Why Pakistan is talking to Iran as the Houthi-Saudi fight escalates

Islamabad, Pakistan — Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had two phone calls on Thursday night: one with Pakistan’s chief of defence forces, Field Marshal Asim Munir , the other with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

The calls capped the most dramatic week yet in the Houthi-Saudi war .

Houthi drones and missiles wounded 73 people and set oil facilities ablaze in four Saudi cities on Tuesday, among the heaviest strikes of the war, according to the Saudi-led coalition.

Iran-backed Houthi fighters reached the coastal town of Mocha at dawn on Thursday and pushed offshore to seize nearby islands . By Friday morning, they had grabbed control of all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Yemeni government officials said fighters also reached Dhubab, on the Bab al-Mandeb coast, while boats carrying Houthi fighters reached Mayyun Island , at the heart of the strait, after government forces withdrew.

There has been no official announcement by Houthi authorities confirming control of the strait.

Brent crude surpassed $107 a barrel on Friday, as the advance raised fears that both of Saudi Arabia’s main export routes, the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb, could come under pressure at once — one by Iran directly, the other by Tehran’s ally, the Houthis.

Satellite images on Thursday appeared to show a fire along the East-West pipeline, Saudi Arabia’s main Hormuz-bypass route, which carries close to seven million barrels a day over 1,200km (746 miles) to Yanbu.

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, warned that the mutual defence pact between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye “ will definitely “ be activated if the fighting spills further into the kingdom.