{"id":2071,"date":"2026-10-02T20:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2071"},"modified":"2026-10-02T20:03:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:03:48","slug":"pakistan-says-makkah-pact-members-to-hold-emergency-talks-on-engaging-houthis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2071","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan says Makkah pact members to hold emergency talks on engaging Houthis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pakistan\u2019s foreign minister said Iran has suggested engaging Yemen\u2019s Houthis politically after attacks by the group, an idea a committee of \u200bthe Makkah defence pact will discuss at an emergency meeting in \u200cRiyadh next week.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The proposal comes as Saudi Arabia, which has accused the Houthis of targeting Islam\u2019s two holiest cities, faces escalating attacks.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, the pact\u2019s three members, will decide \u200bnext steps at the meeting, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told a news \u200bconference. He said the date would be confirmed later.<\/p>\n

Dar said Iran \u2060had distanced itself from the Houthis and Iraqi militias, and that President Masoud \u200bPezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi both want the matter concluded. He said he \u200bhad also briefed Tehran on the defence pact and how Pakistan would honour it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is no written, solid offer. It is brainstorming between two foreign ministers,\u201d Dar said, describing the political approach \u200bas a suggestion made in good faith. It would be discussed as an \u200balternative to \u201ckinetic action\u201d.<\/p>\n

More than six countries are keen to join the pact, Dar said, without naming them \u200cor \u2060saying whether all were Muslim-majority nations. New membership requests cannot be entertained until the pact is fully operational, which could take up to a year, he added.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on August 7, pledging to \u200btreat an armed \u200battack on any \u2060one of them as an attack on all three. Their military chiefs met in Riyadh on September 25 and condemned Houthi \u200battacks.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s military said in a statement on Friday that its \u200btop commanders \u2060strongly condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, expressing solidarity with the kingdom and commitment to the security of Islam\u2019s holy sites.<\/p>\n

Dar also said there should be no fee \u2060or charges \u200bto cross the Strait of Hormuz. The blockaded \u200bstrait has become the central bargaining chip in efforts to end the nearly seven-month US-Iran conflict.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistan\u2019s foreign minister said Iran has suggested engaging Yemen\u2019s Houthis politically after attacks by the group, an idea a committee of \u200bthe Makkah defence pact will discuss at an emergency meeting in \u200cRiyadh next week. The proposal comes as Saudi Arabia, which has accused the Houthis of targeting Islam\u2019s two holiest cities, faces escalating attacks. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, the pact\u2019s three members, will decide \u200bnext steps at the meeting, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told a news \u200bconference. He said the date would be confirmed later. Dar said Iran…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}