Regional
Seven die as cyclone barrels towards western India, Pakistan
Four boys drowned in rough seas off the western Indian financial hub of Mumbai on Tuesday as India and Pakistan began evacuating people from coastal areas, two days before a cyclone is expected to make landfall, Reuters reported.
Classified as a very severe cyclonic storm, Biparjoy is expected to land around Thursday evening between Mandvi in India’s Gujarat province and Karachi in southern Pakistan.
Meteorologists predict maximum sustained wind speeds of 125-135 km (78-84 miles) per hour, gusting to 150 km (93 miles) per hour.
“Four boys drowned at Juhu beach on Monday evening. So far, we have found the bodies of two, and the search is still ongoing to locate the remaining two,” said a police official in Mumbai, south of Gujarat.
High waves in the Arabian Sea, accompanied by heavy rains and gusting winds pounded Gujarat’s coastal areas, uprooting trees and resulting in a wall collapse that killed three people in Kutch and Rajkot districts, authorities said.
Eight districts in coastal Gujarat are expected to be affected, the state government said. Fishing has been suspended until Friday and schools have declared holidays, read the report.
Gujarat is home to many offshore oil installations and major ports in the country and most have been forced to suspend operations.
A 1998 cyclone killed at least 4,000 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage in Gujarat, Reuters reported.
Relief Commissioner Alok Kumar Pandey said that more than 20,500 people have been evacuated from coastal districts and the evacuation was expected to be completed by Tuesday evening.
In neighbouring Pakistan, paramilitary troops and local civil authorities also started moving people to shelters and relief camps, which were set up in schools and other government buildings, said Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman.
Ships and boats have been moved from some areas of Pakistan’s coast while hospitals in the region were put on high alert, added Rehman.
About 100,000 people will be evacuated by Wednesday morning, the chairman of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said.
Two of India’s largest ports, Kandla and Mundra, have suspended operations, the state government said. Other ports, including Bedi, Navlakhi, Porbandar, Okha, Pipavav and Bhavnagar, have also closed due to the cyclone, according to shipping sources.
Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), which operates the world’s largest refining complex in Gujarat’s Jamnagar, declared a force majeure, suspending exports of diesel and other oil products from Gujarat’s Sikka port, traders said.
The Adani conglomerate’s ports business, Adani Ports (APSE.NS), said it suspended vessel operations on Monday at Mundra, India’s biggest commercial port that has the country’s largest coal import terminal, and also at Tuna port near Kandla.
The Indian Coast Guard said it evacuated 50 personnel from a jack-up oil rig off Gujarat’s coast named Key Singapore, which is owned by Dubai-based Shelf Drilling (SHLF.OL) and currently working for Cairn Oil & Gas (Vedanta Ltd.) (VDAN.NS), according to Shelf Drilling’s website.
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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