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Shehbaz Sharif to be coalition candidate for next Pakistan PM

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Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be the nominee for Pakistan’s next premier to lead a new coalition alliance formed between different parties, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday after national elections last week returned a hung parliament.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Tuesday said it would support Sharif’s party to form a minority government, ending a stalemate after inconclusive elections in the nuclear-armed nation lead to days of political uncertainty, Reuters reported.

A spokesman for Sharif’s party, Marriyam Aurangzeb, said in a post on social media site X, formerly Twitter, that Nawaz Sharif, the elder brother of Shehbaz, had nominated him for the post.

Shehbaz Sharif belongs to his brother’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the largest recognised party with 80 seats and PPP is second with 54. Together, the two parties have enough for a simple majority in the 264-seat legislature.

“We have decided that we will form government together to take Pakistan out of crisis,” the co-chairman of the PPP, former President Asif Ali Zardari, told a news conference, seated beside Shehbaz Sharif and leaders of other political parties.

Earlier, Zardari’s son and fellow PPP leader, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, had laid conditions on backing the Sharif-led coalition, saying they would support them in electing the prime minister but would not join the government.

However, the alliance has ended uncertainty over government formation for now, five days after the Feb. 8 vote gave a split verdict and sparked worries of fresh instability.

Independent candidates backed by jailed former premier Imran Khan have won 92 seats, making them the largest group, but they cannot form a government on their own, having run as individuals and not a party, and have ruled out alliances with PML-N or PPP.

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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.

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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.

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Iran says coastal attack will lead to full Gulf closure and mine-laying

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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.

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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.

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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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