Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye plan urgent defence talks as Houthi attacks intensify

RIYADH/CAIRO: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye are set to hold an urgent meeting of their military chiefs to discuss support for the kingdom as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis intensify missile and drone attacks, testing the three-way Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, Reuters reported.

According to Reuters, the meeting will be held under the agreement signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye in Makkah on Aug. 7. The pact provides for collective defence, treating an armed attack on any one of the three countries as an attack on all three.

The move comes after the Houthis claimed on Thursday that they had launched dozens of missiles and drones towards Saudi targets. Saudi authorities said they had intercepted six ballistic missiles, while emergency alerts were issued in several areas, including Makkah, Jeddah and Yanbu.

As per Reuters, Saudi, Pakistani and Turkish foreign ministers discussed arrangements for the emergency meeting of the three countries’ chiefs of staff, according to a Saudi Foreign Ministry statement. The ministers condemned attacks targeting Makkah and other civilian locations and reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself.

Met with my brothers, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud @FaisalbinFarhan and Foreign Minister of Türkiye Hakan Fidan @HakanFidan, along with our respective delegations, on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in… pic.twitter.com/OOwWdMVZtl

— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) September 25, 2026

Pakistan has previously said it would fulfil its obligations under the pact but that military action in response to Houthi attacks had not been under discussion at that stage, with officials have describing the agreement as defensive in nature.

The escalation also comes as Iran seeks to distance itself from Houthi actions. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a US television interview that the Houthis were responsible for their own actions.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority urged the kingdom’s troops to be prepared to sacrifice their lives in defence of the country amid the escalating attacks, according to a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

The Houthis have in recent weeks stepped up attacks on Saudi territory and energy infrastructure, adding to tensions across the region and raising concerns over the security of vital oil and shipping routes.

“The Houthis are responsible for their own actions,” Pezeshkian told the Fox News program “Special Report with Bret Baier” a day after he appeared before the UN General Assembly in New York.

The Pezeshkian interview and speech took place amid a pause in fighting between the US and Iran and a brief attempt at diplomacy in New York, with Qatar serving as intermediary between the warring parties.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters on Thursday that Tehran had conveyed a proposal to the United States via intermediaries under which the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened if Tehran’s conditions were met.

Under Iran’s proposal, hostilities would end on all fronts, including Lebanon, within seven days. The United States would lift its blockade on Iranian ports, release Iran’s frozen funds and waive its oil sanctions, he said.

“The Strait of Hormuz will be reopened on the last day,” Araqchi said, adding that talks with the United States on other issues, including Iran’s nuclear issue, would then start.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran was reviewing Washington’s response to its peace proposals.

The war, which US President Donald Trump launched alongside Israel in February, has killed thousands of people and disrupted global energy supplies, pushing up oil prices.

While the US and Iran have largely stood down from direct combat, Iranian allies are engaged in the region with Hezbollah confronting Israel in Lebanon and the Houthis advancing in Yemen.

Iran and its allies have significantly pressured oil exports from Saudi Arabia, a US ally. The Houthis have disrupted ship traffic at the mouth of the Red Sea while Iran has effectively limited tanker traffic at the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for 20% of the world’s oil exports before the start of the war. An attack by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also temporarily knocked Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline out of service.

Security experts have debated exactly how much Iran directly influences the Houthis, a Shi’ite Islamist movement that evolved from a local insurgency into a powerful armed group controlling much of northern Yemen.

However, Yemeni government, Iranian and ‌regional sources have said the Houthis’ advance down Yemen’s Red Sea coast was carried out with direct guidance from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

With the US-Israeli war against Iran largely stalemated for months on the battlefield, Washington has announced a shift in tactics to extend the reach of its financial sanctions by targeting companies from third countries that do business with Iranian firms, a practice known as “secondary sanctions”.

Iranian airlines were barred from neighbouring countries including the UAE and Oman on Thursday in response to new US sanctions, the first big impact of a shift in US policy to target companies in third countries that do business with Iran.

A flight ban, if sustained, could deepen Iran’s isolation and worsen an economic crisis in the country, which is already facing a US blockade of its ports at sea.

“We are living in an open-air prison,” a retired teacher in Tehran told Reuters by text message on condition her name not be used.