Regional
Suicide bomber kills five on school bus in Pakistan’s Balochistan
The Pakistani charge d’affaires was summoned and given a warning to ensure that Pakistani officials do not misuse their privileges and status, the ministry added.
Three children were among at least five people killed when a suicide bomber struck an army school bus in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, the military said on Wednesday, in an attack that Pakistan blamed on Indian proxies, Reuters reported.
About 40 students were on the bus, which was headed to an army-run school, and several sustained injuries, said Yasir Iqbal, administrator of Khuzdar district, where the incident took place.
Pakistan’s military and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif swiftly condemned the violence and accused “Indian terror proxies” of involvement, although they did not share any evidence linking the attack to New Delhi.
“Planners, abettors and executors of this cowardly Indian-sponsored attack will be hunted down and brought to justice,” the military’s media wing said.
India rejected Pakistan’s accusations.
“In order to divert attention from its reputation as the global epicentre of terrorism and to hide its own gross failings, it has become second nature for Pakistan to blame India for all its internal issues,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
India also declared an official of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi persona non grata, the second such expulsion in a week, for “indulging in activities not in keeping with his official status.”
The Pakistani charge d’affaires was summoned and given a warning to ensure that Pakistani officials do not misuse their privileges and status, the ministry added.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry made a similar move early on Thursday as an official of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was declared persona non grata, it said in a statement posted on social media.
The Indian charge d’affaires was summoned to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry to stress that Indian officials in Pakistan should not “misuse their privileges and status in any manner,” the statement added.
Tensions remain high after India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on May 10. Diplomats have warned the truce is fragile, following the most dramatic escalation of hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbours in decades, read the report.
Both have traded accusations of supporting militancy on each other’s soil – a charge that each denies. The latest escalation, in which the two countries traded missiles, was sparked when India accused Pakistan of supporting a militant assault on tourists in the Indian portion of the contested region of Kashmir. Islamabad denies any involvement.
In Wednesday’s attack in Balochistan, at least three children and two adults were killed, the army said. Local television showed images of three dead girls from middle and high school.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, reminiscent of an attack on a military school in the northern city of Peshawar in 2014 that killed more than 130 children.
That attack was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an ultra-radical Islamist militant group.
Attacks by separatist groups in Balochistan have risen in recent years. In March, the Baloch Liberation Army blew up a railway track and took passengers from a train hostage, killing 31 civilians, soldiers and staff.
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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