ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and expressed Pakistan’s “unflinching solidarity” with the Kingdom after an Iranian attack on the Jubail petrochemical complex, Sharif’s office said.
Jubail, a sprawling industrial city, houses multi-billion-dollar joint ventures between state-backed oil giant Saudi Aramco and its petrochemical subsidiary SABIC, and Western energy majors. It was not immediately clear which facility or facilities were hit.
Riyadh said ballistic missiles and drones launched toward its Eastern Region had been intercepted, though debris fell near key energy infrastructure as Iran continued attacks across the Gulf following the war triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28.
Sharif’s office said the prime minister and the Saudi crown prince discussed the ongoing hostilities in the region, with the Pakistan premier lauding the wisdom and sagacity of the Saudi leadership in exercising maximum restraint during the ongoing crisis.
“The Prime Minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering and unflinching solidarity and support for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the wake of the ongoing attacks, and reiterated Pakistan’s condemnation of the attack at the Al Jubeil oil facility in Saudi Arabia earlier today,” the Pakistan PM’s office said.
“He assured His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that the people and the Government of Pakistan would always stand shoulder to shoulder with their Saudi brothers and sisters, just as the Saudi leadership and people had always supported Pakistan, through thick and thin.”
Sharif also apprised the crown prince of the latest developments in Pakistan’s mediation efforts to de-escalate the Middle East crisis.
“The Crown Prince appreciated Pakistan’s peace efforts, aimed at restoring peace and stability in the region,” Sharif’s office said.
Iran has launched repeated missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in recent weeks, raising fears of a wider conflict. Pakistan has consistently condemned Iranian strikes on Gulf nations, even as it denounced US-Israeli attacks on Iran, and has sought to facilitate communication between Washington and Tehran while working with regional states to end hostilities.
In September last year, Islamabad and Riyadh signed a joint defense pact under which an attack on one would be considered an attack on both. Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said at the outset of the war that Islamabad had reminded Iran of the agreement.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan’s top military commanders said Iran’s missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s energy facilities had undermined ongoing peace efforts in the region, warning that such actions risk derailing diplomatic attempts to end the war.
Meeting at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the top generals appreciated the efforts of the Pakistani government to bring an end to the war in the Middle East, calling for restraint, dialogue and de-escalation.
“The Forum noted with concern and vehemently condemned latest attacks on KSA’s petrochemical and industrial complex as an unnecessary escalation which spoils sincere efforts to resolve the conflict through peaceful means,” the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement circulated after the Corps Commanders’ Conference.
“The Forum noted that restrain and calibration so far exhibited by KSA, despite grave provocations, enabled mediation and diplomatic resolution,” the statement continued, adding that “such unwarranted aggressions have serious repercussions, to spoil the ongoing peaceful options and conducive environment.”
