Tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan dramatically spiked Tuesday after India launched multiple airstrikes on several parts of Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled territory.

The Indian military said it struck nine sites where “terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” reported BBC. Pakistan denied the claim, alleging that Indian strikes hit civilian areas and killed two children, according to its military.

India’s embassy to the United States said the strike, dubbed Operation Sindoor, was in response to a terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir on April 22 that left 26 civilians dead. According to India, a few of the terrorists, who are accused of specifically targeting Hindus, were from Pakistan.

The terror attack happened as Vice President JD Vance visited India on a four-day trip, which included a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Following the terror attack, tensions between the longtime rivals escalated, with cross-border small arms fire and the suspension of a river water-sharing treaty.

“India has credible leads, technical inputs, testimony of the survivors and other evidence pointing towards the clear involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists in this attack,” the embassy said in a statement, calling its actions “focused and precise.”

The statement added that India was hopeful Pakistan would take action against the terrorists, but instead “indulged in denial and made allegations of false flag operations against India.”

Despite India stating that its strikes were meant to be non-escalatory by attacking “terror camps” and not Pakistani civilian, economic, or military targets, Pakistan vowed to respond to the “cowardly attack,” and followed up by firing artillery just across the border in India-administered Kashmir, reported BBC.

“The treacherous enemy has launched a cowardly attack on five locations within Pakistan,” Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement. “This heinous act of aggression will not go unpunished. Pakistan reserves the absolute right to respond decisively to this unprovoked Indian attack — a resolute response is already underway.”

Sharif added that the Pakistani people and its forces “are fully prepared to confront and defeat any threat with our strength and determination.”

Pakistan claimed it shot down two Indian jets and one drone, though India has not confirmed this report, according to BBC.

“The enemy will never be allowed to achieve its malicious aims,” the statement concluded.

President Donald Trump called the strikes “a shame” on Tuesday.

“We just heard about it just as we were walking in the doors of the Oval [Office],” Trump said. “I just hope it ends very quickly.”

India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval briefed Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who is also serving as U.S. National Security Advisor) on Wednesday about the escalating conflict.

Rubio said he is monitoring the situation and echoed Trump’s statements for the conflict to end quickly, adding that he will continue to “engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution.”

A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is “very concerned” about the escalation and called for “maximum military restraint,” reported BBC.

The Department of Education, led by Education Secretary Linda McMahon, has cut off funding for a grant that supported controversial children’s programming at PBS and elsewhere.

The Trump administration has slashed funding to NPR and PBS. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports NPR and PBS, announced in a statement on Tuesday that the federal government terminated the $23 million Ready To Learn program.

“Nearly every parent has raised their kids on public broadcasting’s children’s content. For the past 30 years, Ready To Learn-funded PBS KIDS content has produced measurable, real-world impacts on children’s learning,” said Patricia Harrison, the president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “We will work with Congress and the Administration to preserve funding for this essential program.”

Education spokeswoman Madi Biedermann said the Ready To Learn grant was being used to fund “racial justice educational programming,” according to The New York Times.

“The Trump Department of Education will prioritize funding that supports meaningful learning and improving student outcomes, not divisive ideologies and woke propaganda,” said Biedermann.

The grant’s termination came after President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies to cut funding to NPR and PBS.

Ready To Learn funded productions such as the popular children’s show “Sesame Street,” which has been mired in controversy in recent years over programs related to Black Lives Matter, the LGBT movement, and other political agendas.

The official social media accounts of “Sesame Street” have endorsed gay and trans “pride” by sharing the Pride Progress flag.

“On our Street, we celebrate inclusion, belonging, and freedom of authentic self-expression. Happy #PrideMonth to all the people in our neighborhoods!” said one June 2023 post.

In 2022, the popular children’s show encouraged children to receive the COVID vaccine.

“Thanks, @sesamestreet for saying parents are allowed to have questions! You then have @elmo aggressively advocate for vaccinating children UNDER 5. But you cite ZERO scientific evidence for this,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) posted at the time.

In June 2021, “Sesame Street” aired a “Family Day” episode that featured a gay couple, Dave and Frank, and their daughter, Mia. Alan Muraoka, who co-directed the episode, touted it on Facebook with a message of “Love is love,” a slogan used to spurn traditional views on marriage and family.

In March of that year, “Sesame Street” introduced two black characters, a father and son named Elijah and Wesley Walker, to teach children about “racial literacy.”

PBS’s agenda-driven content has stretched beyond “Sesame Street.” The White House released a list of grievances against PBS last month to justify slashing funding to the broadcaster. The list includes programming pushing transgenderism as early as 2017 in a movie titled “Real Boy” about a transgender-identifying teen.