Iran labels Canada’s navy as ‘terrorist’ in retaliation for IRGC listing

“We believe it is necessary to develop a dialogue with Iran,” the Kremlin said, urging parties “to refrain from escalation” after President Donald Trump warned Tehran against rebuilding missile and nuclear capabilities.

Trump, speaking Monday alongside Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida, said the US would hit Iran hard if it recovers militarily from the June war and that he would back possible Israeli strikes if Iran continues missile development.

Asked about support for strikes, Trump said: “If they will continue with the missiles, yes… The nuclear… absolutely.”

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  Trump says he'd ‘absolutely’ back possible Israeli strikes on Iran

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  Khamenei aide vows harsh response to any aggression after Trump warning

"I hope Iran is not trying to build up, as I've been reading, that they're building up weapons and other things. And if they are, they're not using the sites that we obliterated, but they're using possibly different sites. We know exactly where they're going, what they're doing, and I hope they're not doing it, because we don't want to waste the fuel on B-2, it's a 37-hour trip both ways. I don't want to waste a lot of fuel," he said.

The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program earlier this year, for which Trump set a 60-day deadline.

When no agreement was reached by the 61st day on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.

The attacks killed nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said dealing with Trump is beneath the dignity of the Islamic Republic, while Iranian officials have rejected US demands to end uranium enrichment and curb missile capabilities.

“Iran’s missile and defensive capabilities are neither containable nor in need of permission. Any act of aggression will be met with a harsh, immediate response beyond the imagination of its planners,” Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, posted on X.

His comments came after Trump said on Monday he would support possible Israeli strikes on Iran if the Islamic Republic develops its ballistic missile or nuclear programs, warning Tehran against rebuilding military capabilities destroyed in a brief June war.

“I’m hearing that Iran is trying to recover — if that happens, we’ll have to hit them hard,” Trump said. Asked whether he would support Israeli strikes on Iran if it further develops its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, he replied: “If they continue with missiles, yes, quickly. If they continue with nuclear, immediately.”

Shamkhani, a member of Iran's Supreme Defense Council, warned that “in Iran’s defense doctrine, some responses are determined before a threat even reaches the execution stage."

The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program earlier this year, for which Trump set a 60-day deadline. When no agreement was reached by the 61st day on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive, followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.

The attacks killed several Iranian officials and nuclear scientists as well as hundreds of military personnel and civilians, while Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, and Khamenei has said dealing with Trump is beneath the dignity of the Islamic Republic, while Iranian officials have rejected US demands to end uranium enrichment and curb missile capabilities.

The IRGC Aerospace Force is working on the unconventional warheads for ballistic missiles as it transfers missile launchers to eastern regions of Iran, the sources said.

The sources, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said these activities have accelerated in recent months and are being pursued amid rising regional tensions and Tehran’s concerns about the possibility of another direct confrontation with Israel and the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Florida to meet the US president on Monday, when he plans to brief Donald Trump on options for potential future strikes against Iran, amid concerns that Tehran is rebuilding ballistic missile production facilities and repairing air defenses damaged during a brief war in June.

Iran International’s sources say these programs are largely carried out under the supervision of the IRGC Aerospace Force and include optimizing ballistic missiles to carry chemical and biological agents, as well as upgrading the associated command-and-control systems.

The Revolutionary Guard, anticipating scenarios of large-scale conflict, is building capabilities that, in the view of the Islamic Republic’s decision-makers, would serve as a “complementary deterrent factor” alongside Iran’s conventional missile program, one source said.

The pursuit of chemical and biological warheads comes six months after Iran’s foreign minister described his country as “the largest victim of chemical weapons in modern history,” citing Saddam Hussein’s chemical attack on Sardasht in western Iran, which, according to OPCW documentation, killed more than 100 people in a large-scale mustard gas assault.

Asked about the contradiction, one source told Iran International, “The Iranian leadership views potential Israeli and American attacks as a threat to its very existence and intends, in the event of a conflict, to significantly raise the cost for the opposing side.”

There is a perception at the highest decision-making levels of the Islamic Republic that “the use of unconventional weapons can be justified in situations of existential threat," the source added.

Last week, Iran International reported that Western intelligence agencies had identified “unusual” activities by the IRGC Aerospace Force and had increased monitoring and surveillance of these movements.

Sources said intelligence services were tracking command-and-control signals as well as deployments and logistical movements linked to the force.

'Drastic change in Mideast deterrence balance'

Military analysts told Iran International that if these reports are confirmed, the development of chemical and biological warheads could drastically alter the region’s deterrence balance and trigger broad international reactions.

The deployment of such weapons would face widespread global condemnation and could pave the way for additional sanctions and intensified pressure on Tehran.

Tehran has consistently denied any effort to acquire unconventional weapons and has declared itself committed to its international obligations.

Over recent years, Iran has steadily increased the range, accuracy, and variety of its ballistic missiles, a program that has been one of the main sources of concern for Western countries and regional states.

The satellites were placed into orbit from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome in a multi-payload launch that Iranian officials described as the country’s seventh satellite mission carried out using Russian launch vehicles.

“These satellites were designed and manufactured by Iranian scientists, and both government bodies and the private sector have been involved,” Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, said in remarks published ahead of the launch.

“Two of the satellites belong to the government and one belongs to the private sector, and our knowledge-based companies and universities are active in this field.”

Jalali said Iran had continued to advance its space capabilities despite international pressure. “Despite all the threats and sanctions that exist, we have something to say in this field.”

Iran’s space agency chief, Hassan Salarieh, said the launch reflected what he described as Iran’s standing among a small group of countries with end-to-end space capabilities.

“Iran is among 10 or 11 countries in the world that simultaneously possess the capability to design and build satellites, launch vehicles and the infrastructure for launching, receiving data and processing images,” he said.

Salarieh said Iran aimed to expand both the number and precision of its satellites. “What is necessary for us is increasing the number of satellites, improving their accuracy and quality, and developing different classes of satellites,” he said.

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  Iran set to orbit three satellites in joint launch from Russia

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  Iran plans first launch from Chabahar space center as three satellites near liftoff

Iranian media identified the satellites as Paya, also known as Tolou-3, Zafar-2, and a prototype satellite called Kowsar-1.5. The spacecraft were launched alongside a large cluster of mainly Russian satellites into a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit.

Paya (Tolou-3), built by the Iranian Space Agency, is Iran’s heaviest Earth-observation satellite to date, weighing about 150 kilograms.

Iranian officials say it is capable of producing black-and-white images with a resolution of about five meters and color images with a resolution of around 10 meters, and is intended for applications including agriculture, water management, environmental monitoring and disaster assessment.

Zafar-2, developed by Iran University of Science and Technology, is also an Earth-observation satellite designed for mapping, environmental monitoring and tracking natural hazards.

Kowsar-1.5 combines imaging and internet-of-things capabilities and is aimed primarily at agricultural and farm-monitoring uses, Iranian officials say.

Jalali described Iran’s space cooperation with Russia as extensive and said Moscow’s experience had played a key role.

“Russia is advanced in the space field, including satellites, launch vehicles and satellite launches, and we have been able to transfer part of the technology and work together,” he said.

He also described the Soyuz rocket as highly reliable. “Before Russia’s relations with the West deteriorated, many Western satellites were launched using Soyuz,” Jalali said.

The launch also carried Russian Earth-observation satellites, internet-of-things platforms and university-built spacecraft, according to launch data, as well as satellites from partner countries including Belarus, Kuwait and Montenegro.

Iran says its space program is civilian and focused on scientific and economic goals, but Western governments argue that satellite launch technology overlaps with systems used to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

In an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency, Lavrov said 2025 had seen “unprecedented events,” including Israeli strikes on Iran, carried out together with Washington, that targeted facilities linked to Iran’s nuclear program despite those sites being under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

“Iranians have been exercising maximum restraint and composure by responding to all the provocations and blackmail on behalf of the West by stating their commitment to dialogue and resolving the lingering differences by political means.”

Russia has firmly condemned the attacks, which Lavrov said violate international law and universally recognized moral norms. “They are completely at odds with international standards and universally recognized moral imperatives.”

Lavrov warned that Israeli officials’ statements about being prepared to use force against Iran again were a “matter of grave concern,” adding that tensions in the region risk remaining volatile.

He also criticized European countries, saying some were “adding fuel to the fire” by seeking to deepen divisions in the Middle East rather than encouraging regional cooperation.

Against that backdrop, Lavrov said Iran had responded to provocations and what he described as Western pressure and blackmail by reaffirming its commitment to dialogue and political solutions to resolve outstanding disputes.