What Pakistani jets in Saudi Arabia mean for Gulf security in Iran war

Pakistan’s deployment of an air force contingent at a base on Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast, coming as it mediated talks between Iran and the US,…

Pakistan’s deployment of an air force contingent at a base on Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast, coming as it mediated talks between Iran and the US, could force Tehran to reconsider its strategy of attacking critical energy infrastructure in the kingdom, analysts say.

While purely defensive in nature, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) task force posed a poignant question to Tehran: if hostilities resumed, would it be prepared to risk shooting down warplanes belonging to the peacemaking country it clearly trusts?

According to Muhammad Faisal, a South Asia security researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, the PAF’s deployment was “defensive in nature and it will be reassuring” to Saudi Arabia, which has been shaken by Iranian strikes on its oil fields in Eastern Province.

The PAF presence “will complicate Iran’s targeting calculus with respect to Saudi Arabia, as Tehran would now have to factor in potential hits on Pakistani jets”, he said.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir during the meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Mohammed bin Abdullah al-Jadaan in Islamabad on Saturday. Photo: Press Information Department / Handout via Reuters

Analysts said Tehran would not want to antagonise Islamabad.

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