• FO condemns the actions of the militias against Saudi Arabia • Trump threatens Iranian infrastructure • Houthis block Red
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Hussain Andrabi speaks at the FO’s weekly press briefing. SCREEN GRAB
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Wednesday strongly condemned the continued threats by the Houthi militia against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, warning that under international law it reserves the right to use the necessary force to protect its maritime interests against any hostile action.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, a move that threatens to escalate the conflict in the region and disrupt global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.
The Houthis’ armed forces said in a statement that they are declaring a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi confirmed in a statement that any hostile act against Pakistan’s flag or Pakistan’s maritime interests would be considered a serious threat to Pakistan’s national security and sovereign interests.
“In accordance with the United Nations Charter and international law, Pakistan reserves the right to take all necessary measures, including the lawful use of force, in the exercise of self-defense to protect its maritime assets and national interests,” he noted.
The spokesman 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 commercial shipping and trade with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are unacceptable and violate established principles of international law”, adding that Pakistan was “particularly concerned about reports of threats against ships engaged in legitimate commercial trade with the Kingdom”.
The spokesman 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 fraternal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.
Calling for restraint and adherence to international law, the statement said: “While Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to dialogue, diplomacy and regional de-escalation, Pakistan calls on all parties to respect international law and ensure the safety and security of international shipping.”
Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant whenever Iran fires on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen threatened another vital energy route.
Five 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 bound for China and India made u-turns on Tuesday.
In response to Trump’s threat to Iran’s infrastructure, an Iranian military source quoted by the Tasnim news agency said Tehran would retaliate against infrastructure in the region.
“If our security is not ensured, 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 top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on X.
Iran’s near total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf has fueled inflation around the world and the 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 oil futures hit more than $95 per a barrel before falling back to near $93 by mid-morning US time.
U.S. gasoline prices, which have weighed on Trump’s polls ahead of November’s midterm elections, have climbed back above $4 a gallon. gallon.
Millions of barrels of Saudi oil per day have been heading to the kingdom’s Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. If shipments cannot pass through the Red Sea’s southern Bab el-Mandeb strait, they have only the northern route out via the Suez Canal, adding weeks to the journey and significantly increasing freight and transit costs.
American attacks have expanded from the south to the western and central areas of Iran in recent days. Iran this week struck vital water desalination and energy facilities in Kuwait and targeted US military assets there, in Bahrain and in Jordan.
Iran was strengthening its military in anticipation that its adversaries would break deals, army chief Major General Amir Hatami said. Iranian media also quoted the parliamentary spokesman for the Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, Hasan Qashqavi, as saying that Trump was in a “swamp”.
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 targets civilians.
The war has left 18 US service members dead and more than 450 soldiers injured. Trump attended a ceremony Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for four U.S. service members killed in Iranian attacks on military bases over the past few days — three in Jordan and one in Iraq.
“For me, it’s one of the hardest 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 to have 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 serious about negotiations, he said. “If they are serious, we are serious. If they are not, then we will do what 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 straight night of US bombing of Iran, residents of Tehran reported explosions in the early hours of Wednesday from air defenses activated over the capital, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said.
Three sites 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 post close to the plant. Iranian media also said the US targeted sites in Kabudarahang county in central Hamadan province, without giving any details.
Iran’s army said it attacked accommodation and storage facilities at the US Al Azraq Air Base in Jordan, targeted warehouses and aircraft maintenance hangars at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain and also targeted Camp Doha in Kuwait.
Reuters was unable to immediately confirm details of the attacks. Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain all said they had intercepted Iranian attacks.
(With input from Reuters)
QUOTE
Threats to commercial shipping and trade with KSA are unacceptable
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
