Amidst escalating tensions inWest Asia, Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir travelled toSaudi Arabiaand met Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman to discuss the security situation. Leaders from Islamabad and Riyadh have been in contact since the start of the war against Iran. While Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif contacted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held talks with his Saudi counterparts multiple times.
Dar told the media that he also contacted the Iranian foreign minister and urged him not to target Saudi Arabia. For the unversed, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a defence agreement last year, according to which an attack on one country would be considered as an attack on both.
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Prince Khalid bin Salman in a statement posted on X early Saturday said his meeting with Munir focused on ways to stop the attacks, which he said “do not serve the security and stability of the region”. He added that there is hope that the Iranian side will prioritise wisdom and reason and refrain from "wrong calculations".
"We discussed the Iranian attacks on the kingdom within the framework of the joint strategic defence agreement between our two brotherly countries, and ways to stop these attacks, which do not serve the security and stability of the region, hoping that the Iranian side will prioritise wisdom and reason and refrain from wrong calculations," he said.
Pakistan has not so far commented on the visit of Munir to Saudi Arabia.
Questions were being asked if Pakistan would stand up in the defence of Saudi Arabia if a formal war began with Iran, and similarly if Riyadh would back Islamabad against its "open war" against Afghanistan's Taliban. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had signed a mutual defence pact last year. The countries are bound by the agreement to come to the defence of each other in case of attack by a third country.
The meeting comes at a time when Saudi Arabia has come under attacks by Iran. Iran launched drones and missiles against the kingdom following the joint strikes by the US and Israel. Earlier today, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence said four drones were intercepted and destroyed in the “Empty Quarter” desert area in the south of the country as they flew towards the Shaybah Field.
Earlier, the ministry had said that its forces intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched towards the Prince Sultan Air Base.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is fighting Afghanistan, with Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said it was "open war" between the two countries.
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
