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Hardline hawks inside Iran's security establishment have long argued that the best deterrence against future attacks by Israel or the US would be for it to acquire the nuclear bomb.

"It's a message not just of deterrence against Russia, but also against China," she says.

Once again, experts say, India finds itself walking the tightrope between escalation and restraint - a fragile balance of response and deterrence.

On a visit to Manila last month, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington was "doubling down" on its alliance with the country and was determined to "re-establish deterrence" against China.

"Another advantage, if a retaliation successfully takes out terrorist targets, would be restoring deterrence and degrading an anti-India threat. The disadvantage is that a retaliation would risk a serious crisis and even conflict."