Oil prices rise as US midterms leave Iran policy open

Oil prices rose as uncertainty over the United States' confrontation with Iran persisted after Tuesday's midterm elections, Profit reported, with the Express Tribune saying the result could shape how Pakistan balances between Washington and Tehran.

Neither report carried a final seat tally. Republicans went into the vote holding 218 of the 435 House seats against the Democrats' 214, with two seats vacant, and 53 of the 100 Senate seats, according to the Express Tribune. The paper said Democrats needed a net gain of four seats in the House and four in the Senate to take control of the upper chamber.

All 435 House seats are contested every two years. Senators serve six-year terms, and only about a third of the chamber faces voters at a midterm.

The Express Tribune said the president's party has gained House seats at a midterm only three times since 1934: in 1934 under Franklin D Roosevelt, in 1998 under Bill Clinton, and in 2002 under George W Bush. It described midterms as a referendum on the sitting president and said the opposition usually benefits.

For Pakistan, the report said the more consequential question is whether Trump returns to a full-scale military confrontation with Iran or pursues a negotiated settlement after the vote.

Pakistan remains exposed to international oil and gas prices, and a prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz would affect global energy supplies, shipping costs and the country's import bill, the Express Tribune reported. The report said the recent attack on a Pakistani LNG-bound vessel had already shown how directly the confrontation can reach Pakistan's economic interests.

Pakistan has tried to keep working relations with Washington, Tehran and the Gulf states while staying out of the conflict, the report said, and another war would make that harder.

The Express Tribune also set out the limits of the vote. A hostile Congress could subpoena officials, scrutinise the cost and duration of military action and raise the political price of a long campaign, it reported, but it could not stop a president from ordering an initial operation. Trump remains commander-in-chief with substantial authority over foreign policy and national security, the paper said, while Congress controls federal appropriations and holds the constitutional power to declare war.