ISLAMABAD/DUBAI: For much of the past year, Pakistan has played a dual role as Riyadh's defence partner and peacemaker in the US-Iran war, but this week's fighting between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement and Saudi forces is increasingly testing how long Islamabad can hold both positions at once. The fighting represents the first major test of the mutual defence alliance signed last month between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, adding to a pre-existing pact between Islamabad and Riyadh. Under the arrangement, an armed attack on any one of the three countries is to be regarded as an attack on all.
Pakistani officials worry the Houthi threat is more likely to draw Islamabad into a conflict than earlier Iranian missile strikes on Saudi energy infrastructure. Two Pakistani officials confirmed that Pakistani soldiers are deployed near the Saudi border with Yemen. While defence deals with Gulf nations are central to Pakistan's economic recovery plans, Islamabad also relies heavily on oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea - routes vulnerable to disruption by Iran and the Houthis.
In a bid to de-escalate, Pakistan this week delivered a Saudi warning urging Tehran to rein in its Yemeni allies, according to Saudi, Pakistani and Iranian sources. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir also held a telephone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Thursday evening to discuss ways to restore diplomatic efforts.
"Pakistan is trying to keep a low profile because its stakes are high, and it does not want to spoil relations with Iran," a senior Pakistani official said. During a weekly briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan stated that no military response to the Houthi attacks was currently under discussion, reiterating Islamabad's consistent advocacy for dialogue and diplomacy.