since the tank or the airplane.

What used to require expensive jets, tanks, and large groups of soldiers can now be done with small machines that cost a few thousand dollars or less. These systems can watch, strike, deliver supplies, and even hold ground. The countries using them most effectively right now are rewriting the rules in real time.

Key advances include fiber-optic drones that run a thin cable instead of a radio signal, making them hard to jam. These now make up a large share of strike drones. Other systems use cameras and onboard computers to navigate without GPS when electronic warfare is heavy. Ukraine has also fielded interceptor drones that shoot down Russian attack drones, including launches from naval drones.

Ground robots handle logistics (up to 80 percent of frontline supply runs in some areas), carry weapons, clear mines, and support attacks. Ukraine contracted 15,000 ground robotic systems in 2025 and planned 25,000 more in the first half of 2026. This is not science fiction—it is daily reality on an 800-mile front.

Russia started the war with fewer advanced drones but adapted quickly. It floods the skies with cheap Shahed-style drones and Lancet loitering munitions. Many Lancets now carry AI modules that process camera images on the drone itself, pick targets from preset categories, and coordinate with other drones.

Russia has also improved electronic warfare and is pushing toward swarm tactics. While Ukrainian forces often hold the edge in creativity and speed of upgrades, Russia’s sheer volume of drones creates constant pressure and forces Ukraine to spend resources on defense.

Israel: Precision and AI Targeting

Israel has long experience with drones and has pushed artificial intelligence deeper into the targeting process. Systems such as Lavender (for identifying potential human targets) and Gospel (for buildings and infrastructure) help generate and prioritize strike lists quickly. These tools feed information to human operators who make final decisions.

In Gaza operations, this approach allowed rapid identification of large numbers of targets. Israel also operates advanced unmanned aircraft for surveillance and strikes, often in dense urban settings. The combination of high-quality sensors, AI filtering, and experienced operators makes Israeli drone use highly effective in asymmetric fights, even if it raises ongoing debates about accuracy and civilian harm.

China: Preparing for High-End Swarm Warfare

China has not fought a major recent war with these systems, but it is investing heavily and showing off the results. In 2026, Chinese media demonstrated the Atlas drone swarm system: truck-launched fixed-wing drones controlled in groups of nearly 100, with reconnaissance drones spotting targets and attack drones striking them. Tests have involved hundreds of drones under limited human control.

China is also developing large “mothership” drones that can release dozens of smaller attack drones, along with ground robots and naval unmanned vessels. The focus is on swarms that can overwhelm defenses through numbers and coordination. These systems appear aimed at potential high-intensity fights, such as around Taiwan. China is treating drone and robot warfare as a core future cap

The United States: Advanced Tech, Slower Scale

The United States has excellent sensors, software, and high-end unmanned systems. The Replicator initiative aimed to field thousands of affordable, attritable drones and robots by 2025. Progress has been slower than hoped—hundreds of systems rather than thousands in the early phases—though more are on contract and counter-drone efforts continue.

American systems are generally more sophisticated and better integrated with other forces. The gap shows up in mass production and rapid battlefield iteration. Ukraine’s daily drone numbers and yearly production goals far exceed current U.S. combat drone output. Lessons from Ukraine are pushing the U.S. military to move faster on cheap, expendable systems and tighter feedback loops between frontline users and manufacturers.ability.

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Ominous Warnings:

Edward Snowden’s Ominous Warning

Video

These Programs, Mass Surveillance is NOT About Public Safety.

It is not about terrorism.

It is about power.

It is about economic espionage.

It is about diplomatic manipulation.

And it is about social influence.

It is about understanding the actions of everyone in
the world as carefully as they can, no matter who they are, no matter how innocent their life.

But we see how these same technologies are being applied to create what they call the social credit system.

If any of these family photos,if any of your activities online, if your purchases, if your associations, if your friends are in any way different from what the government or the powers that be of the moment would like them to be, you're no longer able to purchase train tickets.

You're no longer able to board an airplane.

You may not be able to get a passport.

You may not be eligible for a job.

You might not be able to work for the government.

All of these things are increasingly being created and programmed and decided by algorithms.

And those algorithms are fueled by precisely the innocent data that our devices are creating all of the time, constantly, invisibly, quietly, right now.

Our devices are casting all of these records that we do not see being created that in aggregate seem very innocent.

You were at Starbucks at this time.

You went to the hospital afterwards.

You spent a long time at the hospital.

After you left the hospital, you made a phone call.

You made a phone call to your mother.

You talked to her until the middle of the night.

The hospital was an oncology clinic.

Even if you can't see the content of these communications, the activity records, what the government calls metadata, which they argue they do not need a warrant to collect, tells the whole story.

And these activity records are being created and shared and collected and intercepted constantly by companies and governments.

And ultimately, it means as they sell these, as they trade these, as they make their businesses on the backs of these records, what they are selling is not information.

What they are selling is us.

They're selling our future.

They're selling our past.

They are selling our history, our identity.

They are stealing our power and making our stories work for them.

“When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals!” - Edward Snowden

US Launches New Airstrikes On Iran

US Launches New Airstrikes On Iran After Trump Warned "They're Going To Get A Beating"

TYLER DURDEN

New US Strikes on Iran Begin in Night Hours

The United States has begun a new round of airstrikes in Iran in the night time and early morning hours (local), according to a senior US official to Axios. The extent of the bombings, or whether they will be sustained, remains unclear:

Trump “is in an escalatory mood” but is still contemplating “the depth of that response.”, A senior administration official says - WSJ

Trump is apparently making good on his earlier Wednesday threat:

President Trump has told Fox News that he is "going to beat the fucking shit" out of Iran in response to their attack on US forces in Jordan overnight. Speaking to Trey Yingst, he added "we'll be hitting them hard, they're going to get a beating."

There was heavy US refueler activity in regional skies just ahead of the strikes' commencement - as well as unconfirmed reports of explosions at Riyadh's international airport, but the cause has remained subject to speculation.

But with each attack on Iran, its forces tend to respond in kind against Gulf countries hosting US assets and bases. It is going to be a long night for the region, especially while bracing for the IRGC's inevitable response.

Details of Trump-Netanyahu Meeting at Oval Finally Emerging

After on Tuesday President Trump hosted both Zelensky and Netanyahu in the Oval Office there were no big press conferences or readouts given. But on Wednesday some key statements have begun to emerge concerning what was discussed, but at this point only offered via the Israeli side...

To be expected, Iran and the nuclear question dominated the discussions, according to i24's Ariel Oseran, with Israeli officials describing a White House focused on three possible paths forward. "Trump is weighing three options: a nuclear deal, maintaining and intensifying the economic blockade, or renewed military strikes," one official said, adding, "We didn't tell Trump Israel's preference is a strike. Our preference is the outcome. The decision is ultimately his."

...talk about stating the obvious. But Israeli still maintains that the situation is at tipping point inside Iran, which according to more independent 'realist' analysts seems highly dubious.

Israeli officials argued that Tehran is under mounting internal strain. "Iran is under severe economic pressure" due to fuel and diesel shortages, roughly 90% inflation, and "the beginning of public protests." They added, "We discussed increasing pressure on Iran, both economically and kinetically."

On Iran's leadership, officials said, "We know for certain Mujtaba is alive, but since Operation Rising Lion no one has seen him." Regarding Iran's military capabilities, they claimed, "Iran now has only 1,500–1,600 missiles left after we destroyed much of its production capability."

Expletives fly and Trump talks 'tough' - but this whole gambit has been a bombing campaign in search of a strategy...

More....

Trump says US will ‘hit Iran hard’ after overnight attack

Trump says US to ‘give Iran a beating’ after surprise missile attack on bases in Jordan

 Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday

US President Donald Trump says Washington is going to “beat the ------- ----” out of Iran in response to Tehran’s overnight attacks on US assets in the region.

“We’ll be hitting them hard. They’re going to get a beating,” Trump tells Fox News in a phone interview.

Trump calls the Iran strike targeting US forces in Jordan a “surprise attack” in which troops had just minutes to shoot down incoming missiles.

Commenting on the US-Saudi strikes against pro-Iranian militia groups in Iraq, Trump says they were coordinated with the Iraqi government. He calls the pro-Iranian militia groups a “cancer on the world.”

Despite the apparent escalation with Iran, Trump says he’s going to allow his negotiators to continue holding talks with Iran.

Asked about his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump reiterates that it went very well, adding that the Israeli premier “understands now,” without elaborating as to what he meant.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of breaking Lebanon truce with drone attack

TOI STAFF

The military confirms an unmanned engineering vehicle was struck overnight by a Hezbollah explosive drone in the Ali Taher Ridge area of southern Lebanon, in the IDF’s buffer zone.

The attack on the armored bulldozer, the first since the start of the framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon in late June, caused no injuries, according to the army.

“This is a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon by the Hezbollah terror organization,” the IDF says.

Israel is currently deliberating a response to the violation of the ceasefire, according to security officials.

Israel says Hezbollah has a massive underground complex under the Ali Taher Ridge, near Nabatieh, and the IDF estimates that dozens of operatives are holed up in the area.

However, because of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is prevented from capturing the underground passages beneath the ridge.

The army says forces “continue to operate in the ridge area and will not allow terrorists in the area to advance or carry out terror attacks against IDF troops.”

Guided by Iran, Houthis may start charging for passage through Red Sea strait

Yemen’s Houthi group is considering imposing fees on commercial ships sailing through the southern Red Sea, a week after declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, regional sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The Iran-aligned Houthis on July 20 declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, opening a new front against the US and its allies in the Iran war and expanding attacks on tankers carrying global energy and other supplies to waters beyond the Gulf.

The Houthis were looking into imposing fees on most traffic through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb gateway, which links the southern Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, the sources say. No timeframe was given at this stage for implementation, they added.

The Houthis’ media office did not respond to a request for comment.

Houthi officials traveled to Iran in July for the funeral ceremony of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, where Iranian counterparts discussed with them the issue of imposing fees on Bab el-Mandeb transits, two regional officials briefed by Tehran tell Reuters.

The objectives of such a move would be to normalize the practice of imposing fees on international waterways and increase pressure on the United States, the sources say. Chinese ships would be exempted from such fees and the Houthis were supportive of the arrangement, they add.

Houthi officials who returned by plane from Tehran were accompanied by Iranian advisers who were on the ground to guide them on setting up a potential authority that will regulate fees through the Bab el-Mandeb, an Arab official in the region says.

“The Houthis will try to gain access over the Red Sea and they will try to charge ships if they do,” Afrah al-Zouba, foreign minister-designate with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, tells Reuters.

Such a move would face strong opposition from Gulf and European countries, although overstretched international naval forces are currently unable to provide sufficient protection for merchant shipping and there is little political appetite to change that, two Western

Israel won’t agree to more southern Lebanon withdrawals in Rome talks — report

Israel has told mediators that it will not agree to additional withdrawals from territory in southern Lebanon in Rome talks scheduled for next week, Channel 12 reports.

Israel’s focus in Rome will be on maintaining the freedom to re-enter areas it handed over to the Lebanese army last week, should it need to deal with Hezbollah threats, according to the report. Israel won’t agree to withdraw from any more territory without that agreement on freedom of action.

Last month’s deal called for the Lebanese military to deploy in areas in southern Lebanon where the Hezbollah terror group had a military presence and influence, paving the way for Israel to withdraw from its declared security zone in the south, dependent on Hezbollah disarmament.

Until Hezbollah is disarmed, Israel also won’t agree to any future withdrawals at all south of the so-called “yellow line” it established marking the Israeli buffer zone in southern Lebanon, according to the report.

“The additional areas will not be on our side, in the defense lines that we have stabilized,” says an Israeli official. “If the current pilot is successful and additional pilot areas are decided upon later, they will be beyond the yellow line. We will not allow further withdrawals of the area on our side. Until Hezbollah is disarmed in Lebanon –- that is what was agreed upon.”

Technical teams from each side will meet from August 4 to August 6 and focus on advancing the implementation of the framework agreement for an eventual peace deal between Israel and Lebanon.

IDF says it destroyed Hezbollah command tunnel near UNIFIL post

China in talks with Houthis to let its tankers through Red Sea strait