US President Donald Trump on Monday confirmed that his administration has received a proposal from Iran aimed at ending the ongoing conflict in West Asia, but described the offer as insufficient.
US Vice President J D Vance is expected to travel to Islamabad for peace talks with Iran to end the seven-week war, amid a fragile ceasefire and ongoing tensions.
US President Donald Trump has claimed that China has committed to halting weapon supplies to Iran, following his personal diplomatic interventions with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The United States' historical strategic alignment with Pakistan, dating back to the Cold War, has consistently aimed to create a political and military parity with India, despite India's significantly larger size and resources. This long-standing relationship continues to influence regional dynamics, particularly in West Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
US President Donald Trump stated he would not set a deadline for ending the conflict with Iran, claiming Iran's military capabilities have been severely weakened. He also said he would not use nuclear weapons and maintained the US has complete control over blockade measures against Iran.
...reopen for up to six months. Until then, the Strait stays nearly closed. The world pays. And no one, including the man who started this, can say when it ends, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War.
Karex, the Malaysian company that makes roughly one in five of the world's condoms -- about five billion a year, supplying Durex and Trojan among others -- announced this week that it is raising prices by up to 30 percent. The reason is the Strait of Hormuz.
Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on Pope Leo XIV over the pontiff's views on American foreign policy and crime, escalating tensions between the White House and the Vatican.
Trump has made it clear: the US will not lift its blockade of Iranian ports until a deal is signed.
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.
Trump also said that Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif, who had visited the White House last year, credited him for saving millions of lives by stopping the conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
The 'rescue' operation occurred within kilometres of Iran's underground tunnel complex at Isfahan, assessed by the IAEA and US intelligence as holding a substantial portion of the country's 60 per cent enriched uranium stockpile. Retired senior US military officers have highlighted that the mission's footprint -- hundreds of special operators, multiple heavy-lift aircraft deep inside Iran -- appears outsized for recovering a single airman. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
A joint attack by the United States and Israel on Iran has triggered a massive military confrontation in the Middle-East.
This weekend, Donald Trump has begun to say the quiet part out loud -- that he wants to take control of Iran's oil, a formulation more in line with his robber-baron style of international relations.
For weeks, the war skirted the edge of catastrophe without tipping over. Missiles flew, there was much destruction, commanders were assassinated, cities across the Gulf and even in Israel struggled to absorb the shock. But one line held: Energy infrastructure, the arteries of the global economy, remained largely untouched. That is no longer true. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
'I suspect that Bangladesh being given permission stuck in India's official craw, and this story was an attempt to balance the scales by giving the impression that a similar waiver had been given to India as well.'
Iran is fighting a different war: Older, slower, and in some ways more dangerous. Iran doesn't need to shoot down an F/A-18. It only needs to make the Strait of Hormuz feel dangerous long enough for insurance markets, shipping companies, and oil futures traders to do the rest. Prem Panicker continues his must-read daily blog on the war in the Middle East.
Claiming yet again that he solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, United States President Donald Trump has said that 'no one in history is more deserving than him' of the Nobel Peace Prize, as he criticised former President Barack Obama for getting the honour even though he 'didn't do anything'.
The 2025 US National Security Strategy marks a major pullback, with America turning backward and effectively allowing China greater dominance in Asia. while long-time partners like India are left to face an increasingly unstable global order largely on their own, observes Rajeev Srinivasan.
The Russians have termed Putin's visit to India, his first to this country since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, as 'Druzhba Dosti', which means 'friendship' in Russian and Hindi respectively.
'She was brave. She didn't care a hoot. And India was not the strongest of nations as it is now.'
'She was brave. She didn't care a hoot. And India was not the strongest of nations as it is now.'
His victory means that his party will have to learn from him, because after the rise of Donald Trump, the Democrats have been in disarray. They have had no real answer to the Trump phenomenon and Zohran, with his emphatic and clear policies aimed at working class Americans offers them a national path for a return, asserts Aakar Patel.
Following the mid-air collision between an American Airlines plane and a United States Army helicopter in which all 67 are feared dead, President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed former Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama for lowering air safety standards.
As they sat together in Obama's stretch limousine for the 10-12 minute drive, their conversation turned to family, he noted.
'The current strain in the relationship is serious and likely to be long lasting.' 'Even if Trump suddenly changes his attitude toward India -- which he is entirely capable of doing -- it is unlikely that New Delhi will be able to pick up the pieces and respond as if nothing has happened.'
Kamala Harris will be a 'fantastic President of the United States', former president Barack Obama said on Friday, as he and his wife Michelle endorsed her and vowed to do 'everything we can' to enable her to win the high-stakes elections against Donald Trump in November.
Sections in the US State Department and Pentagon have always felt more comfortable dealing with all powerful Pakistani generals instead of elected civilians, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
If the US' renewed closeness with Pakistan ends up strengthening Pakistan's military, it will clearly show that Washington no longer wants a strong India and could be ready to let China dominate Asia, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
He then went on to say that, however, he won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for any of his efforts.
At the end of the day, for many worldwide, the ongoing mutual attacks between Israel and Iran would seem a contest devoid of any moral high ground and only a bout between two ordinary adversaries, one that nevertheless risks spinning out of control into a larger conflagration, notes Shyam G Menon.
Donald Trump's exaggerated opinion of his dealmaking capacity can get him into trouble, observes R Sriram.
President Barack Obama has appointed the first Hindu community activist and one of the first Hindu women priests in New Jersey, Anju Bhargava, to the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
'There are ominous portents of an isolationist administration not only building a physical wall to the south to prevent unwanted immigrants from entering the land of milk and honey, but also trade walls not just against China, but all nations,' foresees Sreekant Sambrani.
Did Prime Minister Modi receive a different kind of reception at the Biden White House on Friday than he has has been used to at the American president's home?
The who's who of the political and business world showed up for the state dinner
'If the criminal or civil charges are deemed unworthy or defective, Trump's new justice department and SEC can withdraw the criminal and civil cases.'
The warmth and respect for India were evident wherever I went and noticed how most Latin Americans have Indian gurus either directly or online and yoga was very much in vogue, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Carter was in politics, but not a politician, certainly not a transactional politician, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
Reports (not denied by India) that the USA had 'for the first time provided real-time details to their Indian counterparts on the Chinese positions and force strength in advance of a PLA incursion' into Tawang at the LAC in December 2022, helping India thwart China's expansionist designs, show how operationally effective the USA-India friendship has become on the ground. A engaging excerpt from Sreeram Chaulia's must-read new book, Friends: India's Closest Strategic Partners.
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