Imagine paying PKR 414 for a single litre of petrol.
That was Pakistan just weeks ago.
During the US–Iran war, fuel prices went vertical. Wallets bled. Tempers boiled.
Today? Petrol sits at PKR 300 a litre.
Still brutal. But suddenly… a door has opened.
On June 22, the US Treasury did something nobody expected.
It handed Iran a 60-day sanctions waiver — valid till August 21 — letting Tehran legally produce, sell and ship crude oil and petrochemicals.
Not a permanent rollback.
Just a crack in the door, tied to ongoing US–Iran peace talks.
And Pakistan? Pakistan saw the crack… and started walking toward it.
Federal Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik said the quiet part out loud in Lahore on Sunday.
"We are considering the option of importing cheaper oil and gas from Iran."
One sentence. Massive implications.
Because Iran shares a long border with Pakistan. Cheap crude is right there. It always has been.
Sanctions were the only wall.
Pakistan isn't just chasing cheaper petrol. It's drowning in a gas crisis.
For a country running on fumes — literally — Iranian energy is the most obvious lifeline on the map.
Malik was careful. Almost too careful.
Pakistan, he said, will "continue to act in line with international agreements and obligations."
Translation: we want the oil, but we don't want Washington angry.
The waiver is temporary. It can be renewed. Or yanked overnight if talks collapse.
Any long-term Iranian pipeline dream still walks straight into a US minefield.
This isn't just a fuel story.
It's a glimpse of a new regional order — where peace in the Gulf instantly rewires who buys what from whom.
PM Shehbaz Sharif has promised every drop of global price relief reaches consumers.
Economists are sceptical. The public is exhausted.
But for the first time in years, Pakistan has options.
And in an energy crisis, options are everything.
That's all for now!
