Regional
Pakistan’s Khan-backed independents lead in final poll count
Pakistan’s national election vote count concluded on Sunday with independents, mostly backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, winning 101 of the 264 seats, the election commission’s website showed.
The final tally was released more than 60 hours after voting concluded in Thursday’s national elections, a delay that has raised questions about the process, Reuters reported.
The independents came in ahead of the party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, which won 75 seats, making it the largest single party in parliament as Khan’s independents ran as individuals.
Sharif has said his party is talking to other groups to form a coalition government as it had failed to win a clear majority on its own.
Khan’s PTI party had threatened to hold nationwide peaceful protests on Sunday if the vote tally was not released overnight, and some small protests took place overnight.
Pakistan’s interim government says the delay was caused by communication issues due to a mobile internet outage on election day. The outage, which authorities said was for security reasons, drew concern from rights groups and foreign governments, including the United States.
In a post on social media platform X on Sunday, a PTI party secretary called off general protests, but said there should be demonstrations at certain electoral offices where they were concerned about “forged” results.
Around 93 of the independent candidates who won seats were associated with Khan’s PTI party.
Khan’s supporters were running as independents because they had been barred from contesting the polls under his party’s electoral symbol by the election commission for not complying with electoral laws.
Despite the ban and Khan’s imprisonment for convictions on charges ranging from leaking state secrets to corruption and an unlawful marriage, millions of the former cricketer’s supporters came out to vote for him, even though he cannot be part of any government while he remains in prison.
One disadvantage the independents face in trying to form a government is they are not eligible to be allocated any of parliament’s 70 reserved seats, which are distributed according to party strength in the final tally. Sharif’s party could get up to 20 of these seats.
The election commission previously flagged that results for two seats could not yet be included – one in which a candidate was killed requiring the postponement of polling, and another in which polling would be completed later this month.
Regional
Trump backs down on strikes on Iran’s power network, says US and Tehran holding talks
Iranian attacks have effectively closed the Strait, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.
President Donald Trump backed down on targeting Iran’s power network on Monday, saying the U.S. and Iran have held constructive talks and that he would postpone any strikes on power plants and energy infrastructure, Reuters reported.
Trump’s statement came after Iran threatened to attack Israel’s power plants and those supplying U.S. bases across the Gulf region if the U.S. targets Iran’s power network.
The dollar plunged and stocks surged following Trump’s post.
The United States and Iran “have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions.”
On Saturday, Trump warned that Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours. Trump set a deadline of around 7:44 p.m. EDT (2344 GMT) on Monday.
Iranian attacks have effectively closed the Strait, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, read the report.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in the war the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28, which has upended markets, driven up fuel costs, fuelled global inflation fears and convulsed the postwar Western alliance.
Regional
Iran says coastal attack will lead to full Gulf closure and mine-laying
An attack on Iran’s southern coast and islands will lead to Gulf routes being cut with the laying of sea mines, the country’s Defence Council said on Monday according to state media, Reuters reported.
The U.S. is considering plans to occupy, opens new tab or blockade Iran’s Kharg Island, the country’s main oil export hub, to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping, according to Axios.
“Any attempt to attack Iran’s coasts or islands will cause all access routes in the Gulf (…) to be mined with various types of sea mines, including floating mines that can be released from the coast,” the statement read.
“In this case, the entire Gulf will practically be in a situation similar to the Strait of Hormuz for a long time (…) One should not forget the failure of more than 100 minesweepers in the 1980s in removing a few sea mines.”
The Defence Council recalled that non-belligerent states can only pass through the Strait of Hormuz by coordinating passage with Iran.
Regional
Iran says Hormuz open to all but ‘enemy-linked’ ships
The threat of Iranian attacks during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has kept most ships from getting through the narrow strait, the conduit for around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, threatening a global energy shock.
The Strait of Hormuz remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies”, Iranian media reports published on Sunday quoted Iran’s representative to the U.N. maritime agency as saying.
Ali Mousavi’s comments came from an interview published on Friday by Chinese news agency Xinhua, before U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to target Iranian power plants if the strait was not “fully open” within 48 hours.
The threat of Iranian attacks during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has kept most ships from getting through the narrow strait, the conduit for around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, threatening a global energy shock.
Mousavi, who is also Iran’s ambassador to the UK, was also quoted as saying that Tehran would continue to cooperate with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to improve maritime safety and protect seafarers in the Gulf, adding that ships not belonging to “Iran’s enemies” could pass the strait by coordinating security and safety arrangements with Tehran.
“Diplomacy remains Iran’s priority. However, a complete cessation of aggression as well as mutual trust and confidence are more important,” Mousavi said, adding that Israeli and U.S. attacks against Iran were at the “root of the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz”.
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