Pakistan has issued a strong condemnation of recent threats by Yemen’s Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, calling the move “unequivocally” unacceptable, the Foreign Office said Wednesday. The statement follows the Iran-aligned group’s announcement of an immediate maritime embargo on the kingdom, opening yet another front in the region’s spiraling conflict.
If enforced, the embargo could sever access to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports, lifelines for oil exports at a moment when renewed fighting between the US and Iran has already choked traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. How exactly the Houthis plan to enforce such a blockade remains unclear.
Islamabad said threats against commercial shipping and trade with Saudi Arabia breach established principles of international law, expressing particular alarm over reports targeting vessels engaged in lawful trade with the kingdom. Such actions, the Foreign Office warned, endanger regional security, undercut freedom of navigation, and threaten to disrupt the global flow of commerce.
The statement carried a pointed warning of its own: any hostile act against Pakistani-flagged vessels or maritime interests would be treated as a serious threat to the country’s national security and sovereignty. Pakistan said it reserves the right to take all necessary steps, including the lawful use of force in self-defense, to protect its maritime assets, in keeping with the UN Charter and international law.
Islamabad also voiced unease over efforts to pull Saudi Arabia further into the broader Middle East conflict, as fighting between Washington and Tehran continues, with Iran having already struck American military installations across several Gulf states. The Foreign Office reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast support for Saudi Arabia’s security, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and prosperity, while urging all sides to respect international law and protect the safety of global shipping.
The Houthi announcement came days after the group exchanged fire with Saudi Arabia for the first time in years, straining a 2022 truce that had held even after its formal expiry. Following Houthi missile strikes on Saudi Arabia on July 13, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had already denounced what he termed “blatant attacks” on the kingdom. Pakistan has similarly backed Riyadh at an emergency UN Security Council session on Yemen, urging dialogue over confrontation.
The two nations’ Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement, signed in September 2025, binds them to treat an attack on either as aggression against both, a pact Islamabad had already invoked diplomatically in March to help deter earlier Iranian strikes on Saudi soil.
The threat is already rippling through global shipping. Three tankers carrying Saudi crude bound for China and India reversed course in the Red Sea this week, choosing to reroute via the Suez Canal rather than risk passage near Yemen’s coast and the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a chokepoint the Houthis have exploited before. Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port has grown increasingly critical as Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz persists. Saudi crude exports fell for a third straight month in May to a record low of 3.434 million barrels per day, down from 3.986 million in April, according to Joint Organisations Data Initiative figures.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington would “take care of” the Houthis should they follow through on their threat to blockade Saudi ports.
