Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will hold emergency talks in Riyadh next week to discuss Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and possible political engagement with the group, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad on Oct. 2, Dar said the meeting’s exact date would be confirmed later. The pact’s Strategic Political and Defense Committee brings together the three countries’ foreign and defense ministers and military chiefs.
Dar said Iran had suggested political engagement with the Houthis during talks in New York.
The committee would consider the proposal as an alternative to military action, with any decision to be taken jointly by the three members.
“There is no written, solid offer. It is brainstorming between two foreign ministers,” he said.
The three countries signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement on Aug. 7, pledging to treat an armed attack on any member as an attack on all three. Dar reiterated that the pact was defensive.
More than six countries have expressed interest in joining, he said, without naming them.
Membership applications could not be considered until the alliance was fully operational, a process that could take a year.
At the committee’s first meeting in Istanbul on Aug. 31, the members agreed to establish a secretariat in Saudi Arabia and strengthen cooperation in defense production and technology development.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Saudi and Pakistani counterparts met in New York on Sept. 24 to review preparations for the alliance’s institutions to begin work. They condemned attacks on Saudi Arabia and reaffirmed its right to defend itself under the U.N. Charter.
The three countries’ military chiefs met in Riyadh the following day.
Dar also said vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz should not be charged fees or service charges. The waterway remains a central issue in efforts to end the U.S.-Iran conflict.
