PAKISTAN PERSPECTIVE

Islamabad measures every move in the Middle East with the anxiety of a country that shares 959 kilometers of border with Iran. Trump's ultimatum is covered through a dual lens: financial markets holding their breath before the 8 p.m. ET deadline, and Pakistan's military top brass publicly condemning strikes on Saudi sites. Pakistan occupies an impossible position -- security ally of Riyadh (thousands of Pakistani soldiers are deployed in Saudi Arabia), neighbor of Iran, and trade partner of Beijing which buys Iranian oil. The IRGC strikes on Jubail directly threaten Pakistani nationals working in the petrochemical complex. Oil at $150 is a death sentence for an economy already on IMF life support. Dawn reports Trump's 'whole civilization will die' quote with the stoicism of a country that knows civilizations die in silence, far from American cameras. Pakistan's question isn't whether Trump is bluffing, but how long the country holds if the Strait of Hormuz closes.