Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Monday the closure of all schools through the end of the month, and remote work for all university students and half the workforce, as his country implements steep austerity measures amid soaring global fuel prices.
The US-Israel war on Iran is now into its second week, with few signs that US President Donald Trump plans to scale back the operation. Iran has been retaliating against US assets in the Gulf - a region that produces a quarter of the world's entire oil supply - and choking off the Strait of Hormuz.
“These attacks have posed a great threat to the whole region,” Sharif said in televised remarks.
With Pakistan highly dependent on energy exports from the Gulf, "the government took difficult decisions for the country’s economy", he added.
The four largest exporters of fuel to Pakistan are the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, all countries that have either stopped production due to the war on Iran, or cannot export due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
