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.
US Vice President JD Vance's visit to Islamabad for peace talks with Iran has been put on hold after Tehran failed to respond to American negotiating positions, according to a New York Times report.
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.
United States President Donald Trump said he will file a $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against The New York Times, accusing the newspaper of running what he called a decades-long 'method of lying' against him, his family and the America First movement.
Despite a ceasefire agreement between Iran and the United States, the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked due to Iran's inability to locate and remove all the mines it laid during the conflict, hindering global oil and gas supplies.
Donald Trump has expressed confidence that Tehran will engage in diplomatic talks, warning that the country will 'see problems' should it refuse to cooperate.
India has officially refuted claims that Elon Musk was involved in a recent phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump.
...reopen for up to six months. Until then, the Strait stays nearly closed. The world pays. And no one, including the man who started this, can say when it ends, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War.
Elon Musk reportedly participated in a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the Iran crisis, raising questions about his involvement in diplomatic discussions.
The International Testing Agency (ITA) has voiced concerns regarding the high rate of doping cases in India and the alleged practice of athletes receiving advance notice before testing, potentially jeopardising the nation's bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
US President Donald Trump is inclined to reject Iran's latest diplomatic proposal, which suggests restoring maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz while deferring nuclear programme concerns, according to CNN. Concerns remain over Iran's nuclear enrichment and internal government fractures.
...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.
A media report indicates the White House was directly involved in crafting a social media post by Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, requesting then-US President Donald Trump to extend the deadline on Iran.
Trump has made it clear: the US will not lift its blockade of Iranian ports until a deal is signed.
US Vice President J D Vance is expected to travel to Islamabad for peace talks with Iran to end the seven-week war, amid a fragile ceasefire and ongoing tensions.
Raghu Rai, one of India's most celebrated photographers, passed away at a private hospital in New Delhi at the age of 83. He is survived by his wife, son, and three daughters.
A US Air Force officer was rescued from deep inside Iran after his jet was shot down, following a two-day mission involving US Special Operations forces. The officer evaded Iranian forces for over 24 hours, hiding in a mountain crevice and hiking to high altitudes before being rescued.
US President Donald Trump stated he would not set a deadline for ending the conflict with Iran, claiming Iran's military capabilities have been severely weakened. He also said he would not use nuclear weapons and maintained the US has complete control over blockade measures against Iran.
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
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 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.
Trump may strike. He may announce productive talks and extend again. He may do both at the same time. Iran will not open the Strait on someone else's terms, so no matter what happens, that problem will remain unsolved. And the IRGC will still be collecting its $2 million toll from every ship bold enough to ask permission to pass.
'As result, Netanyahu 'convinced' Trump to go to war with the help of overoptimistic Israeli intelligence assessments, essentially explaining to him that they only need to bomb Iran for 3-4 days, and the regime would then collapse.' 'Rather unsurprisingly, Netanyahu is ever since blaming his own intel service for the entire operation failing.'
According to the report, the Pentagon is deploying the USS Tripoli ARG, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), part of its own strike group.
Yousef Pezeshkian, the son of the Iranian President, has confirmed that Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is 'safe and sound'. This comes after certain reports claimed that he had been injured during the ongoing strikes by the United States and Israel, according to Al Jazeera.
It remains unclear whether United States President Donald Trump or Iranian authorities will pursue the offer.
A Pakistani national has pleaded guilty to attempting to commit an ISIS-inspired attack at a Jewish centre in New York in 2024, coinciding with the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
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.
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.
In a bid to de-escalate Middle East tensions, the US has presented Iran with a comprehensive 15-point peace plan focusing on nuclear disarmament and regional stability in exchange for sanctions relief.
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.
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
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.
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.
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.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are actively pushing Trump to take the war to its bitter finish and 'erase' Iran's presence in the geopolitics of the region. Simply put, the two most powerful Sunni Arab oligarchies are on the same page as Israel. Such interference increases the risk of a breakdown in dialogue between the US and Iran, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'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.'
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.
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.
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