The United States 'got involved directly' when India and Pakistan went to war and President Donald Trump was able to deliver peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed.
This will be the first face-to-face meeting between Rubio and Jaishankar following President Donald Trump's imposition of an additional 25 per cent tariff on India for Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, taking the total levies imposed on India by the Trump White House to 50 per cent.
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.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged its citizens to immediately depart from several Middle Eastern countries, citing "serious safety risks."
Pakistan is set to host a quadrilateral summit of foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkiye to discuss the ongoing conflict in West Asia and explore avenues for peace negotiations.
'Was the five-day pause ever meant to hold, or was it simply another instrument of signaling, of positioning, of buying time in a war where even the pauses are tactical?' asks Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
Chaffing under public ridicule in the US as well as internationally for having 'lost' the war, Trump is under immense pressure to do something, cautions Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Foreign Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkiye convene in Pakistan for a summit aimed at de-escalating the ongoing conflict in West Asia, with Pakistan actively seeking to broker peace through dialogue and diplomacy.
Pakistan is hosting a quadrilateral summit of foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkiye to discuss the conflict in West Asia and explore avenues for peace. The summit includes discussions on regional developments and meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The intriguing bit is that Trump is likely to attend the talks in Islamabad this weekend -- if he does, it will be the clearest signal yet that the US is ready to exit the war with some sort of win to show, since he cannot afford to go for the talks and return empty-handed, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War
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.
A US official has stated that India's continued purchase of Russian oil is a point of contention in the relationship between the two countries, as it helps fund Russia's war efforts in Ukraine.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met with his counterparts from Egypt and Turkiye in Islamabad ahead of a quadrilateral summit, including Saudi Arabia, to discuss the ongoing conflict in West Asia and explore avenues for peace.
David Perdue said in a post on X that the US-India relationship delivers real results through close cooperation in diverse areas, including defence, energy and through Quad engagement.
Former US President Donald Trump claimed victory over Iran, stating they agreed to never have a nuclear weapon and provided a 'significant prize' related to the Strait of Hormuz. He also suggested a change in Iranian leadership and acknowledged Pakistan's role in facilitating talks.
The cost of the war is being counted not in the corridors of power in Washington or Tehran, but in Firozabad's darkened furnace rooms, Howrah's idle casting sheds, and a barbershop in Kochi where the wait is suddenly, inexplicably, an hour long, notes Prem Panicker in 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.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar are actively engaged with world leaders to promote dialogue and diplomacy for peace in West Asia, while also ensuring the safety and well-being of the Indian community in the region.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke separately with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement early Saturday.
Amid rising tensions in West Asia following a series of strikes and counter-strikes, the United States Embassy in Muscat on Tuesday instructed its staff to shelter in place.
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, 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.
'Fears in Washington began to intensify when it was realised that subsequent Pakistani and Indian attacks on major military facilities -- which were significant in terms of geographic scope and intensity -- could rapidly take both sides to where neither actually wanted to go.' 'The US objective was to stop the fighting as soon as possible. Everything else was secondary.'
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
'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.'
US President Donald Trump welcomed Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami team to the White House on Thursday as he boasted about the United States' ongoing operation in Iran.
Rubio also listed the peace deal between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, 'a 12-day war that ended with an American operation that we're the only country in the world that could have done, hopefully pretty soon a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia.'
US President Donald Trump greeted India on its 77th Republic Day, highlighting the historic bond between the two democracies amid ongoing trade tensions.
Donald Trump has appointed Markwayne Mullin as the new Secretary of Homeland Security, replacing Kristi Noem, who will take on the role of Special Envoy for 'The Shield of the Americas' initiative.
The US President had hosted Modi for an official working visit in Washington, DC, on February 13 last year.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday spoke separately with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, emphasising the need for de-escalation and reiterated his calls for Pakistan to take concrete steps to end any support for terrorist groups.
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.
President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from over 60 international organisations, including United Nations bodies and the India-France-led International Solar Alliance, calling the institutions 'redundant' and 'contrary' to America's interests.
Soon after he was sworn in by Vice President J D Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Penny Wong from Australia and Japan's Iwaya Takeshi for his first multilateral meeting as the top American diplomat.
Reacting to remarks by the Premier of Greenland expressing a 'preference to remain with Denmark' over the United States, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed the statement and warned that it could create 'a big problem' for the latter.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India's energy decisions are guided by national interest.
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 John Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met for lunch at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. This was their first one-on-one meeting after their disastrous encounter at the White House in March.
At least 40 people, including military personnel and civilians, were killed in the United States strike on Venezuela early Saturday, The New York Times reported, citing a senior Venezuelan official who spoke on condition of anonymity, amid claims by Cuba that 32 of its officers were also killed in the operation.
The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics commenced with a vibrant opening ceremony, showcasing Italian culture and athletic spirit, while also highlighting global political tensions through crowd reactions and protests.
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