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Pakistan has delivered a Saudi warning to Iran to rein in its Yemeni Houthi allies after a surge in attacks on the kingdom, in a coordinated effort to prevent the crisis from spiraling, according to Saudi, Pakistani and Iranian sources cited by Reuters.
The Houthis struck an airbase in Khamis Mushait and oil infrastructure in nearby cities Tuesday, wounding 73 people in one of the largest attacks on Saudi Arabia since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in February.
Pakistan's warning to Iran carries particular weight because of its defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.
While Islamabad has stressed that any military role would be confined to defending Saudi territory, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said attacks spilling into the kingdom could trigger the joint security arrangement between Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad.
"An aggression on one country will be considered an aggression on all three countries," Asif said on Pakistani television, noting that "There is no ambiguity or doubt ... Unprovoked aggression or spillover ... into Saudi Arabia will definitely make this agreement operational."
A senior regional diplomat who spoke to Reuters said Pakistan conveyed its message to Iran over the past 24 hours, urging Tehran to use its influence to halt Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.
A senior Iranian official confirmed Pakistan delivered the message Tuesday, with Tehran responding that "Iran does not control the Houthis."
However, two Iranian sources told Reuters that Tehran had instructed the Houthis last week to carry out attacks on Saudi Arabia, promising additional funding and weapons, while several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders traveled to Yemen to help coordinate the attacks.
The regional diplomat said Islamabad was seeking to restrain the Houthis before the escalation reached a point where Riyadh could press Pakistan to play a more active role in defending it.
"Pakistan has an agreement with Saudi Arabia, but I am hopeful the situation will not reach the point where Pakistan has to practically step in," the diplomat said.
"It will pursue a diplomatic solution for now," the diplomat noted.
A Pakistani source who spoke to Reuters said Saudi officials met senior Pakistani and Turkish military representatives in Riyadh to coordinate their response, with the three countries agreeing that their troops would not enter Yemen and that any response would be launched from Saudi territory.
A second Pakistani source said no decision had been made to join retaliatory strikes, stressing that Islamabad's military pact with Riyadh is defensive and limited to protecting Saudi territory.
Pakistani forces could provide military, technical, ground or air support within Saudi Arabia, the source said, but would not take part in combat operations on foreign soil.
Separately, Pakistani sources told Türkiye Today that Pakistan is likely to carry out airstrikes against Houthi forces in Yemen at Saudi Arabia's request, with one source saying the strikes could take place soon and be made public shortly afterward.
One military priority would be clearing Houthi forces from Saada province, according to a Pakistani source, though a final decision had not been made.
The regional diplomat told Reuters that the pressure campaign waged by Iran and the Houthis could have the opposite effect from what Tehran intends.
By targeting Gulf security to pressure Washington over its blockade of Iranian ports, Iran risks driving Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Türkiye and other U.S.-aligned states into closer security coordination rather than fracturing their ties, the diplomat said.
Regional officials see little sign that Washington is prepared to relent on its blockade of Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump appears committed to maintaining the blockade until Iran reaches an agreement with the U.S., the diplomat said, while Qatar is quietly exploring new proposals aimed at restarting negotiations.
Another regional source said Saudi Arabia's military response would remain focused on the Houthis rather than Iran itself, adding that Saudi officials do not believe Houthi attacks will achieve Tehran's broader objective of ending the U.S. blockade.
Riyadh is not expected to press Washington to lift the blockade, the source said, stressing that Trump believes sustained economic coercion is the most effective path to negotiations.
"The question is how much pain Iran can absorb, and for how long," the source said, adding, "Trump does not want a military solution. He wants to squeeze them through the blockade."
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A Saudi-led coalition said Houthis launched attacks targeting three Saudi cities, Khamis Mushait, Abha and Jazan, Wednesday, involving "a number" of ballistic missiles and drones, according to coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said separately that Saudi warplanes carried out 54 airstrikes across Yemeni provinces over a 12-hour period, warning the strikes would "not go unanswered and unpunished."
Yemen's Houthi-run Saba news agency later reported around 40 additional Saudi airstrikes in the governorates of Taiz, Hodeida, Al-Jawf and Marib.
Saudi-led coalition aircraft also carried out strikes on Yemen's western Al-Hudaydah province, targeting the districts of Al-Salif and Al-Tuhayta as well as Kamaran Island, according to Yemen's official Saba news agency, with no immediate details on casualties.
Separately, the Yemeni army said its forces captured "vast areas" from the Houthis in northern Al-Jawf province, claiming control of positions including the Al-Mutahaffat area and roughly 20 kilometers of Houthi earthworks near Al-Hazm.
Government-aligned National Resistance Forces said their naval units forced Houthi boats to retreat north toward Hodeidah.
The escalation represents a second theater of war threatening global energy supplies, unfolding as Iran and the U.S. wage their largest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping in the Gulf since their war began.
The Houthis have pressured Saudi Arabia for weeks, repeatedly striking Saudi oil infrastructure and tankers since July, when a 2022 truce between the two sides collapsed.
The group has also declared a maritime blockade of the kingdom and begun attacking Saudi ships, compounding pressure on Saudi exports already strained by Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed Aug. 7 by Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, commits the three countries to mutual defense if any signatory comes under attack, uniting NATO's second-largest army (Türkiye), the Islamic world's only nuclear-armed state (Pakistan) and a leading Gulf financial power (Saudi Arabia).
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