https://arab.news/44pg7
- Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a strategic defense agreement in September 2025, formalizing decades of security cooperation
- Islamabad believes in peaceful co-existence but country fully prepared to defend its sovereignty, says Pakistan’s UN ambassador
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said on Sunday that Islamabad’s international partnerships, including its defense pact with Saudi Arabia, reflects its growing “global importance” following Pakistan’s May 2025 conflict with India.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a strategic defense agreement in September 2025 under which they pledged that “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.”
The agreement took place months after India and Pakistan engaged in the worst fighting between the two countries since 1999. Both nuclear-armed neighbors pounded each other with drone strikes, fighter jets, missiles and traded artillery fire for four days before US President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire between them on May 10, 2025. Pakistan’s air force claims it shot down seven Indian aircraft, which New Delhi disputes.
Speaking at an event in Brooklyn organized by the Pakistani community to mark one year of the May 2025 conflict, Ahmad noted that Pakistan’s military success was transformed into a “major political and diplomatic victory” through effective diplomacy in the months after it.
“Ambassador Asim further stated that the promotion of Pakistan’s international partnerships, including the defense agreement with Saudi Arabia, is a manifestation of Pakistan’s diplomatic success and growing global importance following the conflict,” the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN said on social media platform X.
The event was organized by community leader Malik Khalid Awan, Pakistan’s mission to the UN said, adding that it was attended by individuals from various walks of life in the Pakistani community. Pakistani Senator Rana Mahmood ul Hassan also spoke on the occasion.
Ahmad stressed that despite tensions and conflict, Pakistan has always supported peace, negotiations and diplomacy. He referred to Pakistan’s presidency of the UN Security Council in July, saying that when the global body was deeply divided on several issues, Pakistan played a key role in approving a resolution on the “peaceful settlement of disputes.”
“He clarified that while Pakistan believes in peaceful coexistence and negotiated solutions, the country is fully prepared to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Pakistani mission said. “He warned that India continues to conspire against Pakistan, and the threats facing the region still persist.”
The ambassador said Pakistan continues to extend its full support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and Palestine. He pointed out that Pakistan was one of eight countries that worked with President Donald Trump and his administration to secure a ceasefire in Gaza last year.
Pakistan hopes to broker a peace deal between the US and Iran, as it seeks to bolster its diplomatic standing worldwide. Islamabad has emerged as a key diplomatic intermediary between the US and Iran ever since fighting broke out between the two sides in February.
Pakistan hosted the first round of direct talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad in April, which ended without a breakthrough. Senior Pakistani officials, including Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, the country’s prime minister and chief of defense forces, have maintained regular contact with both the American and Irani leadership since February in hopes to achieve a peace deal.