External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar affirms India's self-determined and 'unstoppable' rise, emphasising the nation's strategic growth and role in the Indian Ocean region amid evolving global dynamics.
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.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has mandated that track and field athletes must obtain prior approval from the federation before entering into sponsorship agreements with any entity. This decision aims to protect the interests of both athletes and sponsors amid increasing instances of athletes and coaches frequently changing sponsors.
Amid rising tensions in West Asia, China is urging all parties to cease military operations, following Trump's appeal for help in securing the Strait of Hormuz.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is establishing a maintenance facility for GE Aerospace's F404-IN20 jet engines, which power the Tejas light combat aircraft, with technical support from GE Aerospace. This initiative aims to enhance India's indigenous defence capabilities and reduce reliance on overseas repair centres.
The Maharashtra government has taken steps to combat the rise in investment-related cybercrimes, including arrests, enhanced cybersecurity measures, and public awareness campaigns.
India granted emergency docking to an Iranian ship, IRIS Lavan, in Kochi due to technical issues, accommodating its crew amidst regional naval activity and tensions.
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.
Iran has issued a defiant response to United States President Donald Trump's claims regarding the conclusion of hostilities, asserting that it alone will 'determine' the end of military actions against American and Israel targets.
Hegseth said the military campaign, code-named Operation Epic Fury, against Iran is "laser focused" and "decisive," with objectives set directly by the US administration remaining unchanged since the start of operations.
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.
Following a joint attack by the US and Israel on Iran, India is calling for restraint and de-escalation to avoid further military confrontation in the Middle East.
Government officials are reportedly apprehensive that the 30,000 to 40,000 US troops currently deployed within the region could serve as the primary target of the Islamic Republic in the event of an all-out war.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has declared the commencement of its 27th offensive under Operation True Promise 4, targeting American and Israeli positions in response to what it termed a new wave of 'unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic', Iranian state broadcaster Press TV reported.
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.
Trump has made it clear: the US will not lift its blockade of Iranian ports until a deal is signed.
If approved, the fighters would help the IAF to build its reducing squadrons, especially after the MiG-21 was decommissioned last year.
Addressing the 36th extraordinary session of the Council of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) held on Thursday in London, the Indian envoy said, "India remains deeply concerned about the evolving situation and continues to call for de-escalation through dialogue and diplomacy, with utmost restraint and priority being given to the safety of civilians."
The call came before Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed vengeance and urged citizens to continue their fight against the attacks by US and Israel.
16 days into the war, US forces were already running out of ground-attack missiles and Israel is about to expend its entire Arrow interceptor missiles by end March. To be sure, the Iranians are watching closely and that explains their defiant stance that 'Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its conditions are met', notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
If the oil infrastructure is attacked by the United States, the whole area could be flooded with oil, spilling into the Persian Gulf.
Nobody takes Pakistan seriously and therefore Pakistan's sudden mediating with almost immediate results of a ceasefire seems more contrived than real, points out Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (retd).
'Strikes into the Gulf countries are proof that the security guarantees offered by the US are ineffective and that the Gulf countries cannot rely on American security assurances for their safety.'
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.
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.
Israel wishes to continue its bombing campaign until Iran's military and industrial infrastructure are degraded to a point where it ceases to pose a threat to Israel. Iran, for its part, has learnt from its experience in the 12-day war of last June. Any ceasefire, it believes, will only be a prelude to another attack on itself. It is determined to convey that any attack on Iran will impose heavy costs on Israel, the US, America's allies in the Gulf -- and on the world at large, points out T T Ram Mohan.
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.
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.
Amid escalating tensions, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh declares Iran's unwavering commitment to a 'heroic nationalist defence' against perceived American and Israeli aggression, vowing to resist what he calls an 'invasion' to the very end.
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.
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.
China's latest defence budget surges to $275 billion, fueling its ambitious military modernisation program and intensifying geopolitical dynamics in the region.
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.
'We need to give Pakistan something serious to think about on its eastern front -- that is the only way to actually help Afghanistan right now.'
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.
Indian long-distance runner Pooja Aatmaram has been handed a reduced three-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit after admitting she fled an in-competition doping test in Mumbai last year.
When everyone has footage and no one can verify it, the loudest voice wins, notes Prem Panicker who begins a daily blog on the War in the Middle East.
Formula One has cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix scheduled for April due to escalating Middle East tensions, reducing the 2026 F1 calendar from 24 to 22 races.
The United States has warned China against escalating tensions as Taiwan detected multiple Chinese naval vessels, official ships and balloons operating around the island amid Beijing's large-scale live-fire military drills.
Indian team management will heave a sigh of relief with Tilak Varma ticking all the boxes on his return to competitive cricket after a lower abdominal surgery as the 'A' team, comprising mostly of IPL stars, comfortably defeated the United States of America by 38 runs in a high-scoring warm-up game in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
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