Indonesia is pushing to upgrade its defence relationship with the United States as President Prabowo Subianto positions the country to extract strategic value from its location without formally aligning with either Washington or Beijing. The move signals a deliberate hedging strategy: deepen security ties with the US while preserving economic and diplomatic room to manoeuvre with China. Indonesia's geography, straddling the Strait of Malacca and sea lanes critical to Indo-Pacific trade, gives Jakarta meaningful leverage that Prabowo appears prepared to monetise diplomatically. A formal defence pact with Washington would elevate Indonesia's status among US treaty partners and potentially unlock access to advanced military hardware, intelligence sharing, and preferential security cooperation terms. The practical upside for Jakarta is tangible: modernised armed forces, a stronger bargaining position with all major powers, and reduced dependence on any single patron. What to watch is whether Prabowo extracts concrete capability transfers or settles for symbolic elevation, and how Beijing responds to any formalised US military presence or cooperation framework on Indonesian soil or in adjacent waters.
Iranian armed forces attacked a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, briefly halting traffic through the waterway. The strike threatens a fragile US-Iran arrangement and could push shipping insurance costs and oil prices higher.
The US has struck Iran, with President Trump citing an Iranian attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz as justification. The action raises immediate risks for global oil flows through one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
The US struck ten Iranian targets on the second consecutive day of military action, putting a fragile ceasefire under serious pressure. The escalation raises immediate risks for Gulf shipping, global oil supply, and regional stability.
Venezuela's twin earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, have killed at least 164 people and injured 971, interim president Delcy Rodriguez confirmed Thursday. The quakes are the country's strongest since 1900, collapsing buildings across Caracas and prompting a state of emergency, with the death toll expected to rise as
