An annual threat assessment report by the US Director of National Intelligence has warned that “India–Pakistan relations remain a risk for nuclear conflict given past conflicts where these two nuclear states squared off, creating the danger of escalation”.In a reference to the last year’s clash between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, the report said “President Trump’s intervention de-escalated the most recent nuclear tensions”.Report exposes Pak’s clandestine ops: MEAResponding to Pakistan’s growing nuclear arsenal, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said they’ve had a history of clandestine nuclear proliferation. Such statements once again make it clear to the world, as to what kind of danger they pose and the dangers their clandestine nuclear operations pose.Besides, it has said India and Pakistan don’t seek to return to conflict, however, conditions exist for terrorists to continue and to create conditions for crises.The report, put out on Wednesday night in the US, said: “We assess that neither country seeks to return to open conflict, but that conditions exist for terrorist actors to continue to create catalysts for crises”.The terrorist attack last year near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir demonstrated the dangers of terrorist attacks sparking conflict, the report said. It did not name Pakistan as the originator of terrorism or for sponsoring cross border terrorism.On the growing capabilities of the two countries, the report said “India is developing new and longer-range nuclear delivery systems”. Pakistan continues to develop increasingly sophisticated missile technology that provides its military the means to develop missile systems with the capability to strike targets beyond South Asia, it said and expressed fears that India’s neighbour could be developing Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM’s) – normally classified at a range greater than 5,500 km.Countries with capabilities of having weapons of mass destruction are modernising, expanding and testing delivery systems. The ongoing development includes dual-use technologies that challenge the ability to detect emergence or the developmental progress of these programmes.Meanwhile, the report also added on the usage of chemical drugs saying while there has been noticeable improvement, China and India remained the primary source countries for illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and pill pressing equipment.It cited a meeting in October 2025 between the US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Busan, South Korea, wherein Beijing agreed to halt the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals to North America. The meeting also led to issuance of an industry advisory notice to China-based companies, and establishment of a new requirement for export licenses for certain fentanyl precursor chemicals.India has increased counternarcotics efforts during the last year. In January 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Indian officials signaled a willingness to deepen engagement with the US on counternarcotics. Despite these actions, Mexico-based drug traffickers continue to circumvent international controls through mislabelled shipments and the purchase of unregulated chemicals.