Pakistan will defend Saudi Arabia but is ‘not part’ of Yemen conflict: DG ISPR

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan is committed to defending Saudi Arabia and the holy sites of Makkah and Madina, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Friday. “We are not part of the Yemeni conflict, which is an intra-Yemen conflict,” he added.

Asked whether more Pakistani troops were being sent to Saudi Arabia under the agreement, Chaudhry said that would depend on the situation and the decision of both countries’ political leadership.

Pakistan signed a joint defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on August 7, saying an attack on any signatory will be treated as an attack on all. The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement (MJDA) has taken on added significance as the Iran war has redrawn regional alliances and raised fears of a broader Middle East conflict.

The wording of the pact does not bar new members, DG ISPR said when asked whether Iran could join.

“Anyone who has a shared vision of collective deterrence and regional peace, why not? Everyone is most welcome,” he said, adding that it was for the political leadership of the three principal parties to decide.

While the three signatories say the agreement is aimed at collective deterrence and regional security, analysts see its evolution as closely tied to efforts by regional powers to manage the fallout from the Iran-US confrontation.

Pakistan’s military is also “cautiously optimistic” about Islamabad’s efforts to ease tensions between Iran and the United States, the DG ISPR said, following a high-level Pakistani delegation’s visit to Tehran earlier this week.

He said Field Marshal Munir’s repeated visits to Iran reflected positive signs in Islamabad’s mediation efforts to de-escalate the eight-month-old war. The Field Marshal visited Tehran twice this month, with his latest trip taking place on Monday alongside officials from Saudi Arabia and Turkiye as Pakistan continued diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between Washington and Tehran.

“Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course,” Chaudhry said in an interview when asked whether the visits indicated progress. “The word that we would use is always cautiously optimistic,” he added.

After Monday’s talks, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei said regional security should be ensured by regional countries without foreign intervention.