In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Vladimir Putin enters a hall to meet with graduates of higher military educational institutions at the Kremlin on June 23, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov via Getty Images)
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
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pose for a picture with European leaders following a meeting at the White House on August 18, 2025. (Win McNamee via Getty Images)
A US Marine Corps VXE30 Stalker unmanned aerial system is staged during a maritime domain awareness training exercise in southern Finland on July 31, 2025. (DVIDS)
An Iranian long-range Ghadr missile displaying "Down with Israel" in Hebrew is pictured at a defence exhibition in city of Isfahan, Iran, on February 8, 2023. (Morteza Salehi/Tasnim News/AFP via Getty Images)
The Israel Missile Defense Organization of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development and the US Missile Defense Agency completed a successful flight test campaign with the Arrow-3 Interceptor missile at Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska in Kodiak, Alaska, on July 23, 2019. (Missile Defense Agency via DVIDS)
Gen. Joseph Votel (center), then commander of US Central Command, standing with senior US and Egyptian officers during a visit to Exercise Bright Star 2018 at Mohamed Naguib Military Base, Egypt, on September 9, 2018. (US Army photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew Keeler)
Xi Jinping is welcomed by Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud at the Palace of Yamamah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 8, 2022. (Royal Court of Saudi Arabia via Getty Images)
Members of Taliban security force stand guard along a blocked road after a suicide blast near Afghanistan's foreign ministry at the Zanbaq Square in Kabul on January 11, 2023. (Wakil Kohsar via Getty Images)