What does the Kubernetes imagePullPolicy: Always ensure?

1. ✓ A The image is pulled from the registry every time the pod starts, regardless of local cache (correct answer)
2. B The image is pulled only if not present locally
3. C The image is never pulled from the registry
4. D The image must be pre-staged on each node

Shortcut: imagePullPolicy: Always forces Kubernetes to contact the registry on every pod start, ensuring the latest image is always used. Useful when using mutable tags like :latest.