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✍️ Written by Saket Suman At a time when the war between the United States, Israel and Iran has been going on for well over its fifth day, the conflict’s impact has widened dramatically beyond the battlefield, and triggered internet blackouts inside Iran, collapsed shipping through one of the world’s most critical oil corridors, paralysed air traffic across the Gulf and, most significantly, prompted some sharply divided responses from global leaders. Representational Image; U.S. Marines with 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit fast rope off of an MH-60S Knighthawk aboard USS Tripoli; Via: 7thFleet  For India, the widening conflict is no longer a distant geopolitical confrontation but a crisis unfolding uncomfortably close to home. The sinking of an Iranian warship IRIS Dena near Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean just today, after it had participated in a naval exercise in Visakhapatnam, has revealed how the war has already reached waters central to In...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman India’s political divide over the US–Israel–Iran war has sharpened as the Congress and Left parties have accused the Modi government of “silence” and “moral cowardice” over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , while the government has simultaneously expanded high-level outreach to Gulf leaders , activated trade and energy contingency mechanisms , and reiterated that dialogue and diplomacy are the only viable path to restore regional stability. Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in an opinion piece in a mainstream daily, argued that New Delhi’s lack of a clear response to the assassination of Khamenei amounted to an “abdication” rather than neutrality and risked normalising targeted killings as instruments of statecraft.  File Photo; Via: LoP Raga She framed the killing of a sitting leader during a diplomatic process as a rupture in contemporary international relations and...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The widening confrontation following U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran has rapidly evolved beyond a bilateral military clash into a sprawling proxy conflict stretching across multiple countries, armed groups and political theatres. This is a transformation that may ultimately define the trajectory of the war more than frontline combat itself. As consistently reported by IndianRepublic.in in its ongoing coverage , the most significant escalation since the initial strikes has been the entry of Iran-aligned militias and regional actors into active hostilities, that has created overlapping fronts from Lebanon and Iraq to the Gulf and eastern Mediterranean. What began as targeted military operations has now become a decentralized conflict involving state and non-state actors operating simultaneously across borders. File Photo of IDF attack on ammunition warehouses; Via: Open Source Intel The shift became unmistakable when Hezb...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman India on Tuesday intensified its diplomatic outreach and economic preparedness measures as the West Asia conflict widened, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking to leaders of Oman, Kuwait and Qatar, the External Affairs Minister engaging European counterparts, and key ministries reviewing trade, defence and energy contingencies. File Photo: PM NaMo The outreach followed the Ministry of External Affairs statement earlier in the day reiterating India’s concern over the deteriorating situation across Iran and the Gulf, the safety of nearly one crore Indian nationals in the region, and the need for dialogue and diplomacy to restore stability. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he spoke with Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of Oman and condemned what he described as the violation of Oman’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He said both sides agreed that sustained diplomatic engagement was essential for the earliest restorat...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The widening war involving Iran, Israel and the United States has revealed that control over connectivity, not territory, is emerging as the primary strategic battleground. Across West Asia, airports, shipping lanes, energy infrastructure and airspace corridors have become central pressure points, and have transformed a regional military confrontation into a global economic disruption with immediate consequences for travel, trade and energy markets. What distinguishes the current crisis is not simply the scale of military action but the systematic disruption of systems that enable globalization. As reported repeatedly by IndianRepublic.in , missile and drone attacks, defensive interceptions and precautionary closures forced Gulf aviation authorities to shut or restrict large portions of regional airspace, and triggered one of the most severe aviation shocks since the COVID-19 pandemic. File Photo Via U.S. Central Command ...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The most defining feature of the rapidly expanding Iran conflict may not be the scale of military operations, the widening geography of attacks, or even the economic shockwaves spreading across global markets but the absence of a clearly articulated endgame. Across da y s of escalating developments documented by IndianRepublic.in , one pattern has emerged with growing clarity that while military actions have intensified across multiple fronts, political objectives remain fluid, contested and, at times, contradictory. This strategic ambiguity is increasingly shaping both the trajectory and risks of the war. Representational Image Via:  U.S.  Central Command The conflict began with joint U.S.–Israeli strikes targeting Iranian military and leadership infrastructure, including operations that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior figures. Washington framed the campaign as necessary to elimin...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The expanding conflict triggered by U.S.–Israeli military operations against Iran has entered a decisive new phase that is now being defined by economic disruption. As missile exchanges, drone attacks and naval confrontations spread across the Gulf, energy infrastructure and shipping lanes have emerged as the war’s most consequential battlefield, transforming a regional military confrontation into a global economic crisis in real time. The Lincoln aircraft carrier As reported by IndianRepublic.in across multiple dispatches since the outbreak of hostilities, attacks linked to the conflict have increasingly intersected with oil refineries, maritime routes and aviation corridors. This signals a strategic shift in how retaliation is being executed and how pressure is being applied internationally.  Drone strikes targeting Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery, tanker incidents in the Gulf of Oman that killed a mariner, and...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The rapidly expanding confrontation between Iran, Israel and the United States has marked a decisive turning point in Middle Eastern geopolitics, transforming what for decades remained a controlled proxy rivalry into a direct, multi-state regional conflict with global consequences. What began as targeted military operations has by now evolved into a systemic crisis touching sovereign territories, civilian infrastructure, global aviation networks and international diplomacy. This is a signal of the collapse of the region’s long-standing deterrence architecture. Representational Image: U.S. aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) The shift became unmistakable after joint U.S.–Israeli strikes inside Iran killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior officials, and triggered retaliatory missile and drone attacks that extended far beyond Israel into Gulf countries hosting American assets.  As report...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman When a youth delegation from Darjeeling met Vice President C. P. Radhakrishnan at Uprashtrapati Bhavan on February 24, 2026, the exchange was framed in the language of aspiration and identity. Welcoming what he described as “vibrant young minds from a region known for its natural beauty, rich culture and significant contribution to the nation,” the Vice President said India’s demographic strength is among its “greatest assets” and that the vision of “Viksit Bharat” and “AatmaNirbhar Bharat” calls upon young citizens to contribute with “innovation, integrity and enterprise.”  Members of Darjeeling Youth Delegation at Uprashtrapati Bhavan today; Via: VP India He urged them to remain rooted in their heritage while embracing development, noting that self-reliance reflects “confidence in our abilities and pride in our heritage.” The interaction, attended by Rajya Sabha member Harsh Vardhan Shringla, touched on outmigratio...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman A democracy begins to collapse quietly when memory is treated as contraband and testimony is made conditional on permission. The most telling sites of this erosion is the uneasy space occupied by books that are written, circulated and discussed but not allowed to formally exist. Home Minister Amit Shah visiting World Book Fair in New Delhi; Via HM Across political systems, unpublished or “under review” manuscripts are often framed as incomplete, unauthorised, or unsafe for public consumption. The argument is procedural on the surface because nothing exists until it is cleared, stamped and released. But this framing misses the deeper truth.  A manuscript does not become real because a seal is affixed to it. It becomes real because it is written, because someone who witnessed events chose to place memory into language. Clearance can regulate circulation but it cannot annul authorship. Excerpts from such works enter the p...