Attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis this week have frustrated Pakistan and threaten to draw Islamabad into the conflict, complicating any future role it may have as a mediator between ​the United States and Iran, Reuters reported.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan, which helped broker an interim deal last month in the war between Washington and Tehran, signed a mutual defence agreement with Saudi Arabia last ‌year and thousands of Pakistani soldiers have been deployed to the kingdom, alongside a squadron of fighter jets.

Pakistan had already voiced anger about Iranian strikes on Saudi Arabia earlier this year, but regional analysts and officials said the attacks this week had pushed Islamabad’s frustration with Iran to a new level as they raised the prospect of a new Saudi-Houthi conflict.

The Houthis fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport under their control on Monday. The cross-border fire pierced ​a four-year truce but has so far been contained to a single incident.

“Our top civil and military leaders have conveyed to Iran at the highest level that the attacks on Saudi ​Arabia are attacks on Pakistan,” a Pakistani official told Reuters. “It is our red line.”

The source and other Pakistani officials interviewed for this article spoke on condition ⁠of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly.

“Pakistan wasn’t anticipating that the tensions will rise so suddenly,” said Muhammad Amir Rana, a Pakistani security analyst.

Pakistan’s frustration appears rooted in growing concerns that Houthi ​involvement may be more likely to draw Pakistan into the conflict than the Iranian missile strikes were earlier this year. Pakistani soldiers are deployed near the Saudi border with Yemen, two Pakistani officials said, increasing ​their direct exposure.

There are also concerns in Islamabad that a Houthi-led escalation could disrupt shipping in the Red Sea, an important trade route that Pakistan and many other countries depend on. A widening conflict there could be more difficult to contain and could target Saudi interests in a way that forces Pakistan to intervene militarily under the terms of its mutual defence pact.

Ghulam Mustafa, a retired Pakistani general, said that for now “Pakistan’s top leaders are still engaged in appeasing all stakeholders.” But ​he cautioned that this could change “if the Houthis expand the radius of their attacks in Saudi Arabia.”

MOUNTING CONCERNS

This week’s tensions between Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi Arabia have fueled broader concerns in Islamabad about Iran.

Two ​Pakistani government officials said growing divisions within the Iranian leadership have been watched with concern in Islamabad.

The views and objectives of Iran’s political leaders, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, ‌increasingly differ ⁠from those of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pakistani officials said.

“The military seems to be dominating the decision making in Iran,” said Muhammad Ali, a Pakistani defence analyst, adding that this is increasingly “being recognised in Islamabad.”

The recent escalation contributed to the postponement of a visit by an Iranian delegation to Islamabad earlier this week that had not been announced publicly, two Pakistani officials said.

The delegation, led by Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, arrived in Islamabad two days later than planned, on Wednesday, the officials said, with the talks expected to include conversations about the U.S.-Iran deal.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry and the country’s military media wing did not immediately respond to ​a request for comment.

In a briefing on Thursday, ​foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan calls “on ⁠all parties to exercise maximum restraint” and that “there is no alternative to sustained engagement, dialogue, and diplomacy.”

PAKISTANI DOUBLE ROLE

As Pakistan seeks a more prominent regional role, analysts say it will also increasingly face the challenges that come with such exposure.

When Pakistan’s defence deal with Saudi Arabia was announced last September, it was widely ​seen as a sign that Gulf Arab states were growing increasingly wary about the reliability of the United States as a security guarantor and ​looking to Pakistan and other countries ⁠as a possible alternative.

But Pakistan is deeply reliant on Middle Eastern countries for oil and gas. The tensions around the Strait of Hormuz disrupted Pakistan’s supply routes, and the government imposed emergency measures including early business closures to prevent a fuel shortage.

Mediating between the U.S. and Iran has been at least as much about reopening these supply routes as it has been about diplomatic influence, according to analysts and Pakistani officials.

“Yes, there is frustration, ⁠but that doesn’t ​mean that we are abandoning this project,” one official said, referring to the mediation. “We have invested a lot in it, and ​we have an interest in keeping it afloat.”

Pakistan has rarely appeared closer to having to choose a side than this week, however.

“It’s in everyone’s best interest for the war to end,” said a different Pakistani source aware of the mediation. “But if Saudi calls ​us in, we will stand by them and there is no doubt about that.”

The U.S. launched two waves of attacks on Iran’s coastal defenses and missile sites on Wednesday after reimposing ​a naval blockade of its ports, while Iran struck back by targeting U.S. military sites in neighboring countries in what it called an “existential war” with America.

The latest escalation comes days after a ‌fragile truce collapsed, raising the specter of a return to full-scale war, with Iran once again threatening to shut off more regional energy exports, Reuters reported.

Hostilities have intensified since Iran said late on Saturday it had closed the Strait of Hormuz. Military operations are also keeping ships from transiting the vital artery, which carried about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, closed at a one-month high of $84.95 a barrel on Wednesday.

U.S. Central Command said the military had attacked coastal defense ​systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran’s Greater Tunb Island starting around 6:00 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), then launched a second wave of strikes against multiple cities nine hours later.

“U.S. forces struck ​Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities,” it said in a statement, adding it also hit targets in Bandar Abbas, ⁠home to Iran’s largest port and key navy and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards facilities on the Strait of Hormuz.

“Earlier this morning, American forces struck coastal defense and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island during a 90-minute wave,” ​the U.S. military added.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had struck U.S. military targets in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. The Guards said they targeted a gathering for U.S. military personnel and ​a radar system at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait with a missile and drone attack.

Three U.S. officials told Reuters that U.S. strikes aimed at forcing open the strait are also targeting Iranian military capabilities the U.S. would want to destroy before executing more complex operations.

The U.S. military also said it disabled an unladen oil tanker attempting to sail toward Iran’s Kharg Island after it ignored multiple warnings, firing Hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack. Since resuming a naval blockade against Iran on Tuesday, the U.S. ​has redirected two ships and disabled another, the military said.

Iranian news media reported a series of explosions, mainly in coastal areas such as Bandar Abbas. Other explosions or projectile strikes were reported around the city of Ahvaz, ​just inland from the northern end of the Gulf, and Konarak, Sirik and Qeshm in southern Iran.

Press TV reported at least two explosions in the central Iranian city of Khondab, about 250 km (155 miles) southwest of Tehran. Mehr news agency reported ‌Iran activated its ⁠air defenses in Tehran to counter “hostile threats.”

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that the U.S. attacks struck near a hospital in Ahvaz that houses a pediatric cancer center, forcing the temporary evacuation of the hospital. Families have come out to the streets around the hospital to care for their children, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) said.

After the first wave, Tehran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf issued a statement declaring that Iranian security depended on maintaining what he called “Iranian arrangements” in the strait.

“We are in an essential and existential war with America,” Qalibaf said.

The war has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, where conflict restarted between Israel and Iran-backed militant group ​Hezbollah. In July alone, U.S. attacks have killed 35 ​people, Tasnim reported, citing a health ministry official.

TRUMP ⁠SAYS IRAN WANTS TO SETTLE

Trump struck a triumphant note, as he has repeatedly since the U.S. and Israel started hostilities on February 28, saying, “We’ll have Iran defeated soon. They’ll be defeated very soon.”

Speaking at a roundtable event at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, Trump also claimed the Iranians want to “settle so badly.”

“They don’t like what we’re ​doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” Trump said.

On Tuesday, ​Trump said U.S. negotiators had ⁠been in touch with their Iranian counterparts to tell them “you better make a deal.”

Iran’s military spokesperson said that the only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was for the U.S. to comply with the 14-point memorandum of understanding that the two sides signed in June, and the implementation of “Iranian regulations” regarding ship traffic in the strait.

Even amid the hostilities, there was a possible sign of goodwill. Trump said Iran had allowed an American who was “wrongfully detained” under the Biden ⁠administration in 2024 ​to leave the country.

“The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Human rights attorney Jared ​Genser identified the released American as Dena Karari, who had been prevented from leaving Iran since December 2024.

“Dena is now safe and traveling back to the United States,” Genser wrote on X, thanking Trump for his efforts to free her.

Iran says more than 30 civilians have been killed in recent attacks in the country’s south as military tensions with the United States continue to intensify.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Wednesday that the casualties occurred during recent attacks targeting southern Iran, although she did not specify the locations or provide further details.

“In the recent attacks on the southern part of the country, more than 30 civilians lost their lives,” Mohajerani said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, Iranian media reported that fresh US strikes targeted three locations in Bushehr Province on Wednesday morning. According to the province’s governor, no injuries were reported in the latest attacks.

Bushehr, on Iran’s Gulf coast, is home to key energy infrastructure, including the country’s only operational nuclear power plant, making it a strategically significant region.

The latest strikes come a day after US President Donald Trump said military operations against Iran would continue and intensify unless Tehran agreed to resume negotiations. Trump warned that the United States could begin targeting Iran’s power plants and bridges in the coming days if diplomatic efforts fail.

The conflict has escalated sharply in recent weeks, with both countries exchanging strikes amid growing tensions over security in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil shipping routes.

Despite a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding aimed at reducing hostilities and creating a framework for peace talks, fighting has continued. Iran has also submitted a letter to the United Nations accusing the United States of violating the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and undermining efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire.

The latest developments have heightened international concerns that the conflict could further destabilize the region and disrupt global energy supplies.