Regional
Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif meets China’s Xi in Beijing ahead of IMF talks
China’s President Xi Jinping met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Beijing on Friday, Chinese state media reported, days before Pakistan presents its annual budget and applies for a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.
Pakistan’s location on the Arabian Sea gives it strategic importance for China, providing an overland route out towards the Gulf of Aden and onto the Suez Canal, and enabling Chinese ships to avoid the potential chokepoint of the Malacca Strait.
Sharif’s government is expected to seek at least $6 billion under a new IMF programme after it presents its annual budget, which sources say will happen on June 10. And the $27 billion or so that Pakistan owes China, according to World Bank data, is central to this next round of discussions with the fund, Reuters reported.
The IMF in May opened discussions on the new loan after Islamabad completed a short-term $3 billion programme, which helped stave off a sovereign debt default last summer.
Pakistan owes China almost 13% of its total debt, which was taken on to pay for infrastructure projects over the years and other types of spending.
Beijing has lent Islamabad almost twice as much as its second- and third-ranked multilateral lenders, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to which Pakistan owes $16.2 billion and $13.7 billion respectively.
Chinese firms have also invested a further $14 billion in Pakistan since a new economic corridor connecting their countries was announced in the summer of 2013 as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative, data from the American Enterprise Institute think tank shows.
Most of that investment was made by Chinese state-owned energy companies financing fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants, as well as logistics routes under construction connecting Gwadar Port in the Arabian Sea with the Xinjiang region in China’s northwest.
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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