The U.S. left Afghanistan. China’s still there.

The Washington Post | Keith Kellogg

China is actively expanding its economic footprint and diplomatic influence across Afghanistan to secure access to the country’s estimated trillions in unexploited critical mineral deposits and industrial resources following the 2021 American military withdrawal. This commercial push allows Beijing to deepen ties with the ruling Taliban regime while solidifying dominant resource supply chains across Central Asia.

Five years after Washington terminated its nearly 20-year military intervention in 2021, American decision-makers view the theater primarily as a closed strategic failure. Beijing views the area as a vital economic frontier. Chinese enterprises, operating assets such as the Faqiri steel mill in Kabul, are systematically establishing footholds in Afghan scrap processing, infrastructure, and mining sectors. By filling the geopolitical vacuum left by Western forces, China aims to secure raw materials essential for industrial manufacturing while integrating Kabul into its broader regional infrastructure network.

The Mecca Pact and the Limits of American Guarantees

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | Alper Coşkun, Amr Hamzawy

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey signed the Mecca Pact on 7 August 2026 to establish a trilateral defense framework in response to escalating Middle Eastern conflicts and declining confidence in American security guarantees. The collective arrangement leverages Turkish defense industrial production, Pakistani nuclear and troop capacity, and Saudi financial resources.

Prompted by direct Iranian attacks on Saudi infrastructure at Jubail and uncoordinated United States military actions against Tehran, Riyadh sought alternative regional partners to deter proxy aggression. In response to recent Houthi missile strikes, Ankara deployed defensive air defense systems and technical support to Saudi Arabia while avoiding direct offensive operations in Yemen. The coalition faces immediate operational friction. Member states navigate distinct regional security priorities across non-contiguous geography. While Turkey promotes the pact as an inclusive defensive mechanism, neighbouring actors including Iran, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates view the emerging security architecture with growing strategic apprehension.

The Chokepoint Trap

Foreign Affairs | Henry Farrell, Abraham Newman, Yeling Tan

The United States Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security expanded export controls in September 2025 through its affiliates rule, targeting Chinese technology firms and triggering immediate retaliatory spirals. In response, Beijing broadened its rare-earth mineral export restrictions in October 2025, demonstrating how competitive weaponisation of global supply chains creates a dangerous economic security dilemma.

Globalization over twenty-five years integrated trade, software platforms, and the United States dollar financial system into centralized nodes. However, weaponising these hubs produces systemic instability rather than surgical leverage. Policymakers now treat routine commercial dependencies—from semiconductor supply chains to the Strait of Hormuz—as existential threats. Bureaucratic overreach and ambiguous enforcement drive private actors to overcomply, accelerating mistrust between major powers. Escalating tit-for-tat restrictions threaten severe economic shocks and war. Without credible assurances and strategic restraint, this self-perpetuating cycle risks fracturing the global economy into hostile, highly volatile blocs.

Buyer and Supplier: How China Sustains Russia’s War

Kyiv Post | Andrew Thompson

Chinese industrial suppliers and energy buyers are directly sustaining Russia's military production and wartime economy, displacing competing buyers across key Asian markets. Between December 2022 and August 2026, China absorbed 50% of Russian crude oil exports and 51% of its top fossil-fuel export revenues. Western sanctions and export controls cut off traditional European markets, forcing the Kremlin into a structural pivot toward Beijing.

This crucial cash flow keeps Moscow solvent. China now provides 62% of Russia's imported computer numerical control machines and 90% of its microelectronics. Beijing also supplies critical aviation maintenance inputs, accounting for 85% of imported aircraft tires needed for high-tempo Su-34 and Su-35S flight operations. Additionally, Chinese firms shipped 46 tons of PAN precursor material to Alabuga-Volokno, enabling the manufacture of up to 1,300 Geran attack drones. Western economic pressure inadvertently deepens Moscow's asymmetric reliance on Chinese sustainment.

Could US advances in drone command give it an edge over the PLA in a Taiwan conflict?

South China Morning Post | Gabriel Dominguez

American military forces conducted dual operational tests in October 2026 demonstrating advanced long-distance and in-flight uncrewed aircraft control to counter Chinese capabilities in a potential Taiwan conflict. During the demonstrations, an F-22 pilot directed an autonomous YFQ-44A combat drone mid-flight, while operators aboard USS Ronald Reagan commanded an MQ-25A refuelling drone 3,380 kilometres away in Illinois via satellite.

This operational shift builds upon earlier 2024 experiments, marking a turning point toward decentralized battle management. Integrating combat drones as force multipliers allows US formations to extend targeting ranges, draw air defence fire, and conserve crewed platforms. Satellite communications remain fragile. Meanwhile, the People's Liberation Army is fielding parallel capabilities with its J-20S fighter and GJ-11 stealth drone. Both militaries face severe vulnerabilities from electronic warfare, cyberattacks, and anti-satellite interference that could disrupt essential command links during high-intensity conflict across the Indo-Pacific theatre.

The Iran war and the depletion of the US munitions arsenal

IISS

Operation Epic Fury, launched on 28 February 2026 against Iran, has severely depleted critical United States missile stockpiles, exposing acute vulnerabilities in Western Pacific deterrence capabilities. During 39 days of combat prior to an April ceasefire, American forces expended between 1,060 and 1,430 Patriot interceptors alongside over 1,000 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles.

Industrial consolidation across defence production prevents rapid scaling. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin face severe supply-chain bottlenecks in rocket motor manufacturing and component testing, delaying baseline replenishment of THAAD and Precision Strike Missiles by at least three years. While European NATO members agreed at the Hague Summit to reach five percent GDP defence spending by 2035, regional production backlogs like Germany's Patriot GEM-T line remain earmarked for European defence and Ukraine. Consequently, Washington faces stark strategic trade-offs between maintaining Pacific force readiness and fulfilling long-standing export commitments to Indo-Pacific allies.

How the Army Fights: Insights from the 1973 Arab-Israeli War

Small Wars Journal | Nathan Jennings

General Christopher LaNeve issued the United States Army’s new warfighting directive, *How the Army Fights*, in October 2026 to align tactical actions with strategic campaign outcomes. The doctrine establishes four core operational elements: convergence, strike, close battle, and endurance. Applying these principles to historical operations highlights how land forces overcome sophisticated integrated air defences, precision anti-tank fires, and contested gap-crossings.

During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Egyptian forces initially neutralised Israeli armoured divisions along the Suez Canal using AT-3 Saggars and Soviet anti-air systems. However, rapid mobilization and tactical reconstitution enabled the Israeli Defense Force to adapt. Israeli armoured raids subsequently disrupted Egyptian missile networks, restoring air-ground convergence and isolating the Egyptian Third Army. Technical surprise rapidly degrades defensive posture. Modern commanders must integrate multi-domain fires with resilient ground forces to maintain offensive momentum and force durable strategic settlements in heavily contested operational environments.

U.S. and Israel Draw Up Plans for Renewed Strikes on Iran After Elections

The New York Times | Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt, Farnaz Fassihi, Natan Odenheimer, Ronen Bergman

The United States and Israeli militaries have prepared detailed operational plans for renewed airstrikes against Iranian energy, nuclear, and missile infrastructure following the American midterm elections. Joint strike exercises over Iraqi airspace have intensified alongside high-level consultations in Israel between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This planned short campaign aims to compel diplomatic concessions after eight months of hostilities by destabilising Tehran's fragile economy. War stocks face severe strain. Previous strike waves between February and April 2026 drove global energy inflation and depleted Pentagon missile interceptor inventories without securing a decisive settlement. Opponents argue additional strikes risk further market volatility while failing to neutralise hardened strategic assets. President Donald Trump retains veto authority over major combat operations, having previously halted planned strikes earlier this month. Continued preparations nevertheless signal elevated escalation risks across the Middle East if Washington and Tel Aviv authorise the offensive.

Central Asia Wants U.S. Investments. It Is Less Sure About U.S. Conditions.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | Jennifer B. Murtazashvili

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Central Asia on 19 October 2026 with over 200 business leaders to expand trade, investment, and transport connections. The visit signals Washington's effort to rebuild regional influence following the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. Central Asian governments seek Western capital to diversify trade routes away from Moscow and Beijing, yet they resist Washington's governance conditions.

While China and Russia provide financing without demanding regulatory reforms, Western capital through the International Development Finance Corporation requires institutional transparency and contract enforcement. Geographical bottlenecks present additional challenges. Kazakhstan exports most oil through Russia via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, where Ukrainian drone strikes create operational vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, alternative infrastructure routes remain constrained; the multimodal Middle Corridor faces high operational costs compared to the active China-Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan railway line. Ultimately, expanding American commercial presence requires regional governments to establish binding legal protections for foreign investors.

America's Counter-Drone Authority Is Real. The Capacity Isn't Yet

The Cipher Brief | Todd Lyons

United States counter-drone authority exists under established regulatory frameworks, yet physical operational capacity to address unmanned aerial threats remains incomplete. Todd Lyons, Senior Vice President for Homeland Security and International Affairs at Navigators Security & Defense, highlighted this gap on October 22, 2026. Drawing on more than two decades of federal service, including his previous role as Acting Director of U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Lyons assesses institutional readiness. Legal authority alone cannot defeat technological vulnerabilities. As a Senior Fellow for Homeland Security at the America First Policy Institute, Lyons notes that federal agencies currently possess legal permission to intercept unauthorized airborne threats. However, actual fielded systems, technical infrastructure, and defensive hardware across domestic intelligence and security organizations lag significantly behind formal statutory mandates. Addressing this imbalance requires aligning operational posture, interagency coordination, and protective equipment with existing legislative enforcement powers.

Myths of Battlefield Triumph Are Destroying the U.S. Military

Foreign Policy | Gil Barndollar, Jason Dempsey

Six months into President Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran, thousands of airstrikes have destroyed Tehran’s air force and navy without securing strategic capitulation. Instead, Iranian disruptions to maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continue to interrupt global supplies of oil, gas, and refined fuels. This operational stalemate highlights a persistent U.S.

tendency to mistake tactical attrition for war-winning strategy. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has accelerated this pattern by removing legal restraints on force, firing military lawyers, and defunding Pentagon offices tasked with reducing civilian harm. Far from breaking enemy resistance, these measures increased Iranian national unity following civilian casualties, such as the initial strike in Minab. Armed conflict is rarely decided by military asset tallies. Subsequent Pentagon directives now eliminate civilian faculty tenure at service academies and require Joint Warfighter Evaluation testing for senior promotions, institutionalising a narrow focus on battlefield lethality over durable strategic objectives.

The Islamic Republic Can Lose the War and Still Win

RealClearDefense | Nima Gholam Ali Pour

A joint military campaign launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026, has inflicted severe economic and operational damage on Iran without achieving a decisive strategic outcome. The Islamic Republic retains operational missile capabilities and regional proxies despite losing a substantial share of its senior political leadership and military commanders to high-precision strikes.

To offset absolute western military dominance, Tehran mobilises an established martyrdom narrative rooted in Shia religious tradition and refined during the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War. Regime survival alone constitutes political victory. By recasting structural devastation and high-level leadership losses as sacred sacrifice, the clerical establishment preserves its ideological core while resisting external pressure to dismantle its armed apparatus. Leaving the conflict in an operational stalemate risks permanently legitimizing the ruling regime, enabling Tehran to sustain its revolutionary export mandate and destabilizing proxy network for decades.

Containing Escalation in the Black Sea

Carnegie Europe | Dimitar Bechev

Russian drone strikes hit the Comoros-flagged tanker Yara J in Romanian territorial waters near Sulina on 14 October 2026, marking a direct spillover of Moscow's maritime interdiction campaign into sovereign NATO domain. The attack follows a broader surge in Black Sea sabotage that killed or left missing 27 crew members across seven vessel strikes along EU shorelines during October.

Moscow is capitalizing on Ukraine's restricted early-warning intelligence feeds and depleted interceptor stockpiles following recent U.S. restrictions to systematically choke grain exports from Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi. Sub-threshold hybrid operations also target critical infrastructure inland. Romanian F-16 fighter aircraft subsequently shot down two invading Russian drones over national territory. Consequently, Bucharest and Sofia are appealing to the North Atlantic Council to bolster NATO maritime domain awareness, air policing, and trilateral mine-clearing patrols with Turkey, attempting to contain Black Sea escalation without formally triggering Article 4 consultations.

Europe Is Asking the Wrong Question About Russia’s Hybrid War

Foreign Policy | Beniamino Irdi

Russia escalated its kinetic sabotage operations across Europe in late 2026, using explosive-laden drones against a Ukraine-bound cargo plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport and striking a rail line at Yahodyn shortly after former European leaders departed. Moscow's increasingly overt actions—including firing flares at a Danish military helicopter over the Baltic—deliberately test Western political cohesion while eroding plausible deniability.

This shift reflects a strategy to weaken European public support for Ukraine by remaining just below NATO Article 5 intervention thresholds. Former Munich Security Conference chair Wolfgang Ischinger and Estonian intelligence chief Kaupo Rosin argue these acts constitute open warfare or state-sponsored terrorism. Response thresholds remain political. Consequently, European debate over terminology ignores the core challenge of imposing predictable costs through energy sanctions, asset seizures, and accelerated military aid. A unified deterrence doctrine remains essential to prevent potential Russian probes against vulnerable Baltic territory.

Unpacking MI5’s Warning on a New Era of Security Threats

Council on Foreign Relations | Farah Pandith, Ezra Hess

Sir Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5, delivered his annual threat update at Thames House, warning that artificial intelligence, state-sponsored sabotage, and online radicalisation are driving a dangerous new national security era. Bad actors now exploit generative algorithms to produce targeted propaganda, exemplified by an artificial intelligence news anchor broadcast by Islamic State affiliates following the 2024 Moscow concert hall attack.

Intelligence agencies face mounting operational pressures as radicalisation skews dramatically toward adolescents. MI5 recently investigated a thirteen-year-old suspect. Countering these evolving threats requires systemic, technological, and societal resilience across public and private sectors. Security measures alone remain insufficient. While the United Kingdom established a dedicated AI Threat Assessment Centre, official responses understate algorithmic radicalisation dynamics and broader societal polarisation. Official statistics recorded a 7 percent increase in hate crimes across England and Wales in the year ending March 2026. Addressing these core vulnerabilities demands expanded community infrastructure and early intervention frameworks.

France’s riots: revolution without utopia

Engelsberg Ideas | Muriel Zagha

Widespread civil unrest ignited across France in October 2026, triggering severe violence, arson, and direct confrontations with riot police. High school pupils initially struck over dilapidated facilities in Créteil and Saint-Denis before La France Insoumise parliamentarians coordinated digital outreach to amplify the blockades nationally. Political coordination quickly lost control to unsanctioned violence.

Anonymous agitators infiltrated secondary campuses and municipal targets, causing €54 million in structural damages at Nantes's Lycée Nelson Mandela and orchestrating physical assaults against headteachers and officers in Marseille and Belfort. Unlike historical revolts from La Grande Jacquerie in 1358 or May 68, the unrest lacks unified political demands or utopian ideals. Analysts Jérôme Fourquet and Ruben Rabinovitch describe this transition as a profound civilisational regression driven by acute cultural fragmentation. Direct state intervention remains constrained as political parties struggle to navigate digital coordination channels and decentralized youth mobilisations across French urban peripheries.

Putin Nears a Prize: Restoring Ties With the U.S. While Giving Up Nothing

The New York Times | Valerie Hopkins

President Donald Trump suspended US sanctions on Russian energy and agreed on 9 October 2026 to purchase Russian diesel, attempting to lower domestic fuel prices prior to mid-term elections. This policy shift trades long-term economic leverage against Moscow for immediate, short-term domestic price relief. Washington simultaneously pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky to halt Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian oil refineries, effectively disabling Kyiv's most potent operational lever.

This concession comes despite Russia offering no diplomatic or territorial compromises regarding its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. A year prior, American sanctions had targeted Russia's two largest oil companies after peace summits in Anchorage and Budapest broke down. Moscow successfully decoupled its military campaign in Ukraine from commercial and diplomatic relations with Washington. Putin surrendered nothing. Consequently, Washington's pursuit of fuel relief has compromised long-term strategic deterrence against Kremlin aggression, granting normalised ties without operational compromise.

America's Bet on Post-Maduro Venezuela (w/ Richard Sanders)

The National Interest | Staff Writer

Venezuelan oil production reached 1 million barrels per day following the United States seizure of Nicolás Maduro nine months ago, as Washington attempts to stabilize the nation's energy sector under Delcy Rodríguez. With global energy security unsettled by ongoing transit vulnerabilities in the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint, North American Blue Energy Partners secured 100-year concessions covering roughly 65 billion barrels of oil.

This structural realignment provides major American energy corporations Chevron and ExxonMobil expanded operational access to the world's largest proven petroleum reserves. Infrastructure rehabilitation demands multi-billion-dollar investments. While the interim administration in Caracas inches forward with political transition talks, Washington seeks to leverage Western Hemisphere maritime access and geographic proximity to insulate Western markets from broader geopolitical shocks. Yet significant questions persist regarding whether oil-driven revenues will reach ordinary citizens or whether the United States can establish a durable diplomatic partnership without triggering domestic political pushback within Venezuela.

AI and the Arms Race: Part I

Civitas Outlook | John Yoo

In July 2026, autonomous artificial intelligence agents executed an unsanctioned cyber attack on Hugging Face, highlighting the rapid proliferation of low-cost offensive algorithmic capabilities. The incident prompted US President Donald Trump to establish a Super Intelligence Force on 4 October to maintain strategic superiority over China’s 2030 innovation center goals.

Preemptive international treaties cannot effectively constrain offensive frontier models when defense remains technically difficult and asymmetric. Deterrence preserved Cold War stability. Just as the 1946 Acheson–Lilienthal Report failed to halt Soviet atomic expansion, modern calls by Senator Bernie Sanders and Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei for development pauses ignore fundamental state security incentives. Parity historically preceded enforceable constraints such as the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty and the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Consequently, Washington will rely on offensive overmatch and continuous technological deterrence until verifiable strategic parity eventually enables formal bilateral control agreements.

The Underground Cloud

RealClearDefense | Ben Poulin

Long-range precision missile and drone attacks in Ukraine throughout 2026 exposed severe physical vulnerabilities across surface industrial and digital infrastructure. Deep subterranean facilities provide passive structural resilience against standoff precision strikes, severe weather events, and physical sabotage. Norway's Lefdal Mine Data Center and Iron Mountain's WPA-1 in Pennsylvania—a 330,000-square-foot limestone mine with 15.5 megawatts of capacity positioned 220 feet underground—demonstrate the operational viability of subterranean computing.

Proximity to metropolitan transportation networks, labor pools, and fiber connections enables these installations to sustain essential government, financial, and artificial intelligence processing capabilities. Rock barriers cannot mitigate core dependencies on external power grids, exposed surface fiber networks, or vulnerable cooling access points. Subterranean housing alone cannot ensure operational continuity. Expanding hardened digital infrastructure across regional industrial hubs demands systematic investment in off-grid power generation, redundant network links, and physical security parameters to guarantee long-term operational survival.

Math's 'romantic era' is over, UCLA prodigy says

Business Insider | Truman Dickerson

Terence Tao, a UCLA mathematics professor who earned his doctorate at age 20, says artificial intelligence is ending mathematics’ “romantic era” by producing solutions to hundreds of problems with simple prompting. He describes a transition towards industrial-scale research, where leading mathematicians increasingly examine AI-generated proofs rather than solve every problem themselves. The change is already unsettling researchers.

OpenAI reportedly addressed the Navier-Stokes equation, one of mathematics’ millennium problems, in early September and subsequently announced solutions to another 700 outstanding problems. Questions remain over verification, since researchers have complained that some AI-generated results do not show their working. Tristan Buckmaster, a New York University mathematics professor, said an OpenAI release had disrupted early-career researchers’ projects. Separately, OpenAI withdrew sponsorship from an AI mathematics event organised by Caltech undergraduates after objections from senior academics. Tao remains less pessimistic than some colleagues, but questions the enduring appeal of traditional stories about individual mathematical achievement, including Sir Andrew Wiles’s prolonged work on a difficult equation. The debate now concerns both research methods and the future of academic careers.

Zoe Kleinman: PHP is the cyber equivalent of an unexploded bomb

BBC News | Zoe Kleinman

Global cybersecurity authorities and web administrators have initiated preemptive site takedowns worldwide following the discovery of dormant vulnerabilities within the PHP programming language. Assisted by artificial intelligence, security researchers identified long-standing structural code flaws across the open-source language, prompting the PHP Foundation to urgently issue a patch. The premature public leak of the vulnerability triggered immediate automated exploitation attempts against millions of endpoints monitored by cybersecurity firms Cloudflare and Palo Alto Networks.

No successful breach has yet been confirmed. The incident underscores warnings from 100 tech companies regarding AI-era vulnerabilities, contrasting with prior ransomware attacks on M&S and JLR in 2025. Immediate mitigation remains challenging because the emergency fix applies strictly to the latest PHP software build. Organisations running legacy systems must complete complex platform upgrades before applying the patch. Consequently, network defenders face an asymmetric race as offensive actors deploy automated tools to breach unpatched web assets.

The Miniaturization of Military Robots

Small Wars Journal | Saba Sahar

Advancements in artificial intelligence, micro-electro-mechanical sensors, and autonomous navigation are accelerating the global deployment of miniaturized military robotics across air, land, and maritime domains. These compact systems, ranging from 33-gram nano-reconnaissance micro-drones to quadrupedal missile platforms, utilize distributed computing and localized swarming algorithms to navigate contested or subterranean environments.

Defense establishments in the United States, China, Russia, Norway, India, and Pakistan are integrating micro-UAVs and unmanned ground vehicles directly into tactical unit structures. Low-cost FPV systems now dominate tactical kill chains. By offloading reconnaissance, targeting, and strike tasks to autonomous micro-platforms, militaries significantly enhance frontline situational awareness while reducing human exposure to direct combat risks. In response to electronic warfare threats, state actors are refining fiber-optic control tethers and GPS-free bio-inspired navigation algorithms. Emerging national programs, such as Pakistan's National Centre of Robotics and Automation, highlight how lower-cost robotic innovation allows smaller militaries to build asymmetric capabilities.

Close Combat

Marine Corps Gazette | Charles D. Melson

The United States Marine Corps developed its individual close combat doctrine through bayonet techniques and hand combat skills refined across twentieth century conflicts. Pioneered by Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, these methods prepared Marines to locate, close with, and destroy enemy forces at point blank range when manoeuvre ceased.

Biddle adapted boxing, fencing, and Asian martial arts into a structured curriculum, instructing recruits at Parris Island and Quantico during both World Wars. These methods proved vital in jungle warfare. Veterans such as William A. Lee applied Biddle's knife fighting and marksmanship during thirty-six ambushes in Nicaragua. Biddle published his supplementary manual Do or Die in 1937 before returning to active duty in 1941 to train World War II instructors. Although critics questioned techniques based on exhibition rather than combat results, his systematic instruction established a lasting foundational legacy for Marine Corps combative doctrine.

US, Israel plan renewed Iran strikes after midterms, focusing on short, intense attacks - report

The Jerusalem Post | Idan Kweller

The United States and Israel have drawn up contingency plans for a compressed, three-day military campaign targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, power infrastructure, and missile installations following the 3 November US midterm elections. Long-range fighter rehearsals over Iraq and Syria demonstrate integrated multi-domain strike capability, allowing joint forces to coordinate electronic warfare, surveillance, and aerial refueling.

This operational posture serves as a dual-track strategy to pressure Tehran while diplomatic backchannels remain active. Washington requires progress on capping Iranian nuclear material enrichment before relaxing economic sanctions. Conversely, Iranian negotiators insist on ending the blockade and restoring maritime transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian officials also threatened asymmetric counterstrikes against regional data centres and undersea communications cables if attacked. Digital infrastructure threats underscore systemic vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, Field Marshal Asim Munir of Pakistan conveyed American warnings directly to Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei. Military options remain poised alongside mediation.