Canadian PM on crucial bilateral with PM Modi: Foundational step to rebuild ties
8:15
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump had a 35-minute phone conversation. Modi clarified that the US had no role in brokering the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and there was no discussion on a US-India trade deal during hostilities. The call focused on the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam and India's response. Modi explained India's shift in counter-terror policy and invited Trump to the upcoming Quad Summit in India.
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Time of India
42 minutes ago
- Time of India
Iran Uses ‘Undisclosed' Missiles In Operation True Promise III, Overwhelms Already Burdened Iron Dome
/ Jun 19, 2025, 01:58PM IST Iran has escalated its military campaign against Israeli-occupied territories in the latest phase of Operation True Promise III, launching hundreds of long-range missiles with increased destructive power. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed strikes across multiple cities, warning civilians in Tel Aviv and Haifa to evacuate immediately. Explosions were reported in both the occupied regions and near Tehran, as air defense systems activated. Iranian officials say these actions are retaliation for Israeli attacks on Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure. Israel's missile defenses are reportedly nearing depletion, with U.S. media estimating it could last only 10–20 more days. As civilian casualties rise and hypersonic Fattah missiles are introduced, the region edges closer to a broader conflict.#Iran #Trump #MiddleEastTensions #PersianGulf #Khamenei #USIranConflict#BreakingNews #Geopolitics #GulfStates #MilitaryWarning #WarThreat#USBase #IranRetaliation #TrumpVsIran #GlobalSecurity
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First Post
43 minutes ago
- First Post
Will Iran's allies step in if the US joins Israel's war?
Iran has had long-standing strategic relations with several nations. It has found support from Russia and several regional partners, including Pakistan, in the past. However, it remains to be seen whether they will continue to back the nation if the US joins hands with Israel read more As Israel continues its attacks on Iran, US President Donald Trump and other global leaders are hardening their stance against the Islamic Republic. While considering a US attack on Iran's nuclear sites, Trump has threatened Iran's supreme leader, claiming to know his location and calling him 'an easy target'. He has demanded 'unconditional surrender' from Iran. Meanwhile, countries such as Germany, Canada, the UK and Australia have toughened their rhetoric, demanding Iran fully abandon its nuclear program. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD So, as the pressure mounts on Iran, has it been left to fight alone? Or does it have allies that could come to its aid? Has Iran's 'axis of resistance' fully collapsed? Iran has long relied on a network of allied paramilitary groups across the Middle East as part of its deterrence strategy. This approach has largely shielded it from direct military strikes by the US or Israel, despite constant threats and pressure. This so-called ' axis of resistance' includes groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in Iraq, the Houthi militants in Yemen, as well as Hamas in Gaza, which has long been under Iran's influence to varying degrees. Iran also supported Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria before it was toppled last year. These groups have served both as a regional buffer and as a means for Iran to project power without direct engagement. However, over the past two years, Israel has dealt significant blows to the network. Russian President Vladimir Putin with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. File image?AP Hezbollah, once Iran's most powerful non-state ally, has been effectively neutralised after months of attacks by Israel. Its weapons stocks were systematically targeted and destroyed across Lebanon. And the group suffered a major psychological and strategic loss with the assassination of its most influential leader, Hassan Nasrallah. In Syria, Iranian-backed militias have been largely expelled following the fall of Assad's regime, stripping Iran of another key foothold in the region. That said, Iran maintains a strong influence in Iraq and Yemen. The PMF in Iraq, with an estimated 200,000 fighters, remains formidable. The Houthis have similarly sized contingent of fighters in Yemen. Should the situation escalate into an existential threat to Iran, as the region's only Shiite-led state, religious solidarity could drive these groups to become actively involved. This would rapidly expand the war across the region. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The PMF, for instance, could launch attacks on the 2,500 US troops stationed in Iraq. Indeed, the head of Kata'ib Hezbollah, one of the PMF's more hardline factions, promised to do so: If America dares to intervene in the war, we will directly target its interests and military bases spread across the region without hesitation. Iran itself could also target US bases in the Persian Gulf countries with ballistic missiles, as well as close the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 per cent of the world's oil supply flows. Will Iran's regional and global allies step in? Several regional powers maintain close ties with Iran. The most notable among them is Pakistan, the only Islamic country with a nuclear arsenal. For weeks, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has tried to align Iran more closely with Pakistan in countering Israel's actions in Gaza. In a sign of Pakistan's importance in the Israel-Iran war, Trump has met with the country's army chief in Washington as he weighs a possible strike on its neighbour. Pakistan's leaders have also made their allegiances very clear. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has offered Iran's president 'unwavering solidarity' in the 'face of Israel's unprovoked aggression'. And Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif recently said in an interview Israel will 'think many times before taking on Pakistan'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD These statements signal a firm stance without explicitly committing to intervention. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meets Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. File image/Reuters Yet, Pakistan has also been working to de-escalate tensions. It has urged other Muslim-majority nations and its strategic partner, China, to intervene diplomatically before the violence spirals into a broader regional war. In recent years, Iran has also made diplomatic overtures to former regional rivals, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, in order to improve relations. These shifts have helped rally broader regional support for Iran. Nearly two dozen Muslim-majority countries, including some that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, have jointly condemned Israel's actions and urged de-escalation. It's unlikely, though, that regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey would support Iran materially, given their strong alliances with the US. Iran's key global allies, Russia and China, have also condemned Israel's strikes. They have previously shielded Tehran from punitive resolutions at the UN Security Council. However, neither power appears willing, at least for now, to escalate the confrontation by providing direct military support to Iran or engaging in a standoff with Israel and the US. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Theoretically, this could change if the conflict widens and Washington openly pursues a regime change strategy in Tehran. Both nations have major geopolitical and security interests in Iran's stability. This is due to Iran's long-standing 'Look East' policy and the impact its instability could have on the region and the global economy. However, at the current stage, many analysts believe both are unlikely to get involved directly. Moscow stayed on the sidelines when Assad's regime collapsed in Syria, one of Russia's closest allies in the region. Not only is it focused on its war in Ukraine, Russia also wouldn't want to endanger improving ties with the Trump administration. China has offered Iran strong rhetorical support, but history suggests it has little interest in getting directly involved in Middle Eastern conflicts. Ali Mamouri, Research Fellow, Middle East Studies, Deakin University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Hindustan Times
44 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Trump's foreign student crackdown: Brain drain or global gain?
The American Dream has been a driving force for thousands of youngsters from developing countries, across the globe. However, under Trump 2.0 what is now being witnessed is the American urge to tie sovereign concerns with education. An example of this is from May this year, when the Trump administration announced sweeping policy changes to revoke visas for Chinese students, targeting those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or those studying in critical fields like STEM courses. Students from other countries as well have been at the receiving end of policy changes under Trump 2.0, as US embassies have been directed to stop processing visas for new students. The directives have come as the government prepares to implement comprehensive social media screening for all international applicants after incidents in Harvard, that followed pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations last year. President Trump has often described top American Universities as havens for 'Marxist maniacs and lunatics'. Thus, there are two dominant issues here, at hand which seem to be driving the administrative changes in the US towards education for foreign students. The first issue is that of the People's Republic of China using students for purposes of espionage, which the US administration has zero tolerance for. While the issue has become a flashpoint in 2025, then FBI director, Christopher Wray had told a Senate hearing in 2018 that what was being witnessed was 'non-traditional collectors (of intelligence), especially in academic setting', and that every Chinese student who is sent by China has to go through a party and a government approval process. Thus, this ensures that no Chinese student who goes abroad is untethered from the State. In 2020, under Trump 1.0, the administration had started selectively revoking visas for Chinese graduate students with ties to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) institutions and the Biden administration had expanded the security. In June this year, Yunqing Jian, a Chinese student at the University of Michigan, was arrested by the FBI for allegedly smuggling fusarium graminearum, a dangerous biological pathogen into the US. The fungus is toxic to humans as well as livestock and causes significant crop damage as well. Jian, who had received funding from the Chinese government for her work on the pathogen in China has been charged with illegally importing biological pathogens. Her ties to the CCP are being scrutinised. Her partner, Zunyong Liu has also been charged with the smuggling. These are not lone incidents. In 2018, Li Chaoqun who studied electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was arrested, and convicted in 2022, for acting as an illegal agent of China's ministry of state security. Ji had been tasked with gathering biographical information on US-based engineers and scientists, including those working for defence contractors, to recruit them as spies for China. He had also lied about his contacts with the Chinese intelligence in his US Army Reserves Application, and in 2023, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. In 2024, Fengyun Shi, a 26-year-old graduate at the University of Minnesota, pleaded guilty to misdemeanour espionage charges under the Espionage Act. He had used a drone to take photos of US naval facilities near Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, which is a site for manufacturing nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. Shi was sentenced to six months in prison and deported to China after his visa was revoked. Sun Tzu's Art of War, China's ancient treatise on statecraft and warfare emphasises intelligence gathering as critical to military success, with spies being a cost-efficient way to outmanoeuvre enemies without direct conflict. He had identified five types of spies, ranging from local spies, inward spies, converted spies, doomed spies and surviving spies. In the current times we live in students and academics fit the role of surviving spies, the ones that return with intelligence. China's intelligence operations are diverse and given that every State, including the US wants to safeguard its sovereignty, a defensive approach as the US is currently taking, in revoking visas of Chinese students with ties to the CCP is understandable. The action is not one without a basis. However, what is also a fact is that Chinese students contribute billions of dollars to the American economy. How the US navigates this fallout is something that will be worth understanding. The other set of visa revocations is taking place in the US as the Trump 2.0 administration sees elite universities such as Harvard as failing to address anti-Semitism, particularly in the context of pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. While concerns of self-censorship, lack of freedom of expression emerge owing to such visa revocations, fact also remains that owing to normalisation of hatred of Jews, two Israeli staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were killed in Washington D.C. in May this year. The suspect Elias Rodrigues had shouted Free Palestine, after the shooting, which happened outside the Capital Jewish Museum. A normalisation of hatred and anti-Semitism, instead of actual utlisation of education visas is seen as unpalatable by Trump 2.0. Rep. Josh Gottheimer linked the shooting to a 'relentless global campaign to demonise Jews and Israel,' pointing to campus protests as part of this trend. While there are several concerns around the steps being taken, fact remains that there has been rational basis, linked to American's concerns of sovereignty. What this could lead to, however, is the emergence of educational hubs in other parts of the world. How other countries and regions leverage the opportunities is yet to be seen, but collective global hubs can fill in the vacuum, reshaping higher education. This article is authored by Sriparna Pathak, professor, China Studies and International Relations, Jindal School of International Affairs, OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat.
