Saudi Arabia Mobilizes Pakistan to Join US-Israel Attack on Iran
Saudi Arabia vows to escalate military conflict with Iran by invoking a mutual security pact with Pakistan, seeking Islamabad's participation in US-Israel strikes. This marks a dangerous widening of the regional war, with new fronts expected to open that could destabilize South Asia.
Saudi Arabia officially declared its intent to join US-Israeli military operations targeting Iran, invoking a longstanding mutual security agreement with Pakistan. Riyadh is now pressing Islamabad to conduct bombing raids on Iranian soil, signaling an unprecedented escalation in the decades-long conflict between these regional powers.
The backdrop of this development is the recent wave of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) missile and drone strikes on vital oil refineries in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. These attacks have inflamed tensions in the Gulf, causing economic shocks and pushing Saudi Arabia into a confrontational posture.
Strategically, Saudi Arabia’s move to co-opt Pakistan expands the battlefield beyond the Middle East into South Asia, risking a wider regional conflagration. Pakistan’s involvement under the mutual defense pact not only internationalizes the conflict but threatens to destabilize Pakistan’s internal security and complicate its relations with Iran and other neighbors.
Operationally, Saudi Arabia is calling on Pakistan to utilize its air force to bomb Iranian targets, representing a significant shift. The mutual defense agreement, signed years ago but never activated in such intensity, now challenges Pakistan’s historical balancing role. The proposed campaign involves sophisticated air strikes potentially coordinated with US and Israeli intelligence assets.
If Pakistan accedes to Saudi demands, a new front will open that may draw additional regional and global powers into a multifaceted conflict. The risk of escalation and wider war in South Asia and the Middle East rises dramatically, with economic and security repercussions likely to spread far beyond the immediate combatants.