Pakistan’s attempt to serve as both Riyadh’s defense partner and a backchannel to Tehran is under fresh strain as fighting between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi forces escalates, Reuters reported Friday.
Islamabad this week delivered a Saudi warning urging Iran to rein in the Houthis, Saudi, Pakistani, and Iranian sources told Reuters. Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, also spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi about restoring diplomatic efforts to de-escalate, a Pakistani source said.
Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan said no military response to Houthi attacks was under discussion and that Islamabad “has consistently opposed escalation and advocated restraint, dialogue and diplomacy.”
The fighting is an early test of a mutual-defense arrangement among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey signed last month. Pakistani soldiers are deployed near the Saudi border with Yemen, two Pakistani officials told Reuters in July, raising Islamabad’s exposure even as the country still depends on oil and gas shipments through Hormuz and the Red Sea.
Sources: Reuters
