The US Navy seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, escalating tensions as ceasefire talks face uncertainty. The incident raises concerns about the fragile ceasefire and the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Congress party has criticised the Indian government's diplomatic strategy, claiming a 'severe setback' if reports of Pakistan mediating between the US-Israel and Iran are accurate. The party alleges Pakistan's diplomatic engagement has surpassed India's, despite military successes.
Iran has fired 280 ballistic missiles at Israel since early Friday in retaliation to Israeli strikes on its nuclear programme, its military and political officials, and nuclear scientists.
'What we have yet to see on either the US or the Iranian side is willingness to compromise on their ultimate demands and the flexibility to reach an agreement to end the war.
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 threat of wars hovers over the negotiations in Oman, but the good part is that Trump called the talks to be 'very good' and Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian responded that they 'constitute a step forward', points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Israel's aerial assault on Iran is widely viewed as an act of naked aggression with no basis in international law, carried out unilaterally despite US opposition and aimed at derailing ongoing US-Iran nuclear negotiations, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In an interaction with PTI Videos in New Delhi, Iran's deputy chief of mission to India Mohammad Javad Hosseini also said Americans should "put pressure" and bring the other side back to the negotiating table.
A US-sanctioned tanker carrying Iranian crude oil has rerouted mid-voyage from its previously indicated destination of India to China, raising questions about payment issues and the future of India's Iranian oil imports.
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.
The meeting of the foreign ministers of the P5+1 nations aimed to smoothen out major bumps in reaching a nuclear deal with Iran has ended with a positive note.
As days turn into weeks and America loses more planes, as the destruction of trillions of dollars worth military assets piles up, and dead bodies of soldiers return in ever greater numbers in coffins, Trump will have to answer some very difficult questions to save his presidency, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In a testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, also said that the threats to the US were set to expand collectively from more than 3,000 missiles at present to more than 16,000 missiles by 2035.
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.
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.
...is a way out, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War. What the indefinite extension produces is a prolonged condition of not-war-not-peace, in which oil markets cannot stabilise, Asian refineries cannot plan, European governments cannot stop subsidising consumption they cannot afford, and the next flashpoint -- a seized tanker, a miscalculated drone strike, a Truth Social post that claims too much -- is one news cycle away.
'If the Iran nuke deal holds, Iran becomes a gateway to Afghanistan, and a better one than Pakistan because the route is not so mountainous. Correspondingly, I imagine Pakistan's value to the US will fall,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
The Pakistan government, as well as the country's military establishment, have come under severe criticism from netizens on social media for recommending United States President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has engaged in extensive diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the conflict in West Asia, offering to host talks between the US and Iran and engaging with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia, the UK, China, and the European Union.
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.
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.
'If the Trump administration could gain access to the nuclear weapons, they would be satisfied -- at least they could control them.'
'India's security challenges are no longer confined to the Line of Control or the Line of Actual Control.'
'They also span cyber networks, economic systems, information warfare, technology ecosystems, maritime routes, and internal social cohesion.'
The United States on Thursday slapped sanctions against four Iranian nuclear supply companies and one individual for procuring and attempting to procure goods for Iran's nuclear programme.
'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.'
Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin on Saturday claimed that the Israeli Air Force has achieved aerial freedom of action over Tehran, which is 'no longer immune'.
A senior Bush Administration official said the US is working closely with European allies, Russia, India and China to deter Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The US has slapped sanctions against a number of international companies and individuals for evading sanctions against Iran and for providing support for its contentious nuclear programme.
Israel and the United States had a plan. Iran punched back. And now the Gulf is reeling, the world is beginning to feel the pain and, as on date, no one in Washington or Tel Aviv appears willing to admit that the punch has landed, notes Prem Panicker, continuing his must-read blog on the war in the Middle East.
Trump described the agreement as the "worst" and "one-sided transactions" that America has ever entered into.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday advised the United States to leave the issue of Iran's nuclear programme to the International Atomic Energy Agency and not take up the responsibility of deciding Iran's position."Iran should convince the IAEA that their nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. We are advising Iran that being a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, you should satisfy the IAEA."
Image of Chirac, who made controversial remarks on Iran N-programme
Iran says it has made progress in nuke fuel cycle programme
India, Russia for resolving Iran issue within IAEA framework
Contending that Iran was a 'threat to the international community', Richard Haass, president of US private think tank Council on Foreign Relations, said India should persuade the Persian country to give up its nuclear programme as it is in New Delhi's own interest. His comments came when referred to India's strong assertion that it does not need 'any guidance' from the US on its dealings with Iran.
An inconclusive end to this war will pose high risk for Netanyahu of a cascading demand for a regime change in Israel, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
CIA director George Tenet personally briefed Musharraf that AQ Khan "was betraying Pakistan's nuclear secrets to at least the Libyans and maybe others," prompting an explosive reaction before Khan was placed under years-long house arrest.
'What the Americans want is to destabilise Iran. For destabilising Iran, you need access. 'One access is through Iraq. The other access is through Pakistan.'
United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said 'we' now have 'complete and total control of the skies over Iran' and 'we know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding'.
