international-relations

Israel claimed it was attacking Hezbollah command centers in response to attacks on northern Israel In a post on X earlier today , the US Central Command (Centcom) said it destroyed two Iranian drones “that threatened international maritime traffic in the strait of Hormuz”, hours after announcing it struck four other drones and coastal surveillance radar sites. “American forces remain postured an…

Trump, still negotiating to conclude the war, claims it’s already over. Some Republican lawmakers have had enough Donald Trump has two things to say about his war with Iran. The first is that it’s already over. And second, a symbolic congressional vote to end it – carried by four members of his own party – is a stab in the back that could derail the peace talks he’s conducting for the war that’s …

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he's optimistic about the potential for a resumption in nuclear talks with Iran despite a shaky ceasefire in the war that's looking increasingly in doubt.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has officially opened applications for the NATO Internship Programme 2027 at the prestigious NATO Defense College. This highly competitive international internship programme offers students and recent graduates from NATO member countries the opportunity to gain hands-on experience within one of the world’s most influential international security and defense …

Anne Keast-Butler says Russian forces are ‘going backwards on the battlefield’ for first time since late 2022 Nearly half a million Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion more than four years ago, according to a new estimate from the head of the British spy agency GCHQ. Anne Keast-Butler, the chief of the electronic intelligence agency, said in h…

Over the past decade, the UK and the countries of the EU have experienced very similar, and deeply troubling, security challenges as a result of the military threat from Russia, disengagement and hostility from the US, and the possibility of economic coercion from China. The UK’s 2025 National Security Strategy specifies a clear way forward, indicating a need for what it calls a “rebalancing” of …

At least four people died and dozens of others were injured in the attack Russia used its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for a third time in Ukraine as part of a massive attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region that killed at least four people and injured dozens. Russia hit the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region with the missile, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.…

Between 2017 and 2026, the United States government under Donald Trump orchestrated and advanced a systematic campaign of factually-false economic and security claims against its NATO allies, with America's closest ally and largest foreign market—Canada—as a primary target. This paper argues that this campaign is not a product of analytical error or political bluster but that the evidence is moun…

Diplomats, businessmen and US marines mingle at the JW Marriott hotel in Caracas as deals are done and the country’s resources divvied up Over breakfast in one of the swankiest hotels in Caracas, you can hear them mulling Venezuela’s past, present and future in sporadically hushed tones. As diners tuck in to plates of fried eggs, black beans and arepas, snatched fragments of conversation speak of…

After US rhetoric about taking control of Greenland exacerbated tensions between Washington and European allies in January, the US, Greenland, and Denmark opened discussions about the US presence in the autonomous territory. In parallel, the Atlantic Council's Task Force on Greenland brought together transatlantic expertise to explore the underlying issues and find a productive path forward. The …

The summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and PRC President Xi Jinping in Beijing marks a new stepping stone in tightening bilateral engagement between Washington and Beijing after the Busan Summit of late 2025. Taking place against the backdrop of global trade fragmentation and elevated oil prices, the meeting reflects a strategic interest in taking […]

Defence ministers of Ukraine and Sweden talk Gripen fighter jet deal; verbal exchanges escalate over Victory Day parade. What we know on day 1,535 Ukraine’s military has struck a Russian Karakurt-class small missile carrier on the Caspian Sea off Russia’s distant Dagestan region , the Ukrainian general staff said on Thursday. The port of Kaspiysk where the ship was reportedly located is more than…

David Kowalski writes about missile systems, air defense networks, and the technology behind precision strike warfare. His work examines how offensive and defensive missile capabilities shape the balance of power between nations. Here is a number worth sitting with: at peak consumption during the early months of support to Ukraine, the United States was shipping Javelin anti-tank missiles faster …

Iran's supreme leader says the Islamic Republic will protect its nuclear and missile capabilities as a national asset.

With the Iran war depleting global stocks of Patriot air defense interceptor missiles, fears are mounting in Kyiv that Ukrainian civilians could be left exposed to Russian ballistic missiles during an anticipated summer bombing campaign, write Maksym Beznosiuk and William Dixon. The post Iran war could leave Ukrainian civilians exposed to Russian missiles appeared first on Atlantic Council .

Deepening sense of deadlock despite regional diplomacy as Washington and Tehran show no signs of compromise Hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations between Iran and the US faded further on Sunday, amid a deepening sense of a deadlock in the nearly two-month-long conflict despite intense regional diplomatic activity. Washington and Tehran appear unwilling to moderate rhetoric or make concessions, …

Iran’s plan to extract a $2m payment from tankers using the strait of Hormuz could raise costs for years to come A second round of peace talks between the US and Iran has begun amid renewed attacks on oil tankers in the strait of Hormuz and a US blockade on Iranian vessels through the crucial trade route. The future of this narrow waterway – and curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme – are at the cent…

On April 22, Atlantic Council vice president and Scowcroft Center senior director Matthew Kroenig was published in Foreign Policy on how China winning great power competition would foment a more dangerous, impoverished, and tyrannical world for everyone else. The post Kroenig published in Foreign Policy on What Happens if China Succeeds appeared first on Atlantic Council .

Washington reportedly limits satellite data after minister spoke publicly about suspected facility in North Korea The US has partly restricted intelligence sharing with South Korea after the country’s unification minister publicly identified a suspected North Korean nuclear site, according to reports in South Korean media. Chung Dong-young told lawmakers in March that North Korea was operating ur…

Insights from on the ground in Colombia, where the United States and China's competition for influence is playing out in the tech sector, among other places. The post A US tech agenda focused on Latin America to outcompete the People’s Republic of China appeared first on Atlantic Council .