LONDON, 15 Sept. - (ANA) - A month after Pakistan joined Saudi Arabia and Türkiye in a mutual defense pact, Pakistani officials have reportedly gone to Iran at Riyadh’s behest to press Tehran to rein in the Houthis, Reuters reported. 

 

The Iranian-backed militia has struck military and energy targets in Saudi Arabia, near the Yemeni border, prompting dozens of counterstrikes from Saudi forces in Yemen, and the group has disrupted shipping in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

 

The Houthis struck an airbase in Khamis Mushait and oil infrastructure in nearby cities ‌on Tuesday, wounding 73 people, in one of the biggest attacks on Saudi Arabia since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in February.

 

The metastasizing Iran war, and tit-for-tat US and Iranian strikes in the Strait of Hormuz, have pushed oil above $107 a barrel. 

 

Saudi Arabia, a key price stabilizer in the market as a major exporter, is running out of ways to get crude out. It shipped 3.2 million barrels a day last month, the lowest level in at least nine years, according to data from Kpler.

 

US President Donald Trump appears committed to maintaining the US blockade in Hormuz until Iran reaches an agreement with Washington, a Pakistani diplomat told Reuters, while Qatar is trying to bring both sides back to negotiations. 

 

While Trump said the war could wrap up “immediately” after the mid-term elections, top advisers, including the vice president and secretary of state, have reportedly privately warned the conflict may persist until the end of his term, according to The Wall Street Journal.

 

The escalating conflict, which represents a second theatre of war to threaten global energy supplies, comes as Iran and the United States wage their ​biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping in the Gulf region since their war began.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/15 September 2026 - -