ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister has stepped up diplomatic contacts with Gulf and regional counterparts following the signing of a new trilateral defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, speaking with Bahrain’s foreign minister after separate calls with Riyadh and Tehran as regional tensions remain high.
The contacts follow Friday’s signing of the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, under which an armed attack against Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or Türkiye would be considered an attack against all three, significantly expanding their security cooperation as the five-month US-Iran war and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz reshape Gulf security.
Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani called Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday night and discussed the agreement.
“Foreign Minister Al Zayani congratulated the DPM/FM on the signing of the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement,” the foreign office said. “He also expressed his intention to visit Pakistan in the near future.”
“DPM/FM warmly welcomed Dr. Al Zayani’s desire to visit Pakistan and thanked him for his kind sentiments,” the statement added. “He reiterated Pakistan’s firm commitment to promoting dialogue and diplomacy to achieve peace and stability in the region and beyond.”
The Bahrain conversation followed separate calls between Dar and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran on Monday.
Dar and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed regional developments and stressed the importance of continued close coordination bilaterally and at multilateral forums, while the conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi focused on the new agreement.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed the pact in the Saudi city of Makkah.
The agreement does not identify an adversary, and Pakistani officials have said it is purely defensive, is not directed against any country and remains open to other states willing to uphold its principles.
Dar also said after its signing that the accord did not abrogate or replace existing bilateral or multilateral arrangements involving the three countries, an important distinction given Türkiye’s membership of NATO and the extensive security relationships all three states maintain with Washington.
The agreement builds on the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement signed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in September 2025, which similarly stipulated that aggression against either country would be considered aggression against both.
GULF TENSIONS
The latest diplomatic contacts come as hopes for an agreement between Washington and Tehran to end the war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz have faded, putting renewed pressure on global energy markets.
Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday after gaining more than 5 percent on Monday, after US President Donald Trump responded to Iranian conditions for a peace deal with demands of his own, including compensation from Tehran for people killed in wars, attacks and protests.
Trump later said the United States had control of the Strait of Hormuz and had swept the strategic waterway for Iranian mines.
Araghchi has said Iran will not reopen the strait unless Washington meets a series of demands, including compensation for damage caused by US strikes, an end to military threats and sanctions, the lifting of a naval blockade and the release of frozen Iranian assets.
The strait, through which around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed before the war, has remained largely blocked since fighting began in February.
The trilateral defense arrangement had been under discussion well before the latest regional crisis. Pakistan’s Defense Production Minister Raza Hayat Harraj said in January that a draft agreement with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye had been prepared after nearly a year of negotiations and was being considered by all three governments.
Its conclusion, however, came in an altered security environment following US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 and Tehran’s subsequent missile and drone attacks against US positions and infrastructure across Gulf Arab states.
