Pakistan condemns Houthi Red Sea attack after three nationals killed
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- Pakistan condemned the Houthi attack on the Tanzania-flagged vessel Tihamah in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, in which three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian were killed on Tuesday, with many others injured.
- Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar called the attack a "serious threat to freedom of navigation, maritime security" and said officials were coordinating with Saudi Arabia and Yemen to repatriate the bodies of the deceased.
- Foreign Office spokesman Tahir Andrabi confirmed Pakistan is a signatory to the Saudi-led maritime coalition and "ready and willing to assist" partners in protecting global supply chain and maritime traffic.
- The Houthis had announced a maritime ban on Saudi-linked vessels last month before intensifying attacks on commercial shipping in the region.
- The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on August 7 just days before the attack, treats an attack on one signatory as an attack on all — India said Tuesday it was assessing the pact's implications for national security and regional stability.
Why it matters: The Tihamah attack forces Pakistan to act on two concurrent security commitments signed just days before: the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement and its role in the Saudi-led maritime coalition. Pakistan is simultaneously coordinating repatriation with Riyadh and Sana'a while publicly framing the incident as a threat to global shipping, embedding itself more visibly in Red Sea security architecture at a moment when the Houthis are explicitly targeting Saudi-linked vessels.
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