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Iran Challenges Trump’s Administration with New Ballistic Test

The new Iranian long range missile Khoramshahr (front) is displayed during the annual military parade. AFP
The new Iranian long range missile Khoramshahr (front) is displayed during the annual military parade. AFP
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Iran Challenges Trump’s Administration with New Ballistic Test

The new Iranian long range missile Khoramshahr (front) is displayed during the annual military parade. AFP
The new Iranian long range missile Khoramshahr (front) is displayed during the annual military parade. AFP

Iran announced on Saturday it had successfully tested a new medium-range ballistic missile in a new challenge to US President Donald Trump’s administration that hinted at the possibility of withdrawing from the Nuclear Deal.

Iran said the Khorramshahr ballistic missile can travel up to a range of 2,000 km and carries several warheads.

The state television carried footage of the launch and showed images of the missile without specifying the exact date when the photos were taken.

However, at a military parade marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, an Iranian official said on Friday that the Khorramshahr would be capable to operate in a short time.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said on Saturday foreign pressures would not affect Iran’s missile program.

“On the path to improve our country’s defensive capacity we will certainly not be the least affected by any threats and we won’t ask anyone’s permission,” he said in remarks carried by state television.

The Nuclear Deal between Tehran and major powers does not ban Iran’s ballistic activities. However, UN Security Council Resolution 2231 calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.

Iranian officials say all of the country’s missiles are designed to carry only conventional and not nuclear warheads and that Tehran does not have a program to develop nuclear weapons.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country refuses any restrictions on its ballistic program.

“Whether you like it or not, we are going to strengthen our military capabilities which are necessary for deterrence,” Rouhani said on Friday.

Trump is due to report to Congress on October 15 on whether Iran is still complying with the Nuclear Deal.

The US president said last Wednesday that he already made his decision in this regard but was still not ready to reveal it.

Both the European Union and Russia asked the US president not to withdraw from the deal with Tehran.

The calls did not stop French President Emmanuel Macron to assert that the deal was not sufficient anymore, adding that Iran should halt its destabilizing ballistic activities in the region, especially in Syria.

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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

Tropical storm Gaemi brought rain to central China on Saturday as it moved inland after making landfall at typhoon strength on the country's east coast Thursday night.

The storm felled trees, flooded streets and damaged crops in China but there were no reports of casualties or major damage. Eight people died in Taiwan, which Gaemi crossed at typhoon strength before heading over open waters to China.

The worst loss of life, however, was in a country that Gaemi earlier passed by but didn't strike directly: the Philippines. A steadily climbing death toll has reached 34, authorities there said Friday. The typhoon exacerbated seasonal monsoon rains in the Southeast Asian country, causing landslides and severe flooding that stranded people on rooftops as waters rose around them.

China Gaemi weakened to a tropical storm since coming ashore Thursday evening in coastal Fujian province, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days as it moves northwest to Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

About 85 hectares (210 acres) of crops were damaged in Fujian province and economic losses were estimated at 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million), according to Chinese media reports. More than 290,000 people were relocated because of the storm.

Elsewhere in China, several days of heavy rains this week in Gansu province left one dead and three missing in the country's northwest, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Taiwan Residents and business owners swept out mud and mopped up water Friday after serious flooding that sent cars and scooters floating down streets in parts of southern and central Taiwan. Some towns remained inundated with waist-deep water.

Eight people died, several of them struck by falling trees and one by a landslide hitting their house. More than 850 people were injured and one person was missing, the emergency operations center said.

Visiting hard-hit Kaohsiung in the south Friday, President Lai Ching-te commended the city's efforts to improve flood control since a 2009 typhoon that brought a similar amount of rain and killed 681 people, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

Lai announced that cash payments of $20,000 New Taiwan Dollars ($610) would be given to households in severely flooded areas.

A cargo ship sank off the coast near Kaohsiung Harbor during the typhoon, and the captain's body was later pulled from the water, the Central News Agency said. A handful of other ships were beached by the storm.

Philippines At least 34 people died in the Philippines, mostly because of flooding and landslides triggered by days of monsoon rains that intensified when the typhoon — called Carina in the Philippines — passed by the archipelago’s east coast.

The victims included 11 people in the Manila metro area, where widespread flooding trapped people on the roofs and upper floors of their houses, police said. Some drowned or were electrocuted in their flooded communities.

Earlier in the week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts in delivering food and other aid to isolated rural villages, saying people may not have eaten for days.

The bodies of a pregnant woman and three children were dug out Wednesday after a landslide buried a shanty in the rural mountainside town of Agoncillo in Batangas province.