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Moscow and Tehran: Alleged Verba Missile Agreement Adds New Pressure on Washington
A reported secret Russian-Iranian air defence deal has added a new layer of risk to an already volatile stand-off between Washington and Tehran, while raising wider questions about the strategic alignment linking Russia, Iran and, indirectly, China. According to a…
US-Iran talks enter another deadline phase as military pressure builds
A fresh 48-hour deadline has pushed the United States-Iran nuclear stand-off into another compressed negotiating window, with a new round of talks expected in Geneva on Thursday, 26 February. Oman has confirmed that US and Iranian officials are due to…
Putin doubles down on militarisation while Geneva talks yield no breakthrough
Vladimir Putin used Russia’s Defender of the Fatherland Day on 23 February to call for further military expansion and to urge national unity around the war, in remarks that provided no indication of a shift towards ending hostilities, as US-mediated…
US allegations over covert Chinese nuclear testing sharpen scrutiny of Beijing’s modernisation drive
Claims by US officials that China may have conducted a covert nuclear explosive test are likely to intensify an already fraught debate over strategic stability, arms control and the pace of Beijing’s military modernisation. The issue re-entered public discussion this…
Britain and France Demonstrate Unshakable Resolve to Defend NATO’s Eastern Flank
In the face of an increasingly uncertain global security landscape, British and French soldiers have offered a clear demonstration of the enduring strength of NATO’s collective defence arrangements. The recent NATO joint training deployment in France, where troops from the…
Trump Administration Warns EU Over ‘Buy European’ Defence Procurement Plans
Europe’s accelerating rearmament has opened a new line of tension with Washington: not over whether European states should spend more on defence, but over where that money should go. Reports this week indicate that the Trump administration warned the European…
France-Germany rift over FCAS fighter jet raises new doubts over Europe’s flagship air combat project
A public dispute between France and Germany over the next generation of European fighter aircraft has renewed uncertainty around the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), one of the continent’s most expensive and politically significant defence programmes. The disagreement centres on…
Pentagon cyber rules threaten to choke America’s defence supply chain
Washington has a long history of defeating its enemies through industrial might. From the Liberty ships of the Second World War to the semiconductor race with China, America’s power has rested not merely on its armed forces but on the…
LEAP Forward: The New Defence Blueprint from Europe’s Military Leaders
In Krakow this week, defence ministers from Europe’s most powerful military states convened under the shadow of a new strategic imperative — the airborne battlefield. France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom, traditionally cautious in their collective defence responses,…
NORAD Scrambles Jets After Russian Aircraft Tracked Off Alaska
On Thursday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected and tracked a formation of Russian military aircraft operating off the coast of Alaska, prompting a significant response from U.S. and Canadian air defence forces. According to a NORAD statement,…