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Tom Hussain
Tom Hussain is an Islamabad-based journalist who has spent his 35-year career covering South Asia and the Middle East.
Tom Hussain is an Islamabad-based journalist who has spent his 35-year career covering South Asia and the Middle East.
After nearly two decades and six terms in office, Israel’s prime minister could be on his way out. But little looks likely to change.
India has a much larger fleet of 4.5-generation fighters but is lagging behind Pakistan in the acquisition of stealth warplanes.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE lead a push for a new trade architecture with multiple nodes linking the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf states have forced Abu Dhabi to rethink its place within the Saudi Arabia-led diplomatic architecture, analysts say.
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‘Fear of US abandonment’ is helping forge a new Middle East – but don’t expect an Islamic Nato just yet.
Targets reportedly include a Saudi pipeline to the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and a UAE export terminal at Fujairah, outside the Gulf.
Pakistan is the regional go-between to help maintain the 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon and push for a conclusive deal to end the Iran war.
A senior official involved in Islamabad’s diplomacy says it is trying to defuse the crisis ‘in any way we can’.
Analysts say the Pakistani air force’s presence ‘will complicate Iran’s targeting calculus’ and force it to reconsider its attack strategy.
As Abu Dhabi signals its displeasure with Islamabad, analysts say other indebted partners will be watching closely.
The six GCC nations worry that the US will prioritise Tehran’s needs and leave the Gulf monarchies vulnerable to Iranian retaliation.
The UAE has quietly banned most Iranians from entering the country or transiting its airports, and cracked down on IRGC-related networks.
If Islamabad can successfully carry off the talks, it stands a chance of bringing in much-needed investments and weapon sales, analysts say.
Rising freight and energy costs, plus a near-blockade on synthetic fibres, are pushing prices higher.
With Iran emboldened despite US and Israeli strikes, analysts warn of the ‘permanent risk of repeated disruption’ for the global economy.
Israeli strikes on the world’s largest gas field and Iranian attacks on Saudi and Qatari hubs threaten a global energy crisis.
US fears of Pakistani ICBMs targeting America are overstated as Islamabad’s missile programme remains regional, observers say.
The closure of the Middle East’s important straits – Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb – is forcing Gulf and Asian nations to explore other options.
As Gulf gas plants go offline, missing fertiliser shipments today could mean empty shelves and record food prices by autumn.
From Turkey and the Caucasus to South Asia, analysts warn the war could ignite new flashpoints along regional fault lines.
Islamabad has to navigate a tricky regional environment and manage the domestic blowback of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
The UAE, Qatar and others had a plan for staying out of a US-Iran war. It relied on the assumption that Iran would leave them out of it too.
Experts see short-term stability, but warn that deeper structural strains could emerge once the immediate shock subsides.
With positions entrenched, mediation efforts by regional powers are unlikely to deliver a swift breakthrough, observers say.
The Soviet Union severed Central Asia’s ancient trade routes to the Indian subcontinent. The region’s modern-day leaders want them back.
Observers say the unresolved question of Hamas’ disarmament leaves the fragile truce vulnerable to collapse.
Tehran is dangling access to its vast oil, gas and mineral reserves, but analysts warn that even this may fail to ‘move the needle’ in talks.
With non-oil trade nearly doubling, analysts say the UAE has secured a first-mover advantage that leaves regional rivals trailing behind.
Both sides appear amenable to a deal limiting some of Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities after last week’s diplomatic re-establishment.
