US intelligence concluded Wednesday that Iran was not rebuilding nuclear enrichment capacities destroyed last year by the United States and Israel, contradicting a key justification by President Donald Trump for his ongoing war.

Tulsi Gabbard, a Trump ally who is director of national intelligence, offered mixed signals on the backdrop and outcomes of three weeks of war as she and other officials appeared before Congress

She also assessed that Iran's leadership remained intact.

LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) - Britain's national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, was not part of final talks between the United States and Iran before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Tehran, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday.

Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday that Powell had attended the talks and judged the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme significant enough to prevent a rush to war.

By Steven Scheer

TEL AVIV, March 18 (Reuters) - Iran has launched dozens of missiles with cluster munition warheads at Israel since the start of the war, posing a challenge for Israel's missile defence shield as they need to be hit before they split and disperse into smaller explosives.

Israel failed to intercept one of the cluster missiles overnight, and its small bomblets scattered into civilian areas in Tel Aviv. A couple in their 70s was killed, and one of Tel Aviv's main train stations suffered damage.

By Alessandro Parodi

March 18 (Reuters) - As Emirates flight EK10 from London cruised over Saudi Arabia on Monday, news broke of a drone strike at its destination, Dubai. The aircraft turned back to Gatwick, flight data show, completing a 9,100 km (6,150 miles) round trip — one of dozens of "flights to nowhere" triggered by the Middle East war.

Roughly 30 Emirates flights heading to Dubai International were also ordered back or rerouted after Iranian drone attacks temporarily shut what is normally the world's busiest airport for international passengers.

US President Donald Trump's administration scrambled Wednesday to rein in surging energy costs from war in the Middle East, temporarily waiving a century-old shipping law and easing Venezuela sanctions.

The moves came after oil prices rocketed following US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Tehran's retaliation brought commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to a virtual halt, snarling energy supply chains.

MOSCOW, March 18 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday condemned a strike near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant a day earlier which it said was just metres away from its reactor and called on the United States and Israel to stop attacking the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, made the comments at a news briefing.

"We strongly condemn the irresponsible and utterly unacceptable missile strike on the inner perimeter of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, just a few metres from an operational reactor," Zakharova said.

March 18 (Reuters) - The site in Kabul hit by a Pakistani airstrike this week was used for storing drones and military grade ordnance, and to train suicide bombers, the Pakistani military said on Wednesday.

The Afghan Taliban government had said the strike targeted a rehab centre and killed more than 400 people.

(Reporting by Saad Sayeed, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh)

The line of cars stretched as far as the eye could see along the coast of southern Lebanon, as residents of areas bombarded in the Israel-Hezbollah war poured into the ancient city of Sidon in search of safety.

At war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, Israel has called on everyone living south of the Zahrani River to evacuate immediately.

It is an area comprising 14 percent of Lebanon's territory, and is highlighted in red in the maps posted by the Israeli military.

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has full confidence in Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Wednesday, after a top security official resigned over the war in Iran.

Joe Kent, who headed the National Counterterrorism Center, and is the first senior official in Trump's administration to resign over the conflict, was not involved in any discussions on the Iran operation, Leavitt said.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson, and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Caitlin Webber)

The Israeli-US war on Iran has provoked a reaction from Tehran that has effectively choked a large chunk of the world's oil supply, and untangling the blockage will take a regional effort beyond what is currently being proposed, experts have told AFP.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged other global powers to send warships to escort convoys of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.