• FO condemns militia actions against Saudi Arabia • Trump threatens Iranian infrastructure • Houthis block Red
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi speaking at FO’s weekly press briefing. SCREEN CAPTURE
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Wednesday strongly condemned the Houthi militia’s continued threats against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, warning that it reserves the right under international law to use necessary force to protect its maritime interests from any hostile act.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, a move that threatens to escalate conflict in the region and disrupt global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.
The Houthi armed forces, in a statement, said they were declaring a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi reaffirmed in a statement that any hostile act against Pakistani-flagged vessels or Pakistani maritime interests would be considered a serious threat to Pakistan’s national security and sovereign interests.
“In accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and international law, Pakistan reserves the right to take all necessary measures, including the legitimate use of force, in the exercise of self-defense to protect its maritime assets and national interests,” he stressed.
The spokesperson said: “Pakistan unequivocally condemns the continued threats issued by the Houthi militia against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.”
It said such actions “threaten regional security, undermine freedom of navigation, challenge the rules-based maritime order and endanger the uninterrupted flow of global trade.”
He said “threats against shipping and trade with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are unacceptable and violate established principles of international law” and added that Pakistan was “particularly concerned by reports of threats directed against vessels engaged in legal commercial trade with the kingdom.”
The spokesperson also expressed concern over attempts to widen the regional conflict, saying, “Pakistan is also deeply concerned about attempts to drag the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into the conflict in the Middle East and reiterates its unwavering support for the security, sovereignty, territorial integrity and prosperity of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Calling for restraint and compliance with international law, the statement said: “While remaining steadfast in its commitment to dialogue, diplomacy and the reduction of regional tensions, Pakistan calls on all parties to respect international law and ensure the safety of international shipping.”
donald trump
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant every time Iran fires on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after Iran’s allied Houthis in Yemen threatened a vital second energy route.
Five oil tankers changed course in the Red Sea to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Wednesday, a day after the Houthis’ threat to block Saudi oil exports highlighted a new risk to global oil supplies from the escalating conflict. Three tankers loaded with Saudi oil for China and India made a U-turn on Tuesday.
In response to Trump’s threat to Iran’s infrastructure, an Iranian military source cited by the Tasnim news agency said Tehran would retaliate against the region’s infrastructure.
“If our security is not guaranteed, no infrastructure will be safe… We have said many times that the situation in the strait will not return to what it was before the war,” Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said in X.
Iran’s near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf has stoked inflation around the world, and new risk to shipping from the Houthis, who control areas near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, pushed oil prices to a near six-week high.
Brent crude futures reached above $95 a barrel before retreating to above $93 by mid-morning US time.
Gasoline prices in the United States, which have weighed on Trump’s popularity ratings in polls ahead of the November midterm elections, have risen back to above $4 a gallon.
Millions of barrels of Saudi oil a day head to the kingdom’s Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. If shipments cannot pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait south of the Red Sea, they only have the northern route through the Suez Canal, which adds weeks to the journey and significantly increases freight and transit costs.
US strikes have expanded from the south to western and central parts of Iran in recent days. Iran this week attacked vital water and power desalination plants in Kuwait and attacked US military assets there, in Bahrain and in Jordan.
Iran strengthened its military in anticipation that its adversaries would break the agreements, said army commander-in-chief Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami. Iranian media also quoted Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy spokesman Hasan Qashqavi as saying Trump was in a “quagmire.”
An Iranian Health Ministry official said 53 civilians had been killed and 592 wounded since the end of last month; The US military has said it never attacks civilians.
The war has killed 18 U.S. service members and injured more than 450 soldiers. Trump attended a ceremony Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware in memory of four U.S. service members who were killed in Iranian attacks on military bases in recent days: three in Jordan and one in Iraq.
“For me it is one of the most difficult things to do as president. But it has to be done,” he said before leaving for the ceremony.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said allowing Iran such control would set a dangerous precedent for the world, including Southeast Asia, where many countries have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
Iran was not taking the talks seriously, he said. “If they are serious, we are serious. If they are not, then we will do whatever is necessary to protect our interests, and also the interests of our allies,” he told reporters at a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Manila.
In the 11th consecutive night of US bombings against Iran, Tehran residents reported explosions in the early hours of Wednesday due to air defenses activated over the capital, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said.
Three locations in Iran’s Bushehr province, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant, were hit, an official told Iran’s state news agency IRNA, including an electricity pole near the plant. Iranian media also said the United States attacked locations in Kabudarahang county in central Hamadan province, without giving details.
Iran’s military said it attacked accommodation and storage facilities at the US Al Azraq Air Base in Jordan, attacked warehouses and aircraft maintenance hangars at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain and also attacked Camp Doha in Kuwait.
Reuters could not immediately verify details of the attacks. Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain said they had intercepted Iranian attacks.
(With contributions from Reuters)
APPOINTMENT
Threats against shipping and trade with KSA are unacceptable
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
