Pakistan Saudi Arabia Houthi Conflict 2026: Why Islamabad Is Under Pressure
Pakistan faces growing pressure as Saudi Arabia clashes with Iran-backed Houthis. Here is how the 2026 conflict is testing Islamabad’s Iran ties, defence pact and mediation role.
Raja Awais Ali
9/11/20265 min read
Pakistan Under Pressure as Saudi-Houthi Tensions Test Its Iran Mediation Role
Pakistan is facing growing pressure to balance its close defence partnership with Saudi Arabia and its efforts to maintain diplomatic ties with Iran as fighting between Saudi-backed forces and Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen intensifies. For much of the past year, Islamabad has tried to maintain two sensitive roles at the same time: a defence partner of Riyadh and a channel for communication between Washington and Tehran. The latest escalation in Yemen is now testing how long Pakistan can maintain that balance without being forced to take a clearer position.
The fighting has become the first major test of the mutual defence agreement signed last month by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye. Under the agreement, an armed attack against any one of the three countries is to be treated as an attack against all three. The pact adds another layer of responsibility for Pakistan, which already has a longstanding defence relationship with Saudi Arabia.
The situation is particularly sensitive because Pakistani officials are concerned that the Houthi threat could increase the risk of Islamabad being drawn directly into a regional conflict. Two Pakistani officials said in July that Pakistani troops were deployed near Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen, placing Pakistani forces closer to the area affected by the latest fighting.
Pakistan’s economic interests also make the situation more complicated. Defence cooperation with Gulf countries has become an important part of Islamabad’s efforts to strengthen its economy after years of financial difficulties, and defence agreements have often been accompanied by discussions about Gulf investment in Pakistan. At the same time, Pakistan depends on oil and gas shipments moving through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, two strategically important routes that Iran and the Houthis have demonstrated they can disrupt. Islamabad therefore has strong reasons to deepen its relationship with the Gulf while avoiding a serious deterioration in relations with Tehran.
Rather than immediately responding militarily, Pakistan has so far focused on diplomacy. This week, Islamabad delivered a message from Saudi Arabia to Iran urging Tehran to rein in its Houthi allies in Yemen. Saudi, Pakistani and Iranian sources said the message was part of an effort to prevent the situation from escalating further.
Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir also spoke by telephone with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Thursday evening. According to a Pakistani source, the two discussed ways to restore diplomatic efforts aimed at reducing tensions across the region.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has also sought to make clear that no military response to the Houthi attacks is currently under discussion. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said Pakistan continues to oppose escalation and supports restraint, dialogue and diplomacy. He also said Iran’s leadership has consistently appreciated Pakistan’s mediation efforts.
The diplomatic challenge, however, is becoming more difficult as the conflict expands. Iranian officials have publicly welcomed Pakistan’s role and have said they do not consider the Pakistan-Saudi-Türkiye defence pact a threat. Privately, however, some Iranian officials and sources familiar with the discussions have expressed doubts about Pakistan’s ability to act as an effective mediator. They argue that Islamabad does not have the same level of negotiating experience or diplomatic resources as countries such as Qatar and Oman.
Pakistan has also shown signs of being cautious about expanding its defence commitments in the Gulf. After Islamabad and Riyadh reached their initial defence agreement, Kuwait reportedly pushed for a largely similar arrangement. Pakistani officials, concerned about establishing deeper military ties with another Gulf country that could potentially face Iranian attacks, scaled back the discussions.
Instead, Pakistan and Kuwait signed a narrower defence protocol in Islamabad last month. The agreement focuses on military training, border security and capacity-building rather than the broader defence arrangement that Kuwait had initially sought. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has also said there are currently no plans to expand the wider Pakistan-Saudi-Türkiye alliance to additional members.
Pakistan’s ability to act as a mediator is also being questioned because of its complicated history with Iran. Two years ago, Iranian missile and drone strikes on alleged militant positions in Pakistan’s Balochistan province triggered retaliatory Pakistani attacks. The confrontation briefly raised fears of a wider conflict between the two neighbouring countries before tensions eased.
The latest crisis therefore requires Islamabad to prevent a repeat of that kind of escalation while also protecting its relationship with Saudi Arabia. Pakistan has strong strategic and economic reasons to remain close to Riyadh, but it also shares a long border with Iran and has important security and economic interests in maintaining stable relations with Tehran.
Farzana Shaikh, an associate fellow at Chatham House, has questioned whether Tehran’s trust in Islamabad was ever as strong as widely assumed. She argues that Pakistan lacks some of the diplomatic experience and resources available to Qatar and Oman. She also believes Pakistan’s elevated diplomatic role has partly been linked to the close relationship between U.S. President Donald Trump and Field Marshal Asim Munir.
Trump has repeatedly referred to Munir as his “favorite field marshal” following Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen ties with Washington. Those efforts have included discussions involving cryptocurrency, U.S. access to rare minerals and counterterrorism cooperation.
Other analysts believe Pakistan’s relationships with Riyadh and Washington could actually be part of the reason Tehran continues to engage with Islamabad. Kamran Bokhari, a Washington-based analyst on Pakistan-Iran relations, argues that Pakistan’s alignment with Saudi Arabia and the United States gives it the ability to carry messages between countries in a way that a completely neutral mediator might not be able to.
That advantage, however, could disappear if the fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia becomes more direct or prolonged. Delivering diplomatic messages is very different from providing active military assistance. Any Pakistani involvement in areas such as air defence or intelligence support could move Islamabad from being a stakeholder and intermediary to becoming a direct participant in the conflict.
Pakistan is already dealing with significant military responsibilities at home and abroad. By active military personnel, Pakistan has the world’s seventh-largest military, while thousands of Pakistani troops have previously been deployed in Saudi Arabia under the existing defence arrangement, along with a squadron of fighter jets. At the same time, Pakistani forces remain responsible for security challenges along the country’s tense border with India and for dealing with multiple insurgencies in western Pakistan.
These existing commitments make additional military guarantees to other Gulf countries increasingly difficult. Analysts say Pakistan’s armed forces are already stretched, meaning that taking on further responsibilities abroad could place additional pressure on Islamabad.
The latest Saudi-Houthi escalation has therefore created a difficult test for Pakistan’s foreign policy. Islamabad is trying to remain committed to its defence relationship with Saudi Arabia while preserving communication with Iran and maintaining its role as a diplomatic intermediary. For now, Pakistan is emphasising dialogue, restraint and de-escalation rather than military action. But if the fighting expands further, maintaining that delicate balance could become significantly more difficult, forcing Pakistan to make choices that it has so far tried to avoid.
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