The Pentagon said on Wednesday that there was no evidence that drones that had been spotted over New Jersey were from a foreign entity or adversary and dismissed a claim by a U.S. lawmaker that they were being launched from an Iranian "mothership.

After the routing by Israel of Hamas and Hizbullah, its two main proxies in the region, the fall of Mr Assad, its third, is a further sign of Iran’s waning influence. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, likes to say that his country is nearing its ghaleh, or zenith. But he must wonder whether it is already behind him.

The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic had not been weakened following the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Iranian media reported. "We have not been weakened and Iran's power has not diminished,