- DPM Dar accompanying PM Shehbaz on trip.
- PM’s trip comes amid US-Israel war on Iran.
- CDF Munir recently met Saudi defence minister.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday departed for Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to discuss the Middle East tensions following the US-Israel war on Iran.
The Foreign Office spokesperson said that Ishaq Dar, who holds the portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, is also accompanying the premier.
Pakistan has intensified diplomacy following the Iran war — which was caused by US and Israeli attacks on Iran, killing its supreme leader and plunging the Middle East into conflict — with the PM Shehbaz and DPM/FM Dar speaking to their counterparts in the region as well as in the Gulf nations to play their role in easing the regional tensions.
Iran has targeted US bases as well as targets in Gulf nations, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, and has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, which has skyrocketed the price of oil — and warned that the world should be ready for $200 a barrel.
Meanwhile, Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman held a meeting last week in which both sides discussed Iranian attacks on the kingdom within the framework of the joint strategic defence agreement between the two nations.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the landmark Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) in September last year, which treats an attack on either nation as an act of aggression against both.
In a statement posted on X early Saturday, Khalid bin Salman said the meeting 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”.
Saudi Arabia intercepted two drones headed towards the Shaybah oil field on Thursday, as Iran targets the facility again in its campaign to disrupt global energy markets.
“Two drones heading towards the Shaybah oil field were intercepted and destroyed,” a spokesperson for the country’s defence ministry posted on X.
It came after Saudi Arabia confirmed on Wednesday that it had prevented several drone attacks against the facility, which is crucial to the country’s oil production.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV, Prime Minister’s spokesperson for Foreign Media Mohsarraf Zaidi recently said it is unquestionable that Islamabad will come to Riyadh’s aid “no matter what and no matter when”.
Although Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has expressed regret over strikes in regional countries, Tehran has maintained that it will target those sites which are used to launch attacks on its soil.
The PM’s spokesperson Zaidi highlighted that Islamabad and Riyadh have always “operated on the principle of being there for the other”.
