An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III ICBM launches during an operation test on February 23, 2021, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (US Space Force)
A protester flashes victory signs as traffic slows during demonstrations in Hamedan, Iran, on January 1, 2026. The demonstrations erupted after shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar shut their businesses to protest the sharp fall of Iran’s currency and worsening economic conditions. (Getty Images)
An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III ICBM launches during an operation test on February 23, 2021, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (US Space Force)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during their meeting in Amur Oblast, Russia, on September 13, 2023. (Vladimir Smirnov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The flags of Russia, China, and North Korea on a viewing tower on the border between the three countries in Hunchun, China, on June 25, 2015. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)
People line up to visit huge portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on the 78th founding anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang on October 10, 2023. (Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un before a meeting April 25, 2019, in Vladivostok, Russia. (Mikhail Svetlov via Getty Images)
Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu at a meeting ceremony in North Korea on July 25, 2023. (Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation via Wikimedia Commons)
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, US President Joe Biden, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hold a joint news conference following trilateral talks on August 18, 2023, in Camp David, Maryland. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
US President Joe Biden, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol greet each other ahead of a trilateral meeting during the G7 leaders' summit in Hiroshima on May 21, 2023. (Brendan Smiakiwski/AFP via Getty Images)