Rishi Iyengar

Iran’s Strait of Hormuz Toolkit: Drones, Missiles, and Mines A breakdown of the tools Iran has to maintain pressure on Trump.

The U.S. war against Iran has converged on the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane where the fight appears to be largely on Iran's terms at the moment. @jchaltiwanger.bsky.social and I look at how the Iranian regime is applying pressure to the critical waterway.

foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/12/i...

Trump’s New Cyber-First War Strategy From Iran to Venezuela, Trump has fully embraced offensive cyberoperations.

And just added to the mix 5 minutes ago is my latest story, on the Trump administration's new offensive cyber doctrine and its impact on Iran, Venezuela, and other conflicts: foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/11/i...

Please share with anyone who might be interested! 🧵

My colleagues have been doing some stellar work (which
@alexandrassharp.bsky.social, whose daily World Brief newsletter is a must-read, has helpfully curated below) and we've also published great arguments and analysis from some of the sharpest thinkers out there.

bsky.app/profile/alex...

Effects of War Ripple Through Middle East Analysis, updates, and background.

🚨 🧵
@foreignpolicy.com is dropping its paywall on Iran coverage for 48 hours, making it free to read (just register with your email) through Thursday night.

Told friends and relatives asking me about Iran to go read everything on our site, you can too: foreignpolicy.com/projects/ira...

H/T to @maggiemiller.bsky.social for flagging!

Cyberdefense Enters a Dangerous New Phase Allies fear that Washington is retreating from leadership at the worst possible time.

It's a message unlikely to dim the concerns I heard from allies earlier this year, for my essay in @ForeignPolicy's January print issue that looks at the pullback of U.S. multilateralism in cyberspace: foreignpolicy.com/2026/01/05/c...

The strategy itself is short, focuses more on "shaping adversary behavior" than the cyber cooperation emphasis of the Biden administration, and mentions "allies" only four times—mostly to indicate they must support U.S. objectives, shoulder the burden, or get out of the way.

A Friday evening news dump for the ages from the White House, which released its long-awaited National Cyber Strategy at 5 p.m. in the middle of a war with Iran, including an implication that it used cyber offense in that war and in Venezuela last month www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u... 🧵

One notable point in the strategy - which as expected is highly focused on cyber offensive measures - is an acknowledgement of U.S. cyber capabilities being used in strikes in Venezuela and Iran

The White House just released a new National Cyber Strategy, at the end of a very slow news week: www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Operation Epic Confusion Trump’s goals in Iran are expansive, shifting, and potentially impossible.

Trump’s goals in Iran are expansive, shifting, and potentially impossible.

More on that in the latest SitRep from me and @iyengarish.bsky.social: foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/05/t...

Cyberdefense Enters a Dangerous New Phase Allies fear that Washington is retreating from leadership at the worst possible time.

We could see the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict spill into cyberspace in the coming days, with Iran among Washington's most prominent cyber adversaries.

I wrote in last month's @foreignpolicy.com print issue why Trump has made U.S. cyber defenses uniquely vulnerable

foreignpolicy.com/2026/01/05/c...

Trump Says Iranian Supreme Leader Is Dead Iran has not confirmed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death.

From me and @iyengarish.bsky.social: Trump Says Iranian Supreme Leader Is Dead foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/28/t...

U.S., Israel Begin ‘Major Combat Operations’ in Iran “They’ve rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” Trump said.

U.S., Israel Begin ‘Major Combat Operations’ in Iran 🎧

foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/28/u... w @jennruth.bsky.social @jchaltiwanger.bsky.social via @foreignpolicy.com

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary subsequently emailed this tweet from Secretary Pete Hegseth saying Anthropic will in fact still be designated a supply chain risk: x.com/SecWar/statu...

Again said they have "nothing further to provide at this time."

Pentagon just directed me to this statement (in response to a query from this morning) and said they have "nothing further to provide at this time."

Trump weighs in on Anthropic, ordering all federal agencies to immediately stop using the company's technology.

The Pentagon and Anthropic’s High-Stakes Game of Chicken The U.S. military wants unrestricted use of the AI company’s language models.

I wrote about the broader fight that led to that statement in today's @foreignpolicy.com Situation Report foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/26/p... via @jchaltiwanger.bsky.social

Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War A statement from our CEO on national security uses of AI

NEW: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says in a statement that the company will not comply with a 5:01 p.m. Friday deadline to give the Pentagon unfettered access to its models: www.anthropic.com/news/stateme...

The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored

The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/t...

Great @nytimes.com piece by @trippmickle.bsky.social that very effectively ties together so many threads of this issue.

Almost exactly a decade ago, I traveled to the Philippines to cover that brutal and often lawless war on drugs, for a story that ended up on the TIME international cover: time.com/4462352/rodr...

Re-reading and remembering today.

I know it's Tuesday, not Thursday, but the start of International Criminal Court hearings against former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs (more on that from Foreign Policy here: foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/24/d...) prompted me to do a throwback nonetheless. (1/2)

Trump Loves Golden Dome. His Own White House Is Slow-Rolling Spending Billions in approved spending held up by Office of Management and Budget.

Billions of dollars in funding for the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile shield are not being disbursed, according to a Defense Department document received by FP. foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/23/g...

Will Trump Go to War With Iran? The scale of the U.S. military buildup signals that strikes are likely.

New SitRep from me and @iyengarish.bsky.social: foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/19/t...

What We Learned at the Munich Security Conference Every February, spy chiefs, diplomats, and world leaders arrive in Munich to discuss the biggest defense and national security issues on their minds. Foreign Policy’s reporters will be on the ground,…

Join FP’s @jchaltiwanger.bsky.social and @iyengarish.bsky.social today at 11:30AM ET for a special Insider Access call to debrief the Munich Security Conference amid rising tensions between Europe and the United States.

FP Insiders can tune in here:

‘An Existential Question for Europe’ The Munich Security Conference ends with no new answers on how to end the war in Ukraine.

Final dispatch from MSC 2026 from myself and @iyengarish.bsky.social foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/15/m...

The scars of *that* Munich Security Conference speech by J.D. Vance--exactly a year ago--still run deep.

Spotted this just outside the venue.

More on where Europe stands now in @foreignpolicy.com's latest Situation Report with @jchaltiwanger.bsky.social

foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/13/m...

EU Don’t Need U.S.? Munich readies itself for a European defense renaissance.

Heading into the Munich Security Conference this week, European self-sufficiency is clearly at the top of the agenda.

FP’s @iyengarish.bsky.social and @jchaltiwanger.bsky.social will be reporting live from Munich all weekend—sign up here to receive SitRep in your inbox each day:

EU Don’t Need U.S.? Munich readies itself for a European defense renaissance.

Happy @munsecconf.bsky.social 2026 opening day to all who celebrate!

A quick preview of the vibes with @jchaltiwanger.bsky.social for @foreignpolicy.com's Situation Report

foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/12/e...

How Taiwan Sees the World The island’s deputy foreign minister on Trump, defense, and why he thinks countries shouldn’t trust China.

FP’s @iyengarish.bsky.social sat down with Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister to discuss Trump, defense, and why he thinks countries shouldn’t trust China.