Over the past year, Pakistan has served both as a defence partner to Riyadh and as a discreet intermediary between Washington and Tehran.
However, the recent clashes between Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement and Saudi forces are making it increasingly challenging for Islamabad to maintain these dual roles at the same time.
The conflict represents the first major test of the mutual defence alliance formed last month by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, which expands upon a pre-existing security pact between Islamabad and Riyadh.
According to Mecca Pact, an armed attack on any one of the three nations is to be treated as an attack on all.
Pakistani officials fear that the Houthi threat is more likely to pull Islamabad into a conflict than the Iranian missile attacks on Saudi energy facilities earlier this year.
Two Pakistani officials told Reuters in July that Pakistani troops are stationed near the Saudi-Yemen border, heightening their direct exposure.
Pakistan entered into the defence agreement as a strategic move to secure backing from Riyadh to stabilize its deteriorating economy, a step that has frequently coincided with parallel or follow-up discussions on investments from the Gulf.
At the same time, Pakistan depends on oil and gas supplies that pass through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, corridors that Iran and the Houthis have demonstrated they can disrupt, giving Islamabad a strong incentive not to antagonise Tehran even as it strengthens its partnerships with the Gulf states.
Neighbouring countries Pakistan and Iran have clashed militarily over militant sanctuaries along their shared frontier.
In 2024, Iranian missile and drone strikes on suspected militant hideouts in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, near the border, triggered retaliatory attacks from Islamabad — a flare-up that briefly raised fears of a new conflict before tensions subsided. This time, Pakistan is seeking to prevent an escalation before it's too late.
Pakistan is attempting to maintain a low profile in the Saudi-Houthi conflict because its own interests are significant," a second Pakistani government official told Reuters. "It does not want to damage its relations with Iran."
During a Thursday briefing, Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan stated that a military response to the Houthi attacks was not currently being considered. Pakistan has consistently opposed any escalation and has advocated restraint, dialogue, and diplomacy.