As he settled down to his job as army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa -- who died last week; his passing did not merit even an obituary in major print or electronic media in Pakistan! -- developed a vision of reducing his country's and his institution, the army's traditional hostility toward India, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China are meeting in Urumqi to discuss regional security concerns and potential confidence-building measures.
The purge in Washington does not pause the war. Strikes continue, Hormuz remains closed, and Brent crude is still dancing around $109 a barrel. For India, the command chaos in the Pentagon is another layer of uncertainty piled on five weeks of conflict that was already straining every buffer Delhi has.
'The tools of warfare are changing. The MoD must deepen its engagement with technology thinkers that can present compelling visions of where warfare may be heading.'
It may now be time to question the price India is paying for Israel's disregard of the serious undermining of India's energy security, asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
For India, much is at stake: Crucial energy supplies traversing the Strait of Hormuz, the fate of its 10 million citizens living and working in West Asia -- who send generous remittances home -- and its major trade links with the region.
According to the Pentagon, the vessels were targeted as part of efforts to prevent the deployment of naval mines in the strategically vital passage through which a significant portion of global crude oil shipments transits.
Russia has expressed strong concern over a US-Israeli strike on the Iranian port of Bandar Anzali, a key transit hub on the INSTC, warning of the risk of drawing Caspian states into the ongoing conflict.
'TTP has vowed to take revenge for the attacks that Pakistan is carrying out against Afghanistan.' 'To diminish this threat, Pakistan is hitting Afghanistan hard.'
Despite the escalation in US military action, the War Secretary noted that Iran's missile response has declined in the last 24 hours.
Top government sources in India have dismissed claims that the Indian Navy provided intelligence to the US regarding an Iranian frigate that was sunk by a US submarine.
The delegations from the US and Iran head to Islamabad on Friday, carrying a ceasefire that is already fraying, a Strait that is technically open and practically closed, and a negotiating agenda that would challenge even parties actually negotiating in good faith, which these groups are not. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
The core issues to be settled -- access to Hormuz, Israel's aggression in Lebanon, the question of Iran's nuclear programme, sanctions relief and compensation -- are thorny enough to require weeks of patient negotiation. The most likely outcome of the opening sessions is that both sides take the measure of each other, establish what is and is not negotiable, and return home without having broken anything. That would count as progress.
Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey met in Islamabad in what analysts say is the formal opening of a new diplomatic formation that could reshape the post-war regional order. Their immediate goal is a ceasefire; their larger ambition is to ensure that neither Iran nor Israel emerges from this war in a dominant position. Pakistan's foreign minister then flew directly to Beijing and mooted a Chinese role as guarantor of any eventual agreement. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
In an official statement, the embassy criticised remarks by the Russian foreign ministry, alleging that Moscow was attempting to manipulate information and interfere in India's internal processes.
Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have successfully neutralized a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror module, known as the 'Israel Group,' after a year-and-a-half-long operation in the Kishtwar region.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has emphasised the need for India to develop a robust drone manufacturing ecosystem to enhance its defence capabilities, drawing lessons from recent global conflicts.
Trump may strike. He may announce productive talks and extend again. He may do both at the same time. Iran will not open the Strait on someone else's terms, so no matter what happens, that problem will remain unsolved. And the IRGC will still be collecting its $2 million toll from every ship bold enough to ask permission to pass.
According to Hezbollah, it fired a swarm of drones at radar sites and control rooms at the base on Tuesday, describing the move as retaliation for Israeli strikes.
The big question is whether Trump is any longer in command of the situation. For all practical purposes, the war seems set to cascade as the US is preparing for a potential ground operation in Iran and threatens to destroy 'bridges next, then electric power plants', points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
It remains unclear whether United States President Donald Trump or Iranian authorities will pursue the offer.
'Much will depend on the position of the United States.' 'It will have to be seen to what extent the US will be more interested in achieving some form of a deal and to what extent Israel will be allowed to continue to carry out both airstrikes and the killing of Iranian officials.'
By all available indications, the White House drafted a face-saving note and handed it, ready-made, to Islamabad. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was supposed to then post it in the guise of a plea urging Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks 'to allow diplomacy to run its course'. Trump would then graciously accept Pakistan's 'request' and declare a ceasefire. Sharif dutifully posted the message on X. Except that he, or whoever was handling the account, forgot to delete the tell-tale first line visible in the edit history: 'Draft - Pakistan's PM Message on X'. Prem Panicker's must read blog on the Iran War.
'The next two to three weeks will not be decided in Washington.' 'They will be decided in Tehran, in whatever calculation Iran makes about the costs of continued resistance against the costs of appearing to have yielded.'
He accused the firm of trying to interfere with how the US military operates and threatened further action if it does not cooperate during a six-month phase-out period.
'Without ground troops the US will not be able to oust the Iranian Islamic regime. Political change does not happen just by using bombs or planes.'
The ceasefire is still technically holding, to the extent that no overt hostilities have been reported yet, but the rhetoric has hardened dangerously. The week ahead will also clarify whether the Islamabad failure was a negotiating tactic or whether Washington has genuinely locked itself into a position from which the only exits are climb-down, escalation, or the slow bleed of a new status quo that nobody chose and nobody controls. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
Taking Kharg would give the US control over virtually all of Iran's oil exports and thus provide significant leverage, notes Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War. It would also put American troops within range of Iran's remaining missiles, drones, and artillery on a piece of real estate that is just eight square miles in size, and just 15 miles from the Iranian mainland.
His remarks come after Trump warned Iran of severe consequences if it fails to reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy transit route.
Ali Mousavi stated that such cooperation is essential for maintaining stability in the strategic waterway.
'Periods of geopolitical uncertainty often see a rise in coordinated cyber threats, disinformation campaigns, and infrastructure targeting.'
A Russian intelligence agency has claimed that the UK and France are covertly planning to transfer nuclear weapons to Ukraine, alleging a violation of international law.
In the video, the Supreme Leader can be seen teaching religious studies to a group of pupils who are listening attentively. The IRIB said that the video of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was published for the first time.
'They are not abandoning their ideology. They now believe it is better to pursue their goals through the Constitution rather than from the barrel of a gun -- even if the ideology itself remains intact.'
The US embassy in Saudi Arabia and the US consulate in Dubai were reportedly targeted by suspected Iranian drone attacks amid heightened tensions in the Middle East following US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for a negotiated settlement with Iran and deployed additional fighter jets to West Asia to strengthen the UK's defensive operations.
What we are watching is something different: A fog manufactured and maintained by the people who started the war, so that the question of why it was started never has to be answered, observes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the war in the Middle East.
Jazz City could have been enjoyable had it not been so densely over-plotted and unevenly executed, notes Deepa Gahlot.
'We are profoundly energy-dependent on the Gulf. That dependency must now be redirected towards the United States, because we require American permission to procure oil.' 'We additionally require Iranian permission to acquire oil from that source. So India now has to seek two separate permissions merely to secure its energy supply.' 'Should we be compelled to source from America, or from Venezuela -- which is, in effect, American-controlled supply -- that will inevitably carry a price premium, an elevated shipping cost, and a considerably extended delivery timeline, given the distances involved.'
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