ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye will convene the top committee of their joint defense pact in Riyadh next week to review a surge in Houthi attacks on the Kingdom, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday.

The meeting of the Strategic Political Defense Committee comes amid the most serious escalation between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis since a UN-brokered truce largely halted cross-border attacks in 2022, testing a three-nation pact signed in August that treats an armed attack on any member as an attack on all.

The Houthis have stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia since July, when they declared a naval blockade on the Kingdom and began targeting Saudi territory and shipping.

On Sept. 29, a drone struck the Taibah power distribution station serving the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, disabling a transformer without affecting the wider grid, according to the Saudi-led coalition, which blamed the Houthis. The group denied responsibility.

Earlier, on Sept. 8, a wave of Houthi strikes wounded 73 people, including women and children, and caused fires at energy facilities in southern Saudi Arabia.

“We are bound, all three countries,” Dar told reporters at a televised news briefing on his visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.

“If any one of us faces a challenge, we will help each other,” he said, comparing the collective defense arrangement to NATO and saying such cooperation was permitted under the UN Charter.

Dar said 17 attacks targeted Saudi Arabia on Sept. 21 or 22, many of which were neutralized, and said Pakistan had condemned the latest strike on infrastructure in Madinah.

“This is not acceptable,” he said.

The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye met in New York on Sept. 24 as the attacks intensified, followed by a meeting of the three countries’ military chiefs in Riyadh the next day, Dar said.

He said the forthcoming committee meeting in Saudi Arabia would focus on the current security situation facing the Kingdom and determine the three countries’ next steps.

Dar said he had also discussed the Houthi attacks and Pakistan’s obligations under the defense pact with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during their meeting in New York.

“I made him realize that we are in the defense pact and, as Muslims, we have to honor it and, God willing, we will,” Dar said.

He said Araghchi maintained that Iran had nothing to do with the Houthis or Iraqi militias and advised Pakistan to pursue political engagement with the group rather than military action.

“He said that you should engage them politically,” Dar said. “Instead of attacking them with kinetic action, you should engage them politically.”

Dar described the proposal as advice offered “in good faith,” saying Pakistan could not determine the alliance’s response on its own and that any decision would have to be taken jointly by the three members.

Asked whether Pakistan would publish the pact’s provisions, whether military intervention under it would require parliamentary approval and how joining strikes against the Houthis might affect Islamabad’s role as a mediator with Iran, Dar declined to elaborate.

“It’s not the right time to answer these questions,” he said. “Just wait for a few days.”

The Makkah Joint Defense Agreement was signed on Aug. 7 and provides that an armed attack on any of the three countries would be considered an attack on all.

Dar said more than six countries were interested in joining the alliance but new membership requests could not be considered until its secretariat and other mechanisms were fully operational, a process he expected to take at least a year.

“More than six countries are keen to join this Makkah Mukarramah Defense Pact,” Dar said.

He said the founding agreement allowed other countries to join with the consent of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.

“It is defensive in nature. It has no offensive agenda,” Dar said. “This document says it will be open for membership to other countries, provided they agree with the principles laid down by the founders.”

Hormuz

The deputy prime minister also said Pakistan remained engaged in diplomatic efforts surrounding the US-Iran conflict and wanted unrestricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz, whose disruption has driven up energy costs and affected global supply chains.

“There should be no fees, no service charge, no toll, no permission, no permit,” he said. “This is Pakistan’s stance, right from day one.”

Dar said he had personally raised the passage of an LNG vessel with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after being approached by Pakistan’s petroleum minister and the National Crisis Management Cell.

He said Araghchi contacted the relevant authorities and later confirmed the vessel’s passage.

Pakistan hosted talks in Islamabad in April as part of diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran that Dar said eventually produced the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in June. He said implementation had since stalled following violations by both sides.

Dar said Pakistan remained involved in backchannel diplomacy and had worked alongside countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye to seek a negotiated solution.

He said he had held 28 bilateral meetings during his visit to New York, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held 14 meetings with foreign leaders and international officials.

Dar said UN Secretary-General António Guterres had accepted Sharif’s invitation to visit Pakistan before his term ends on Dec. 31.

He also said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement during the New York visit abolishing visa requirements for holders of diplomatic and official passports, similar to an arrangement Islamabad previously reached with the United Arab Emirates.