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)
Chinese President Xi Jinping and President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on February 14, 2023. (Yan Yan/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, Saudi delegation, and Iranian delegation in Beijing, China, on March 10, 2023. (Luo Xiaoguang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
A man in Tehran holds a local newspaper reporting on the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties signed in Beijing, on March 11, 2023. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud makes a speech during the forty-third Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 9, 2022. (Royal Court of Saudi Arabia/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Xi Jinping is welcomed by Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud at the Palace of Yamamah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 8, 2022. (Royal Court of Saudi Arabia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A man walks past a damaged silo at the Saudi Aramco oil facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24, 2020, after Houthi rebels launched a missile attack on the facility. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)
Barack Obama shakes hands with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef of Saudi Arabia during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the White House May 13, 2015, in Washington, DC. (Olivier Douliery via Getty Images)