Escalating Strikes, Oil Threats Intensify Tensions

Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, is the most populous city in Vietnam, with a population of more than 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigon River. As the largest financial centre in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City has the largest gross regional domestic product out of all Vietnam provinces and municipalities, contributing around a quarter of the country's total GDP. Ho Chi Minh City's metropolitan area is ASEAN's 5th largest economy.

The 7th Council of Ministers was formed on 22 August 2023. It is led by Prime Minister Hun Manet, making it the first government in 38 years to not be led by Hun Sen, Manet's father, following his resignation. In addition, veteran politicians including Sar Kheng, Tea Banh and Men Sam An also relinquished their positions.

Manav Gupta is an Indian contemporary artist known for his paintings, installations and large-scale public art projects on environment consciousness and sustainable development. He has reinvented the identity of rural Indian clay pottery and redeployed various other material like construction scrap to create site specific, contemporary art and environmental installations and sculptures. He has been acknowledged as one of the most versatile and erudite contemporary artists to come from India and is widely regarded as a 'maverick genius' and a 'visionary'.

The prime minister of Canada is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons; as such, the prime minister typically sits as a member of Parliament (MP) and leads the largest party or a coalition of parties. As first minister, the prime minister selects ministers to form the Cabinet.

António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who has served as the ninth secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Portuguese Socialist Party, Guterres served as the prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.

Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio, commonly known as Inday Sara, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 15th and current vice president of the Philippines. She is the third female vice president, the third vice president to come from Mindanao, and the youngest ever Philippine vice president. A daughter of the 16th president Rodrigo Duterte, she previously served as the mayor of Davao City from 2010 to 2013, and from 2016 to 2022. She was also Davao City's vice mayor from 2007 to 2010.

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr., commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child and only son of 10th president Ferdinand Marcos and former first lady Imelda Marcos.

Levon Hakobi Ter-Petrosyan, also known by his initials LTP, is an Armenian politician and historian who served as the first president of Armenia from 1991 until his resignation in 1998.

Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan is an Armenian politician who is serving as the 16th and current prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1998, which was shut down a year later for libel. He was sentenced for one year for defamation against then Minister of National Security Serzh Sargsyan. He edited the newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak from 1999 to 2012. A supporter of Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he was highly critical of second president Robert Kocharyan, Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan, and their allies. Pashinyan was also critical of Armenia's close relations with Russia, and promoted establishing closer relations with Turkey instead. He led a minor opposition party in the 2007 parliamentary election, garnering 1.3% of the vote.

Ebrahim Raisolsadati, better known as Ebrahim Raisi, was an Iranian cleric and politician who served as the eighth president of Iran from 2021 until his death in a helicopter crash in 2024. A protégé of supreme leader Ali Khamenei and a Principlist, Raisi was the second and most recent Iranian president to die in office after Mohammad-Ali Rajai.

Scott Kenneth Homer Bessent is an American businessman and government official serving since 2025 as the 79th United States secretary of the treasury. Bessent was a partner at Soros Fund Management (SFM) and founded Key Square Group, a global macro investment firm. He is the first openly gay person to lead the U.S. Treasury Department, the first openly gay U.S. Senate-confirmed Cabinet member in a Republican administration, and the second openly gay U.S. Senate-confirmed Cabinet secretary.

Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

Xi Jinping is a Chinese statesman and politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) since 2012, and the president of China since 2013. Xi has been the leader of the fifth generation of Chinese leadership since 2012.