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)
Joe Biden delivers a statement urging Congress to pass his national security supplemental from the Roosevelt Room at the White House on December 6, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
A model of Iran's first-ever hypersonic missile, the Fattah, next to a mosque in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2024. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Iranians attend the annual rally commemorating the 1979 Islamic Revolution as domestically built missiles and a satellite carrier are displayed at the Azadi Square in in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday, February 11, 2024. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
Vehicles drive under a massive billboard that is displays an illustrated image of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps missiles in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2024. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casts his ballot during the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Tehran on March 1, 2024. (Photo by Atta KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)