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)
US Marines remove “Amy,” an uncrewed surface vehicle, from the water during Technology Operational Experimentation Event 23.1 on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, on April 21, 2023. (US Marine Corps photo)
A contractor welds on the flight deck aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), in Norfolk, Virginia, on January 21, 2014. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Crayton Agnew)
A Ukrainian soldier throws a grenade from a trench during a training in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on February 7, 2024. (Diego Herrera Carcedo via 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)
An Indian Sea King Helicopter arrives at Kakinada Beach, India, carrying casualties during Tiger TRIUMPH on November 20, 2019. (Armando Elizalde via DVIDS)
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)