 "Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif spoke on the recent attacks in Balochistan. File Photo/Reuters")
Even as Pakistan has been meditating between the United States and Iran, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday mocked President Donald Trump’s goal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying the waterway was already open before the conflict.
In a post on X, Asif said, “The goal of the war seems to have shifted to opening the strait of Hormuz, which was open before the war.”
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Notably, Asif’s post came on the same day that Pakistan passed on Trump’s 15-point proposal to Iran. Hours later, Iran announced its rejection of the plan and floated its own five-point proposal that Trump is unlikely to agree.
In retaliation to American-Israeli strikes, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off world’s 20-25 per cent oil and gas supplies. As Iranian retaliatory strikes across West Asia have forced oil and gas production cuts, the cumulative effect of Iranian action has been a surge in oil and gas prices . For example, from the pre-war $72 a barrel, Brent crude surged to the high of $119 and currently trades at $104.
Owing to Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir’s close ties with both Trump and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran, Pakistan has taken up the role of the mediator in the ongoing war. Pakistani officials have been facilitating indirect talks between the two sides. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has publicly pitched Islamabad as a venue for US-Iran talks. Trump has reportedly picked Vice President JD Vance to represent the administration in such talks.
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View AllDespite Munir’s closeness with Trump and Pakistan’s mediation in the conflict, the US-Israeli war on Iran remains highly unpopular in the country. It is in this context that Asif’s post was remarkable.
Previously, Asif had dubbed the US-Israeli war on Iran as an “agenda orchestrated by the Zionists [Israelis]” to bring Israel’s “influence right up to Pakistan’s border”. He said that Israel’s ultimate agenda remains turning Pakistan into a vassal state.
The success of Israel’s purported plot would mean that t"he joint single point agenda of Afghanistan, Iran, and India will then be enmity towards Pakistan, making our borders insecure, surrounding us with enemies from all sides, and turning Pakistan into a vassal state", Asif said.