“We have prepared for this. The IDF is strongly prepared in defence and strongly prepared in offence. Air defence systems are deployed all across the country,” Defrin said.

He added that Israel’s military leadership was assessing the situation and preparing further actions.

Defrin accused Iran of escalating tensions through direct missile attacks.

“The Iranian terror regime made a grave mistake when it chose terrorism once again. The regime is attempting to create a new equation by conducting direct fire into our territory in response to IDF strikes in the Dahiyeh. We will not allow this.”

The spokesperson said Israeli strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs had been carried out in response to attacks from Hezbollah.

“We struck in the Dahiyeh following Hezbollah's relentless firing toward northern communities. The IDF will continue to operate throughout Lebanon and will deepen the blow to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation. We will not allow continued firing toward the citizens of the State of Israel.”

The statement came amid escalating hostilities involving Israel, Iran and Hezbollah, following Israeli strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs and subsequent missile launches attributed to Iran.

The White House has not formally accepted responsibility. However, investigations by Amnesty International, the Associated Press, Sky News and The Guardian all cited forensic evidence, satellite imagery and verified video footage suggesting the weapon used was a U.S. Tomahawk missile.

President Donald Trump initially denied American involvement and suggested Iranian forces may have hit the school themselves. But reporting by The Guardian said later intelligence assessments reviewed within the U.S. government contradicted those claims.

Amnesty International said evidence indicated the school was struck alongside nearby Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities and accused U.S. forces of failing to take adequate precautions to protect civilians. The organisation described the attack as a possible violation of international humanitarian law.

“This harrowing attack on a school, with classrooms full of children, is a sickening illustration of the catastrophic and entirely predictable price civilians are paying during this armed conflict,” Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, said in a March statement.

Weapons analysts interviewed by Reuters and other outlets noted that Iran is not known to possess Tomahawk missiles, further undermining claims that Tehran may have been responsible for the strike.

The Pentagon says its investigation remains ongoing. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth previously confirmed that an independent review had been launched into the incident, as human rights groups and UN experts continue to call for the findings to be made public.

“We started working on it in 2011,” Putin said. “It is the most powerful missile system in the world .”

He claimed the Sarmat’s warhead power is more than four times that of any existing Western counterpart, adding that the missile’s flight path gives it greater range and accuracy.

Putin said the system would be placed on combat duty by the end of the year.

Russia also released footage of what it said was the latest successful test launch of the missile.

The Russian leader also said two other nuclear-powered systems, the Poseidon unmanned underwater vehicle and the Burevestnik global-range cruise missile, are in the final stages of development.

He added that the medium-range Oreshnik missile system is already on combat duty and can also be fitted with nuclear warheads.

The Sarmat, developed by the Makeyev Design Bureau with industry partners, is a fifth-generation intercontinental ballistic missile. Moscow says it can deliver multiple warheads and carry Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles.

The missile’s first successful launch took place on April 20, 2022, at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region.

The missile warning data is being shared in real time between the three allies as part of a growing regional security cooperation effort amid Pyongyang’s continued weapons testing.

“South Korea announced that North Korea had launched a ballistic missile, so I changed my plans to go out and have just received a report on the situation. Japan, the United States, and South Korea are working closely together, including sharing missile warning data in real time, to ensure a thorough response. The government is aware of this latest launch,” she told the press.

This is first diplomatic test after assuming office only a day prior.

The president’s remarks come amid heightened US operations near Venezuelan waters, which have sparked concern in Colombia over the safety of small fishing communities. Petro called on international human rights organisations to investigate.

“We know that two fishermen from Trinidad and Tobago were killed by a missile,” Petro said. “This is a war crime — an act of international aggression against a peace zone, the Caribbean.”

Linking the incident to broader geopolitical violence , Petro compared the situation in the Caribbean to the devastation in Gaza, asserting that “today’s struggles are struggles for life, and they are revolutionary.” He reiterated his government’s decision to suspend coal exports to Israel in protest of what he has called a “genocidal regime.”

Petro concluded his address with an appeal for vigilance among Caribbean governments and human rights defenders, urging them to “monitor and set alerts” against any future acts of foreign aggression, and to protect vulnerable coastal and island communities that remain without effective defence systems.

To be clear: Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine is India-specific and rooted in the principle of credible minimum deterrence. Its longest-range missile – Shaheen III – has a range of 2,750 km, sufficient to cover targets in the Indian subcontinent, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where India maintains strategic assets. That is the extent of Pakistan’s nuclear ambition; it has no plans to develop ICBMs and remains the only nuclear-armed state without one.

Despite these facts, dubious speculation abounds suggesting that Pakistan wants an ICBM capable of reaching the US in order to deter Washington from intervening on India’s behalf in a future conflict. This faulty logic then suggests that since no ICBM-possessing country outside of Nato is considered a US ally, Pakistan therefore becomes a de facto adversary. Such assertions collapse under scrutiny.

Pakistan and the United States have been partners since 1947 . Over the decades—from the 1950s through the Cold War and into the post-9/11 era—the relationship has had ups and downs but has proved to be enduring. In contrast, Pakistan’s chief rival, India, has an uneven relationship with Washington, shaped by Cold War-era alignment with the Soviet Union and a long flirtation with non-alignment. Even today, despite grand declarations of strategic partnership, India continues to prioritise its ties with Russia . Since the Ukraine war began in 2022, India has capitalised on discounted Russian oil and gas , re-exporting it at a profit. It also leads BRICS initiatives aimed at challenging the US-led world order.

Why, then, the renewed effort to portray Pakistan and the US as potential adversaries? Who benefits from this fiction? In the May 2025 hostilities between India and Pakistan, President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio chose diplomacy over partisanship. They mediated a ceasefire, underscoring Washington’s commitment to regional stability. The US chose even-handed diplomacy over partisanship in favour of India.

Furthermore, by attempting to smear Pakistan on the basis that no ICBM-possessing nation is a US ally, these speculative voices ironically draw attention to India, which has already tested the Agni-V platform, an ICBM with a range of 5,500 to 8,000 km. Has that made India a US adversary? India is now developing a MIRV-capable Agni-VI, with an estimated range of 9,000 to 16,000 km. If ICBMs automatically signal hostility, why is India exempt? The logic is inconsistent.

Partly to blame is the unchecked “ Indomania ” that skewed US policy under the Biden administration by exaggerating and mischaracterising the Pakistani military’s research and development programme. For instance, the development of large rocket motors for MIRV-enabled intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), with a declared range of 2,200 km, or for space launchers, is entirely within Pakistan’s defensive remit. Misrepresenting them as an ICBM programme, as a former US National Security Council official suggested last December, is inaccurate. The sanctions that followed—targeting four Pakistani entities—were unjustified.

India exploits such attitudes to undermine Pakistan by seeding disinformation through selected media outlets and amplifying it via domestic megaphone journalism—TV channels, newspapers and social media—all orchestrated by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The real goal is to curb or cap Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities via US pressure, while deflecting attention from India’s rapid ICBM expansion. Though India claims these weapons are aimed at China, its intent is ambiguous, especially given its growing ties with Beijing and a hedging behaviour in light of the Trump Administration’s regional realignment .

Critics also ignore India’s growing military ambitions. It is accelerating the regional missile race by expanding its footprint in Tajikistan, Oman, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles. By falsely accusing Pakistan, it tries to obscure its own ICBMs in plain sight while hiding behind a Beltway consensus, which is right now fraying, that frames India as a steadfast US ally. Despite Indian provocations, Pakistan has chosen restraint - committed to credible, proportional deterrence rather than open-ended arms competition. Its only adversary is India, right on its borders. The US, a long-standing partner of Pakistan, does not factor into this equation.

Many of those fanning fears about Pakistan’s missile intentions previously served as advisors during the Biden Administration and helped shape a narrative rooted in mistrust. Their talking points are out of step with current realities, particularly with the Trump Administration’s role de-escalating the 2025 India-Pakistan crisis. Contrary to some expectations, the US did not side with India. Since the ceasefire, President Trump has adopted a balanced approach, offering assistance on Kashmir and acknowledging Pakistan’s stabilising role. The latest round of speculative theorising not only omits this diplomatic progress but fails to recognise India’s increasingly aggressive posture, which only increases the threat that nuclear ICBMs pose to global peace.

The opinions and thoughts expressed in this article reflect only the author's views.

Masood Khan is Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the United States, United Nations and China.

Unlike medium‑range interceptors like Iron Dome (range: 4–70 km) or unproven high-end rivals, the ET‑LDHCM’s high-speed, low-altitude cruise profile makes it extremely difficult to detect or intercept.

It is also platform-agnostic, launchable from land, sea, or air, which expands its strategic versatility across the Indo-Pacific theatre.

India now joins the exclusive club of nations with indigenous hypersonic missile tech alongside the U.S., China, and Russia .

With a possible nuclear or conventional payload, long strike range, and flexible launch options, the ET‑LDHCM could shift Asia’s military powers.