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Foreign Affairs

Geopolitics, statecraft, and foreign correspondence

Twenty-One Hours in Islamabad

The first American-Iranian talks since 1979 ended without a deal. What the Republic gained — and what it must demand next — is the harder question.

·Benjamin Calder·5 MIN READ

Beijing's Silent Armada: China Deploys Vast Fleet of Research Vessels to Map the Ocean Floor for Submarine Warfare Against the United States

A Reuters investigation reveals that dozens of Chinese research ships and hundreds of undersea sensors are charting the seabed across three oceans, concentrating on waters near Guam, Hawaii, and Wake Atoll in what naval experts call direct preparation of the battlespace for a potential conflict with the United States.

Mar 24, 2026·SYDNEY·Foreign Affairs Desk

Counter-Terror Police Probe Antisemitic Arson Attack on Jewish Ambulances in London as Iran-Linked Group Claims Responsibility

Three hooded assailants set ablaze four Hatzola volunteer ambulances in Golders Green, north London, in a pre-dawn operation now under investigation by counter-terrorism officers pursuing an online claim of responsibility from a shadowy Islamist group with suspected Iranian state ties.

Mar 24, 2026·LONDON·Foreign Affairs Desk

Kim Jong Un Pledges to 'Irreversibly' Cement North Korea's Nuclear Arsenal, Brands the United States a Perpetrator of 'State Terrorism'

In a bellicose address to Pyongyang's rubber-stamp parliament, the North Korean dictator declared his regime's weapons program beyond negotiation and positioned his country as a would-be leader of a global anti-American front — while notably declining to name President Trump.

Mar 24, 2026·SEOUL·Foreign Affairs Desk

Colombian Air Force C-130 Crashes After Takeoff, Killing Sixty-Six Soldiers in Worst Military Air Disaster in Country's Recent History

A U.S.-donated Hercules transport aircraft carrying 128 military personnel went down moments after departure from a remote Amazonian airstrip, strewing burning wreckage across the jungle floor and igniting a political debate over the readiness of Colombia's armed forces.

Mar 24, 2026·BOGOTÁ·Foreign Affairs Desk

Lebanon Expels Iran's Ambassador, Declares Him Persona Non Grata as Hezbollah Drags Country Into War

Beirut's government withdraws accreditation of Tehran's envoy and orders his departure by March 29, marking the sharpest diplomatic rupture between the two nations in decades as Israeli strikes exact a devastating toll on Lebanese soil.

Mar 24, 2026·BEIRUT·Foreign Affairs Desk

Russia Unleashes Nearly 400 Drones and Dozens of Missiles on Ukraine in Largest Aerial Barrage in Weeks as Spring Offensive Begins

Moscow's combined bombardment killed at least five civilians and severed Moldova's power link to Europe, as the Institute for the Study of War assessed that Russia's anticipated spring-summer ground offensive is now underway along the 750-mile front.

Mar 24, 2026·KYIV·Foreign Affairs Desk

Bahrain Puts Use-of-Force Resolution Before Security Council as Hormuz Crisis Deepens; France Tables Rival Text

Gulf state circulates Chapter VII draft backed by Washington and Arab allies demanding Iran halt all attacks on commercial shipping; Paris offers conciliatory alternative omitting Iran's name as 22 nations declare readiness to secure the waterway.

Mar 24, 2026·NEW YORK·Foreign Affairs Desk

Fog of Diplomacy: Trump Claims Fifteen Points of Agreement with Iran as Tehran Flatly Denies Any Negotiations Have Occurred

As the US-Israeli campaign against Iran enters its twenty-fifth day, contradictory claims from Washington and Tehran over the existence of peace talks inject deep uncertainty into a conflict that has killed more than two thousand people and paralyzed global energy markets.

Mar 24, 2026·WASHINGTON·Foreign Affairs Desk

The Court Without a Constable: The ICC Confronts the Gravest Crisis of Its Authority

As arrest warrants for leaders of nuclear-armed states and their allies accumulate unenforced, the International Criminal Court faces an existential reckoning over whether international justice is law or aspiration.

Mar 23, 2026·THE HAGUE·Foreign Affairs Desk

Pyongyang Returns to the Precipice: Renewed Missile Volleys Force Trilateral Emergency on Korean Peninsula

A rapid succession of North Korean ballistic missile tests and incendiary threats from Kim Jong Un's regime have compelled Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo into urgent consultations on reinforcing the architecture of deterrence in Northeast Asia.

Mar 23, 2026·SEOUL·Foreign Affairs Desk

The Second April: Trump's Reciprocal Tariff Framework and the Fracturing of the Global Trade Order

One year after the original April 2 tariff shock, the administration doubles down on its reciprocal trade doctrine, forcing allies and adversaries alike into a scramble that threatens to redraw the architecture of international commerce.

Mar 23, 2026·WASHINGTON·Foreign Affairs Desk

The Siege Without End: Israel Presses Military Campaign in Gaza as Ceasefire Negotiations Falter and Civilian Toll Mounts

With hostage negotiations stalled and humanitarian corridors narrowing, Israel's continued operations in Gaza have produced a crisis of staggering proportions — one that tests the durability of international law and the conscience of every capital with influence to wield.

Mar 23, 2026·JERUSALEM·Foreign Affairs Desk

Five Nations Condemn Iran in Joint Statement as the Gulf War Draws In an Involuntary Coalition

The UAE, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany accuse Tehran of attacking commercial vessels and civilian infrastructure, calling the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz an act of aggression.

Mar 22, 2026·ABU DHABI·Foreign Desk

State Department Issues Worldwide Caution as War's Reach Extends Beyond the Middle East

American diplomatic facilities worldwide face elevated threat levels as the conflict with Iran generates sympathetic action from allied militias and state actors far beyond the Persian Gulf.

Mar 22, 2026·WASHINGTON·Foreign Desk