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.
Iranian representatives have conveyed to the Trump administration that they are unwilling to resume talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, preferring instead to engage with Vice President J D Vance.
While Trump has been examining the possibility of stationing ground forces in the Middle East, CBS News reported that he has yet to define the exact conditions under which he would approve their use.
According to Iranian state media, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the threat was articulated by Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
US President Donald Trump is considering ending the military operation against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, according to the Wall Street Journal.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Washington is considering a "joint venture" with Iran to secure the Strait of Hormuz, following his announcement of a two-week ceasefire.
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.
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.
Araghchi remarked that US messaging currently echoes the Vietnam War-era "Five O'Clock Follies," suggesting a systematic misrepresentation of military progress.
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.
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.
US President Donald Trump stated the war with Iran would end 'soon,' citing significant military gains and minimal remaining targets. This contradicts earlier administration statements about an open-ended timeline.
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 United States is facing growing discontent from its Gulf allies after several countries in the region complained that they were not given advance notice of the US-Israel strike on Iran that triggered widespread retaliatory attacks, according to media reports.
The pause gives the US time to breathe, to regroup, to move its expeditionary force into position without risk of interception along the way. It gives Iran nothing -- on the ground, attacks against its infrastructure continue apace. Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
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.
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.'
In the phone conversation on Tuesday, Singh urged Hegseth to expedite the delivery of GE F404 engines to power the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, people familiar with the matter said.
The United States will deploy additional fighter jets and Navy ships to West Asia in order to defend Israel, the US Department of Defence said.
By threatening to punish India with high tariff, Trump is actually planting a tantalising thought in the Indian mind that the Modi government should suitably 'incentivise' him, explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Bagheri, told Press TV that the Nevatim air base, the Netzarim military facility and the Tel Nof intelligence unit, were hit in the Tuesday night attack dubbed 'Operation True Promise II'.
The Pentagon on Tuesday called India a pivotal player in the region saying that the country was a very important strategic partner of the United States.
"I have not seen anything to corroborate that report," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters at a news conference on Thursday when asked about the reported allegations by former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani that Pakistan had sent between 10,000 to 15,000 of its men along with the Taliban to capture Kabul and Afghanistan.
The Pentagon on Tuesday said that it has expressed "deepest regret" on the loss of life due to cross border fire on November 26, but declined to comment if there was any move by the United States to apologise for the incident that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The Hamid Karzai International Airport is the only access point for the international community to reach out to people in Afghanistan, a land locked country.
Terming Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's recent India visit as highly successful, the Pentagon on Monday refuted the Taliban statement that New Delhi resisted his call for greater Indian involvement in Afghanistan.
The detection of the Chinese surveillance balloon transiting Latin America comes a day after the Pentagon found a Chinese surveillance balloon within its territory flying over Montana, leading to US Secretary of State Tony Blinken postponing his planned trip to Beijing.
If the only superpower, which calls India an ally, sees the region through an India-Pakistan prism, it is unacceptable. Rather than endorse India's sphere of influence, this undermines it, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Asked about the whereabouts of Iran's 400 kilograms of 60-per-cent enriched uranium, Netanyahu claimed that Israel has "interesting intel" related to the issue.
The Pentagon has ruled out any move to ban the sale of the controversial book on the killing of Osama bin Laden, which it says has been written by a former navy SEAL in breach of contractual obligations and contains classified information.
The Pentagon has said that it is not aware of any potential sale of F-22 fighter jets to India.
India and the United States are destined to be partners at the world stage due to their shared common values and outlooks on a wide range of issues, the Pentagon has said as US Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter concluded his highly successful trip to New Delhi.
Early this week, the US imposed sanctions on suppliers to Pakistan's ballistic missile programme, including three companies from China.
Two missiles landed in Polish territory on Tuesday, Sputnik news agency reported citing Polish media.
United States Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter, who played a critical role in boosting Indo-US defence ties, on Friday said that he will step down in December.
The remarks of the top Biden administration officials this week came amid growing disquiet in Western capitals over India's refusal to directly condemn the Russian aggression in Ukraine and its decision to procure discounted Russian oil.
India will continue to be a strategic partner for the United States despite concerns over its ties with Russia, the Biden Administration has said.
China has been taking "incremental and tactical actions" to press its claims at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India and has unsuccessfully sought to prevent New Delhi from deepening its relationship with the US during and subsequent to the standoff, the Pentagon has said in a major report on China's military modernisation.
The White House and the Pentagon have denounced Republican presidential aspirant Donal Trump's call for a ban on the entry of Muslims into the United States, saying the anti-Muslim rhetoric undermines America's national security.
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