Komal Eknath Shinde

🇮🇳🇵🇰The two nuclear powers nobody is talking about in this conflict India's PM Modi just called Iran's Pezeshkian about the "serious situation in the region." Diplomatic language for: our economy is suffocating and we need that Strait open yesterday. India imports roughly 80% of its crude, and a massive portion transits through Hormuz. Washington just gave New Delhi a 30 day license to buy Russian oil as a stopgap, but that's a band-aid on a bullet wound. Then there's Pakistan, and this is where it gets really interesting. Pakistan shares a 560 mile border with Iran. It also has a longstanding defense cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia, which is getting hammered by Iranian drones and missiles daily. Saudi Arabia has historically bankrolled Pakistan's military and even helped fund its nuclear program. When Riyadh calls, Islamabad listens. If this conflict escalates into a coalition ground operation, Pakistan's geography becomes impossible to ignore. India and Pakistan rarely agree on anything. But both nations are watching the Strait of Hormuz with identical desperation, because their economies run on the same oil flowing through the same chokepoint that Iran has sealed shut. Source: Bloomberg