New Delhi, Aug. 15 -- It has been quite a week in foreign policy, with developments offering a glimpse into the pressures-and contradictions-shaping the US and its relationships with allies and rivals.

US President Donald Trump's security team was so spooked by intelligence assessments of an Iranian assassination plot that Trump swapped planes as he flew out of the NATO security summit in Turkey last month. In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Trump's plan to disarm Hamas in Gaza, an unusual public rebuke from one of the US president's closest allies.

Closer home, India-China ties have shown signs of fresh strain even as the two countries cautiously try to rebuild relations after the 2020 Galwan clash. And just as I...