Strikes on Iran showed the world American deterrence is back: Hegseth
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Strikes on Iran showed the world American deterrence is back: Hegseth
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Straits Times
14 minutes ago
- Straits Times
DeepSeek aids China's military and evaded export controls, US official says
The US official said DeepSeek is sharing user information and statistics with Beijing's surveillance apparatus. PHOTO: REUTERS DeepSeek aids China's military and evaded export controls, US official says WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO - AI firm DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations, a senior US official told Reuters, adding that the Chinese tech startup sought to use South-east Asian shell companies to access high-end semiconductors that cannot be shipped to China under US rules. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the technology world in January, claiming its artificial intelligence reasoning models were on par with or better than US industry-leading models at a fraction of the cost. 'We understand that DeepSeek has willingly provided and will likely continue to provide support to China's military and intelligence operations,' a senior State Department official told Reuters in an interview. 'This effort goes above and beyond open-source access to DeepSeek's AI models,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to speak about US government information. The US government's assessment of DeepSeek's activities and links to the Chinese government have not been previously reported and come amid a wide-scale US-China trade war. Among the allegations, the official said DeepSeek is sharing user information and statistics with Beijing's surveillance apparatus. Chinese law requires companies operating in China to provide data to the government when requested. But the suggestion that DeepSeek is already doing so is likely to raise privacy and other concerns for the firm's tens of millions of daily global users. The US also maintains restrictions on companies it believes are linked to China's military-industrial complex. US lawmakers have previously said that DeepSeek, based on its privacy disclosure statements, transmits American users' data to China through 'backend infrastructure' connected to China Mobile, a Chinese state-owned telecommunications giant. DeepSeek did not respond to questions about its privacy practices. The company is also referenced more than 150 times in procurement records for China's People's Liberation Army and other entities affiliated with the Chinese defense industrial base, said the official, adding that DeepSeek had provided technology services to PLA research institutions. Reuters could not independently verify the procurement data. The official also said the company was employing workarounds to US export controls to gain access to advanced US-made chips. The US conclusions reflect a growing scepticism in Washington that the capabilities behind the rapid rise of one of China's flagship AI enterprises may have been exaggerated and relied heavily on US technology. DeepSeek has access to 'large volumes' of US firm Nvidia's high-end H100 chips, said the official. Since 2022 those chips have been under US export restrictions due to Washington's concerns that China could use them to advance its military capabilities or jump ahead in the AI race. 'DeepSeek sought to use shell companies in South-east Asia to evade export controls, and DeepSeek is seeking to access data centres in South-east Asia to remotely access US chips,' the official said. The official declined to say if DeepSeek had successfully evaded export controls or offer further details about the shell companies. DeepSeek also did not respond to questions about its acquisition of Nvidia chips or the alleged use of shell companies. When asked if the US would implement further export controls or sanctions against DeepSeek, the official said the department had 'nothing to announce at this time.' China's foreign ministry and commerce ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. 'We do not support parties that have violated US export controls or are on the US entity lists,' an Nvidia spokesman said in a prepared statement, adding that 'with the current export controls, we are effectively out of the China data centre market, which is now served only by competitors such as Huawei.' Access to restricted chips DeepSeek has said two of its AI models that Silicon Valley executives and US tech company engineers have showered with praise – DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 – are on par with OpenAI and Meta's most advanced models. AI experts, however, have expressed scepticism, arguing the true costs of training the models were likely much higher than the US$5.58 million (S$7.22 million) the startup said was spent on computing power. Reuters has previously reported that US officials were investigating whether DeepSeek had access to restricted AI chips. DeepSeek has H100 chips that it procured after the US banned Nvidia from selling those chips to China, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the number was far smaller than the 50,000 H100s that the CEO of another AI startup had claimed DeepSeek possesses in a January interview with CNBC. Reuters was unable to verify the number of H100 chips DeepSeek has. 'Our review indicates that DeepSeek used lawfully acquired H800 products, not H100,' an Nvidia spokesman said, responding to a Reuters query about DeepSeek's alleged usage of H100 chips. In February, Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case domestic media have linked to the movement of Nvidia's advanced chips from the city state to DeepSeek. China has also been suspected of finding ways to use advanced US chips remotely. While importing advanced Nvidia chips into China without a licence violates US export rules, Chinese companies are still allowed to access those same chips remotely in data centres in non-restricted countries. The exceptions are when a Chinese company is on a US trade blacklist or the chip exporter has knowledge that the Chinese firm is using its chips to help develop weapons of mass destruction. US officials have not placed DeepSeek on any US trade blacklists yet, and have not alleged that Nvidia had any knowledge of DeepSeek's work with the Chinese military. Malaysia's trade ministry said last week that it was investigating whether an unnamed Chinese company in the country was using servers equipped with Nvidia chips for large language model training, and that it was examining whether any domestic law or regulation had been breached. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
CNA
19 minutes ago
- CNA
Oil prices stable as investors await Iranian response to US strikes
LONDON :Oil prices jumped on Monday to their highest since January as the United States' weekend move to join Israel in attacking Iran's nuclear facilities stoked supply concerns. Brent crude futures were up just 8 cents to $77.09 a barrel as of 0904 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose by 3 cents to $73.87. Price volatility continued in Monday's session. Both contracts touched fresh five-month highs earlier in the session of $81.40 and $78.40 respectively, before giving up their gains and even turning negative during the European morning session. Brent has risen around 11 per cent since the conflict began on June 13, while WTI has gained approximately 9 per cent. Prices flattened out on Monday as investors weighed the geopolitical risk premium in oil markets without any impact on supply yet from the Middle Eastern crisis. "The geopolitical risk premium is fading, as so far there has been no supply disruptions. But as it's unclear how the conflict might evolve, market participants are likely to maintain a risk premium for now. So prices are set to stay volatile in the near term," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. Prices rose at the open after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites in strikes over the weekend, joining an Israeli assault in an escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself. Iran is OPEC's third-largest crude producer. Iran said on Monday that the U.S. attack on its nuclear sites expanded the range of legitimate targets for its armed forces and called U.S. President Donald Trump a "gambler" for joining Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic. The geopolitical risk premium includes fears that an Iranian retaliation may include a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global crude supply flows. "All eyes remain on the Strait of Hormuz ... and whether Iran will seek to disrupt tanker traffic," Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said. Prices could spike in the short term even without full-scale disruption, if the threat of interference alone is enough to delay shipments through the Strait, Hansen added. Goldman Sachs said in a Sunday report that Brent could briefly peak at $110 per barrel if oil flows through the critical waterway were halved for a month, and remain down by 10 per cent for the following 11 months. The bank still assumed no significant disruption to oil and natural gas supply, citing global incentives to try to prevent a sustained and very large disruption. Given the Strait of Hormuz is indispensable for Iran's own oil exports, which are a vital source of its national revenues, a sustained closure would inflict severe economic damage on Iran itself, making it a double-edged sword, said Sugandha Sachdeva, from research firm SS WealthStreet.
CNA
19 minutes ago
- CNA
Iran issues stark warning to Trump 'the gambler' as Israel keeps up attacks
TEHRAN: Tehran threatened on Monday (Jun 23) to inflict "serious" damage in retaliation for US strikes on the Islamic republic's nuclear facilities, as the Iran-Israel war entered its 11th day despite calls for de-escalation. Aerial assaults meanwhile raged on, with air raid sirens sounding across Israel and AFP journalists reporting that several blasts were heard over Jerusalem. The Israeli military said it had struck missile sites in western Iran as well as "six Iranian regime airports" across the country, destroying fighter jets and helicopters. President Donald Trump said US warplanes used "bunker buster" bombs to target sites in Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz, boasting the strikes had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities. Other officials said it was too soon to assess the true impact on Iran's nuclear programme, which Israel and some Western states consider an existential threat. Iranian armed forces spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari said on state television that the US' "hostile act", following more than a week of Israeli bombardments, would "pave the way for the extension of war in the region". "The fighters of Islam will inflict serious, unpredictable consequences on you with powerful and targeted (military) operations," he warned. "Mr Trump, the gambler, you may start this war, but we will be the ones to end it." Global markets reacted nervously, with oil prices jumping more than 4 per cent early on Monday. China urged both Iran and Israel to prevent the conflict from spilling over, warning of potential economic fallout. Oman, a key mediator in the stalled Iran-US nuclear talks, condemned the US strikes and called for calm. Iran's foreign ministry accused Washington of betraying diplomacy. "Future generations will not forget that the Iranians were in the middle of a diplomatic process with a country that is now at war with us," said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei. Britain, France and Germany called on Iran "not to take any further action that could destabilise the region". As the world awaited Iran's response, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the bombing campaign Israel launched on Jun 13 "a big mistake". "REGIME CHANGE" US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on China to help deter Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for one-fifth of the world's oil supply. With Iran threatening US bases in the region, the State Department issued a worldwide alert cautioning Americans abroad. In central Tehran on Sunday, protesters waved flags and chanted slogans against US and Israeli attacks. In the province of Semnan east of the capital, 46-year-old housewife Samireh said she was "truly shocked" by the strikes. "Semnan province is very far from the nuclear facilities targeted, but I'm very concerned for the people who live near," she told AFP. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the US strikes revealed Washington was "behind" Israel's campaign against the Islamic republic and vowed a response. After the Pentagon stressed the goal of American intervention was not to topple the Iranian government, Trump openly toyed with the idea. "It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. "But if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change???" Hours later he doubled down on emphasising the success of his strikes. "Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!" Trump wrote, without sharing the images he was referencing. At a Pentagon press briefing earlier in the day, top US general Dan Caine said "initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said his country's bombardments would "finish" once the stated objectives of destroying Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities have been achieved. "We are very, very close to completing them," he said. "BLOW UP" Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people, Iran's health ministry said. Iran's attacks on Israel have killed 24 people, according to official figures. Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that craters were visible at the Fordo facility, but it had not been possible to assess the underground damage. "Armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place," he added. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, had accused the United States of deciding to "blow up" nuclear diplomacy with its intervention in the war. While Russia condemned the Israeli and US strikes, it has not offered military help and has downplayed its obligations under a sweeping strategic partnership agreement signed with Tehran just months ago.
