Chinese military personnel take part in a rehearsal ahead of a parade commemorating the eightieth anniversary of victory in World War II in Beijing on August 20, 2025. (Pedro Pardo via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
US Commerce Secretary Howard William Lutnick and Japanese Minister for Economic Revitalization Ryosei Akazawa shake hands on on September 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) sails in formation during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise on July 28, 2022. (DVIDS)
A formation of Dongfeng-41 nuclear missiles takes part in a military parade celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 2019. (Xia Yifang via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
A microchip and Taiwanese flag displayed on a phone screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo on April 10, 2023. (Jakub Porzycki via Getty Images)
Thousands of Houthi supporters gather at Sebin Square to stage a solidarity demonstration with Palestinians and protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza on February 9, 2024, in Sanaa, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud via Getty Images)
Iranians attend an annual rally commemorating the 1979 Islamic Revolution with portraits of Iranian Leaders in the background on February 11, 2024, in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
Missiles and UAVs are shown with Israeli and American flags in Tehran, Iran, on February 11, 2024. (Photo by Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps armed military personnel are monitoring an area while standing guard next to an Iranian Majid anti-aircraft missile system during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas military rally in Tehran, Iran, on November 24, 2023. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Yemenis lift a Palestinian flag and placards depicting Houthi group leader Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi and Abu Obaida, the spokesperson of Hamas' armed wing, on January 24, 2024, in Sana'a, Yemen. (Photo by Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei meets with Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force commanders and Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force officers at the Imam Khomeini Husayniyya in Tehran, Iran, on February 5, 2024. (Photo by Iranian Leader Press Office / Handout /Anadolu via Getty Images)