Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s top adviser said that his country should also join the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia defence pact.
According to the Tehran Times, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi termed the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia defence pact a positive step and said Iran, Iraq, and other countries should also join it.
“We assess this treaty as positive. Pakistan has announced that other countries can join, and I recommend that Iran also participate,” the Tehran Times quoted Safavi as saying.
Safavi said that Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq should become a collective regional power and strengthen security cooperation.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have signed a “Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement”, pledging that any aggression against either nation would be treated as an attack on both.
The agreement was inked during a state visit by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday to Riyadh at the invitation of Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
According to a joint statement issued following the visit, “building on the historic partnership extending for nearly eight decades between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and based on the bonds of brotherhood and Islamic solidarity, as well as shared strategic interests and close defence cooperation between the two countries, HRH the Crown Prince and the Pakistani prime minister signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement.”
“This agreement, which reflects the shared commitment of both nations to enhance their security and to achieving security and peace in the region and the world, aims to develop aspects of defence cooperation between the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression. The agreement states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both,” the joint statement further read.
