WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Amid continuing tension over political upheaval in Iran, the U.S. Defense Department says it wants to accelerate production of a 30,000-pound "ultra-large bunker-buster" bomb designed to destroy deeply buried installations.

NAWZAD, Afghanistan, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- The Pentagon said Wednesday it will increase U.S. operations, allowing Afghan forces to secure Taliban-controlled areas in Helmand Province.

WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- Four new advisory and assistance brigades will be sent to Iraq beginning in the fall during the next scheduled U.S. troop deployment, the Pentagon said.

WASHINGTON, July 15 (UPI) -- Four training brigades are set for deployment to Iraq as part of a shift in the U.S. mission to a stability and reconstruction operation, the Pentagon said.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, June 25 (UPI) -- Kyrgyzstan's Parliament ratified an agreement to allow the United States to maintain operations at a major transit hub for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) -- Dozens of prisoners freed from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have returned to the world of terrorism or military activity, a report says.

BEIJING, May 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. surveillance ship confronted by Chinese fishing vessels in the Yellow Sea violated international and Chinese laws, China's Foreign Ministry said.

WASHINGTON, April 4 (UPI) -- Uzbekistan agreed Friday to allow the United States to use it as a transit point for the shipment of "non-lethal" supplies to Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- The political and security situation in Iraq still improves, but remains hindered by sectarian and ethnic conflicts, a U.S. Defense Department report said.