President Trump asserts the US military has decimated Iran's forces and no longer requires assistance from NATO allies to secure the Strait of Hormuz, despite earlier requests for support.
The IRGC had announced earlier that it was carrying out an intense wave of attacks on US and Israeli positons throughout the region since dawn, using missiles as well as drones.
Despite outward displays of cordiality, a formal visit by King Charles III to the US revealed underlying tensions between the leaders, highlighted by subtle rebukes and contrasting views on key issues.
Donald Trump's inconsistent statements and actions regarding the conflict with Iran have drawn criticism and confusion, raising questions about American credibility and the direction of US foreign policy.
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
Putin said that the Greenland issues doesn't concern him.
Trump called for immediate negotiations for the US to acquire Greenland from Denmark, describing the country as ungrateful, during his speech at Davos.
Amid escalating tensions with Iran, President Trump is urging nations dependent on Middle Eastern oil to deploy warships to the Strait of Hormuz to safeguard critical global energy supplies.
Fight on toward goals that keep receding, or exit with most objectives unmet. Trump is agitated, his poll numbers falling below the Plimsoll line, his base fractured between those who back the war and those who remember that he campaigned on ending them.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that Greenland is important to safeguard the US from Russia and China's presence in the Arctic Ocean, and has demanded that the Kingdom of Denmark sell the self-governed territory.
United States President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to impose tariffs on Denmark and several European countries unless they agree to sell Greenland to the United States, framing the move as a national security imperative amid Chinese and Russian interest in the territory.
The United States, which entered this war in expectation of a short, sharp win along the Venezuela model, is now preparing for deeper involvement in a conflict it does not fully control, without the allies it typically relies on, against an adversary that is not behaving as expected, in a global environment that is already absorbing economic shock. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
'It was diminishing even before Trump came to power.' 'The US was at the centre of the global economy. That position is going to become less and less important and less central.'
The White House said on Tuesday that it is considering 'a range of options' to acquire Greenland, and that the use of military is not off the table, CNN reported, citing Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday.
A bewildered world is at a loss to find bilateral and multilateral measures to stop President Trump from pursuing his vision of a world unabashedly dominated by the United States, points out T P Sreenivasan.
'We were in a heavily nuclearised environment. China had tested for Pakistan in the 1980s and helped their missile programme stay just one step behind us.'
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 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.
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.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again pushed for control of Greenland, calling it necessary for "national security" and arguing it would also bolster NATO's strength.
The question is no longer whether the war will expand. It has. The next few days will tell us whether the war stabilises around Hormuz or whether the Strait itself becomes the trigger for a far larger rupture. What to watch for over the next 48 hours is simple: Any move by the US toward direct naval control of the Strait; any credible Iranian attempt to disrupt or mine shipping lanes and, critically, whether energy infrastructure in the Gulf continues to be targeted.If those lines are crossed in tandem, the war will no longer be containable within the region.
United States President Donald Trump has brushed aside French President Emmanuel Macron's call for an emergency G7 meeting amid escalating tensions over Washington, DC's push to acquire Greenland, while Europe has warned of retaliatory trade action against US tariff threats.
'The unexpected turn of events and assertion of sovereignty by the Taliban has baffled the Pakistan security establishment.'
The deal shifts the US posture towards India from hostile to neutral, and that matters for growth, points out T T Ram Mohan.
Trump has approved sharing targeting data with Ukrainians as the administration weighs sending powerful weapons, the news outlet reported on Wednesday (local time).
The designation means that Pakistan will join an exclusive club of nations that are given preferential treatment by the US in areas of foreign aid and defence cooperation.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined European allies in a video call to discuss the Ukraine conflict ahead of President Zelensky's visit to the White House for talks with President Trump.
China has made serious inroads into Latin America, which the US may now be hinting is simply not ok: Stay in your lane, Xi! In simple terms, China will no longer have access to Venezuelan oil, points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
However, leaders of the NATO-led ISAF mission countries at the end of their Chicago meeting pledged to have a long-term commitment to Afghanistan, given that they still have a long way to go in the fight against terrorism and achieving political stability and satisfactory-level security in the country, to have another NATO-led mission for Afghanistan post 2014.
'Trump does have a master plan in mind to put pressure on India with the additional tariff of 25 per cent to get Modi to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to freeze the Ukraine war.' 'It has not worked so far. By end-September only we'll know for sure the future trajectory of India's oil purchases from Russia,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
It is learnt that Chinese Air Force planes had refuelled in Pakistan and Iran last month while on their way to Turkey to participate in a joint air exercise with the Turkish Air Force. On the way back, they refueled only in Iran. The air exercise preceded the recent visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to Turkey.
'Within 30 minutes of when Asim Munir made those comments, he should have been taken to Tampa airport and flown out of the United States.'
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed that the country's airspace had been violated by "a huge number of Russian drones" which were shot down by its military.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's government was involved in the assassination attempt on United States President Donald Trump and in the killing of right-wing American activist Charlie Kirk, Ukrainian MP Artem Dmitruk claimed in an opinion piece for TASS.
'Nor would it have serious implications in India's relations with Saudi Arabia that stand on their own and have improved significantly in recent times, including in defence and strategic affairs.'
The United States State Department has authorised a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case for Turkiye to purchase AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles and related elements of logistics and program support for an estimated cost of $22 million.
The entry of other Arab countries in the mutual defence deal between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is not ruled out, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said, adding that 'doors are not closed' for such developments.
Trump has played throughout his career as a deal-maker who could deliver where others could not, and Ukraine represents the ultimate test of that image, notes Manish Dabhade.
The 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has announced to take over all the international operations in Libya, including military operations to enforce no-fly-zone, enforcement of arms embargo and the civilian protections.
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