The announcement Tuesday by federal law enforcement authorities that they had broken up an alleged plot involving a Pakistani man operating as an agent of Iran with the goal of assassinating American officials on U.S. soil came on the same day that reports emerged of Islamabad’s growing military support for Tehran.

Various international news outlets reported that Pakistan plans to supply Iran with medium-range ballistic missiles if the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict escalates. The reports were largely overshadowed by the U.S. Justice Department’s announcement about the alleged assassination plot involving a Pakistani national with what were described as “close ties to Iran.”

Authorities allege that Asif Merchant arrived in the U.S. in April and quickly recruited a New York man for business dealings. He eventually made clear that those dealings were attempted assassinations. The New York man went to authorities. U.S. officials suggested the plot was part of Iran’s attempt to retaliate for the 2020 U.S. military drone strike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the case that “the Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security.”

The growing threat of a Chinese military attack makes Taiwan one of the most dangerous global flashpoints for years to come, according to a new report published by the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, which details military and nonmilitary methods Beijing is preparing to use to coerce the self-ruled island democracy into capitulating.

Former Pentagon China analyst Gabriel Collins and U.S. Naval War College strategy professor Andrew Erickson argue in the report that the mounting danger to Taiwan requires stronger American deterrence, given that catastrophic results could include the loss of access to Taiwan’s world-class advanced computer chip manufacturing sector.

The authors argue that Taiwan represents the same kind of flashpoint as West Berlin, part of the divided German capital during the Cold War that epitomized the ideological confrontation between the communist Soviet bloc and the democratic West.

The international axis of authoritarian regimes in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea is becoming more overtly anti-Israel and essentially supporting the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed more than 1,200 civilians.

That was a key message Tuesday from Haim Koren, a scholar and longtime Israeli diplomat, who told “The Washington Brief” — an online forum sponsored by The Washington Times Foundation — that ripple effects from the attack have stretched far beyond Israel and the Gaza Strip.

“All of the sudden, the local attack of Hamas on Israel became global, due to the fact that it was supported by China, of course by Iran, and by Russia,” said Mr. Koren, who also emphasized North Korea’s links to Hamas and Hezbollah. “North Korea took part in the building of the tunnels of Hezbollah. And recently, we found a lot of the munitions in Gaza [came from] North Korea,” he said.

It is notable that China hosted leaders from Hamas and the rival Palestinian faction, the Fatah Party, for a meeting last month that could be evidence of Beijing’s evolution as a diplomatic power with influence in all theaters of the globe. The West largely dismissed the attempt to establish a postwar governing structure between the two hostile Palestinian camps in Gaza.

A previously unknown Islamic resistance group in Iraq calling itself Al-Thawriun says it was responsible for a drone and rocket attack on a base in western Iraq earlier this week that injured seven U.S. troops and personnel. The group released a statement Tuesday following the strike on the Al-Asad Air Base where U.S. and other coalition forces are located.

Powerful Iraqi Shiite militias, also with strong ties to Iran, have long demanded the U.S. withdraw thousands of American combat troops still in the country more than two decades after the U.S.-led invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein. The Pentagon says the U.S. forces are helping to prevent an Islamic State resurgence in the region.

What do gold bars, luxury watches and Formula One racing tickets have in common? Natalie Ecanow writes that they’re all part of the reported corruption scheme that brought down New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, the once-influential Foreign Relations Committee chairman, who’s been found guilty of accepting bribes and using his influence to secure a multimillion-dollar Qatari investment deal.

“The Menendez episode fits with Qatar’s broader strategy of buying clout — sometimes legally, often not — to evade accountability for things like terror finance and human rights abuses,” Ms. Ecanow writes.

“Qatar continues to host the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East and reaps the benefits of its status as a major non-NATO ally, even as it backs terrorist groups and violates human rights,” asserts Ms. Ecanow. “To sustain this insane arrangement, Qatar courts U.S. lawmakers and lobbyists as a matter of survival.”

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Kate Monroe argues that the Biden-Harris administration has been “a disaster for veterans and active-duty service members alike.”

“Consider the increase in veterans experiencing homelessness … or the fact that the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital system helped pay for the treatment of illegal aliens,” while “over 400,000 veterans waited for care,” writes Ms. Monroe, who is the CEO of Vetcomms, the founder of Border Vets, and the author of “The Race to Save America.”

“Unfortunately, this trend of prioritizing foreign citizens over our veterans has extended to our active-duty military members,” she writes. “While servicemen and women struggle to keep up with high inflation, the Biden-Harris administration has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars in support of illegal migrants.”

• Aug. 7 — Preserving the Free Flow of Commerce in the Red Sea and Beyond: An Update from Fifth Fleet Commander VADM George Wikoff, USN, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Aug. 7 — Navigating Global Challenges: A Conversation with Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral Lunday, Brookings Institution

• Aug. 8 — Over the Brink: Escalation Management in a Protracted U.S.-PRC Conflict, Center for a New American Security

• Aug. 12 — How Local Authorities Make Decisions in the Myanmar Civil War, Stimson Center

• Aug. 15 — One Year after Camp David: How Durable Are U.S.-Japan-South Korea Trilateral Ties? Hudson Institute