Pakistan has delivered a Saudi warning to Iran to rein in “its” Yemeni Houthi allies after they stepped up attacks on the kingdom, in a coordinated effort to prevent the crisis from spiraling, Reuters reported yesterday, citing Saudi, Pakistani and Iranian sources. The warning apparently came after the Houthis launched a wave of missile strikes on targets in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, hitting an airbase in Khamis Mushait and nearby oil infrastructure, attacks which wounded 73 people. A senior regional diplomat told Reuters that Pakistan had conveyed the message to Iran over the previous 24 hours, urging Tehran to use its influence to halt Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.

While officials in Islamabad stressed any military role would be confined to defending Saudi territory, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said attacks spilling into the kingdom could trigger the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement between Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad. “An aggression on one country will be considered an aggression on all three countries,” Asif said on Pakistani TV. “There is no ambiguity or doubt... Unprovoked aggression or spillover... into Saudi Arabia will definitely make this agreement operational.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei rejected claims made by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday that the Houthis are Tehran’s proxy. “Marco Rubio’s lies cannot replace facts. Ansarallah is an independent Yemeni actor that makes its own decisions; it takes orders from no one and acts as nobody’s proxy,” he said on X, on Wednesday. “The roots of instability in the region lie in U.S. military interventions and hegemonic policies,” he said, adding that if Washington genuinely wanted peace, it would take one simple step: “end its malign and destabilizing interventions in our region.”