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Chandigarh: The haphazard execution of the US-Israel war against Iran – combined with the abrasive and often openly insulting remarks of US President Donald Trump towards close allies – has pushed two key Washington-led strategic frameworks into visible strain: the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) and AUKUS (a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the US).

Over the past three weeks, Trump has publicly berated partners across both groupings, deriding their reluctance to back the US war effort against Iran and casting long-standing allies as unreliable and opportunistic. Such rhetoric, delivered in the midst of a crisis, has amplified existing anxieties worldwide about Washington’s reliability as a security guarantor.

Under these circumstances, it is difficult to see either framework- Quad and AUKUS- advancing meaningfully in the near term. Both rest, not only on converging strategic interests between the US and its other partners, but also on a baseline of political trust and predictability from its principal sponsor – the US. That foundation, however, now appears visibly frayed, with the long-term objectives of both strategic arrangements increasingly jeopardised by the volatility and transactional approach that Trump has brought to bear on these alliance managements.

The Quad – bringing together Australia, India, Japan and the US – was first convened in 2007, suspended and then revived in 2017 as an informal, non-binding strategic arrangement aimed at coordinating responses to China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. It was deliberately structured as a flexible consultative platform rather than a treaty-bound alliance, dependent on trust and strategic alignment – both of which now appear increasingly fragile under enduring circumstances initiated exclusively by Trump.

AUKUS, by contrast, is a far more structured and consequential enterprise. Announced in September 2021, it binds Australia, the United Kingdom and the US into a long-term defence and technology partnership. Its centrepiece is the transfer of nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) capability to Australia, alongside deep collaboration in advanced domains like artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, quantum technologies and undersea systems. Unlike the Quad, AUKUS is not merely consultative – it is a commitment, explicitly oriented toward shaping the regional balance of power in response to China’s growing strategic assertiveness in both the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

However, despite their differing........

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