Pakistan will go to “any extent” to defend Saudi Arabia, a top Army general has said, asserting that Islamabad’s commitment to the Gulf Kingdom’s security is “unconditional”.

“Pakistan fully stands with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, both diplomatically and physically. And I would like to underscore here the word physically,” Pakistan Army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told Arab News in an interview on Thursday (September 17, 2026).

“We will go to any extent…to any extent as asked and required by our Saudi brothers,” said Lt. Gen. Chaudhry.

His remarks came amid an ongoing escalation involving Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis, who carried out attacks on Saudi territory in recent days and established control over the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement last month, under which an armed attack on any of the three countries would be considered an attack on all.

“Our commitment to Saudi security is unconditional,” Lt. Gen. Chaudhry said, attributing it to the “deep-rooted, historical and unbreakable bond” between the peoples and leaderships of the two countries.

The general’s remarks came amid questions about whether Pakistan would assist Saudi Arabia against Houthis under the Makkah pact.

Pakistan “remained not only committed, but we are already there for the protection of Haramain Sharifain and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Army spokesperson said, referring to Islam’s holiest cities of Mecca and Medina in the Gulf country.

His remarks came after Saudi authorities claimed that their air defences had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca city. The drone was destroyed before it entered Mecca’s prohibited airspace, according to Saudi authorities. The Houthis, however, denied targeting Mecca or any Islamic holy site.

Earlier this week, Lt. Gen. Chaudhry had described the Makkah pact as “defensive” and intended for “collective deterrence”, saying it had “no regional aspirations”.

Asked about a phone call between Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday (September 16, 2026), Lt. Gen. Chaudhry told Arab News that the country’s politico-military leadership remained in continuous contact with Saudi leadership.

He said Islamabad was also consulting regional governments to seek “a negotiated and peaceful outcome” to the wider crisis.

U.S. President Donald Trump ​reiterated on Sunday ‌(September 13, 2026) that he expected the ​Iran war to ⁠end this year, possibly just after midterm elections ‌due in the United States in November, ‌resulting in a ‌drop ⁠in oil prices.

“Iran ⁠will end right after – maybe before – but it’ll end right ​after the ‌midterms. Gasoline’s going to drop like a rock,” Mr. Trump told reporters ‌at the Irish ​Open golf championship.

“I will tell you ⁠this: Iran wants to make a deal ‌so bad. They are calling constantly. They want to make a deal. They’ve got to make the ‌right deal. I’m not going ​to make a deal that’s no good,” ⁠he said.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday (September 12, 2026) that West Asia does not need the United States to be a “regional policeman”, with the two countries at war and vying for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

“We do not need a regional policeman,” he said on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in India during a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

“The territorial integrity and security of the region can only be guaranteed by its main players and the countries that comprise it,” he added, according to the Iranian presidency.

Iran has been at war since February 28, when U.S.-Israeli strikes killed its supreme leader.

Also read | Dangerous phase: On the crisis in West Asia

The Islamic republic retaliated with attacks across the region and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil previously flowed.

Iran and the U.S. have since been vying for control of the strategic waterway.

The strait was free to transit before the war, but Iran now requires vessels to obtain permission and is considering a mechanism to impose service fees.

Ships that do not comply are regularly targeted by Iranian strikes, while the U.S. periodically bombs the Iranian coastline to challenge the Islamic republic’s control of the strait.

More than six months into the West Asia war, the blockade continues to drive up oil prices, which soared past $100 a barrel this week.

“Despite all the injustices suffered by our people, we neither desire war nor its continuation. Peace remains our priority,” Mr. Pezeshkian added.

U.S. military officials say they have disabled advertising trackers on a ‌range of phones and computers, according to letters released on Friday (September 4, 2026) by ​U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and statements given to Reuters, a development that follows reports ⁠that commercially available location data had been used to target American forces in West Asia.

The Air Force told Mr. Wyden it disabled the advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months ago. U.S. Special ‌Operations Command said in a separate letter that it had “recently” disabled them on its Windows devices. The Army told Reuters that advertising IDs tied to mobile ‌devices had been disabled since earlier this year.

Mr. Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has pressed the ‌Pentagon ⁠on the issue for months.

The disclosures highlight a growing national security concern: that location ⁠data collected by the advertising industry and sold by data brokers — companies that collate and resell personal data — can be used to track and target military personnel deployed to war zones.

The Air Force and Special Operations Command declined further ​comment. Similar letters from the Army ‌and Navy to Wyden said they disabled advertising IDs on military devices but gave no indication of when the restrictions were imposed. The Army said in a statement that advertising IDs had been blocked on Windows computers “since before 2021” but that Android and Apple mobile ‌devices had only had it disabled by default “since at least February 2026.”

Messages seeking comment ​from the Navy went unreturned.

The effort to reduce the location data generated by smartphones comes as military officials weigh increasingly strict restrictions on phone use ⁠overall. In July, Reuters reported that some deployed personnel in West Asia could be ordered to surrender their phones amid concerns that mobile videos they were posting to the internet were ‌helping Iran target American bases in the region.

Mr. Wyden and U.S. Representative Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican, sent a letter to the Pentagon on Friday (September 4, 2026) asking for an investigation into whether the military had properly countered the dangers of the location data trade. The letter included the updates from the various service branches on their efforts to disable advertising IDs on military devices.

Mr. Wyden said in a statement that it was clear that the military’s efforts “have not been effective ‌at neutralizing this threat.” Mr. Harrigan said that U.S. enemies “should not be able to pull out a credit card and ​buy information that helps them track American troops.”

The Pentagon said in an email it would respond to the lawmakers directly.

Mobile advertising IDs, often abbreviated MAID, are ⁠unique identifiers tied to specific devices that can be used to track a person’s activity across mobile ⁠apps and pinpoint their physical location.

Zach Edwards, co-founder of privacy ad tech company Decryptads, said that efforts to disable MAID on military-operated devices were “definitely a positive thing.”

The restrictions “will ‌essentially ensure their location isn’t being included in bulk data sales being done by numerous vendors,” although he cautioned that personnel might still be tracked through apps in other more ​complicated ways, for example by triangulating technical device details with network data or location information.

Iranian leaders are acknowledging the economic toll of war with the United States, with ‌the supreme leader calling on the government to address the hardship while the President reported ​foreign trade has shrunk 35% due to the American sanctions and blockade.

The warnings came ⁠even as other leaders threaten the U.S. with military retaliation and declarations that the Iranian navy maintains control of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway giving Iran leverage through its ability to disrupt global energy markets. With the war now at the ‌six-month mark, and negotiations at an impasse, President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to punish Iran financially with what it has billed as an “economic D-Day.”

Washington has warned countries to ‌cut their business ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions, though the Treasury Department stopped short of imposing ‌penalties ⁠against major Iranian trade partners such as China and India, which could have repercussions for the ⁠U.S. and global economies. The U.S. Treasury Department did impose sanctions on Egypt’s Banque Misr for doing business with Tehran, proposing a rule that would cut off the bank’s branches in the United Arab Emirates from dollar transactions.

Egypt’s central bank said it and the Foreign ​Ministry were in contact with U.S. officials concerning ‌the matter, adding the measure was limited to Banque Misr UAE’s U.S. dollar transactions with correspondent banks only.

U.S. Treasury officials separately issued sanctions targeting one entity based in Hong Kong and one person linked to Iran’s Bank Melli, according to a notice posted on the department’s website. The sanctions drive compounds the toll of ‌the war on Iran’s economy, where annual inflation hit 66% last month.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, ​who was injured and has not been seen publicly since the February 28 attack that killed his father, former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, called on the government to tackle the economic ⁠hardship. “There is the need to seriously address the chain of economic and livelihood challenges, such as inflation, unemployment, management of prices and the market for goods and services,” said a written statement attributed to Khamenei.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ‌told state media that Iranian exports and imports slumped nearly 35% because of U.S. sanctions and a naval blockade of Iranian ports. But he said Iran was able to sell about 90 million barrels of oil during the short-lived memorandum of understanding that the U.S. and Iran signed in June, when Washington permitted Iranian oil sales.

With the U.S. focused on its economic pressure campaign, others have sought to revive diplomatic efforts to end the war. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with Iranian leaders in Tehran on Thursday. He said ‌he had stressed during the meeting the importance of returning to the pre-war status of open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian ​Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Friday (August 28, 2026) described the talks with Al Thani as “creative.” Qatar, a U.S. ally and Gulf neighbour to Iran, and Pakistan helped broker the June memorandum of understanding ⁠that led to a brief ceasefire before disagreements over the strait caused it to unravel.

U.S. military commanders say American forces ⁠have cleared sea mines from the strait that had been laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said the strait is open, but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ navy ‌said in a statement that such claims “are an obvious lie,” reiterating that the waterway remained closed to ships without Iranian permission. Preliminary shipping data released on Friday showed that only seven commodity vessels had transited the ​Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, down from 17 a day earlier and below the 10-day average of 15. 

India and China could be among key players who could contribute to resolving the West Asia conflict if U.S. President Donald Trump wants to use “diplomacy instead of bluster”, said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Talking about the conflict, Ms. Clinton, in an interview with C-SPAN, said: “The misconceptions on a strategic level have led us to where we are.” The conflict began on February 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes. It also led to the choking of the vital Strait of Hormuz. In June, the U.S. and Iran signed an interim peace agreement, but it collapsed last month with fresh strikes from both sides.

“If you want to figure out how Trump could get out of this. I think the key to it is probably China and India, because if you look at who buys the most oil and gas from Iran, it’s China and India,” said Ms. Clinton on Monday (August 24, 2026).

Pakistan, Oman and Qatar are among countries trying to mediate between the U.S. and Iran to end the conflict amid heightened tensions.

The key sticking point in the conflict is the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping has been disrupted because of the war. Roughly a fifth of the world’s energy supplies passed through the Gulf chokepoint in normal times.

Ms. Clinton said China, in particular, can put pressure on Tehran, as it is one of the biggest buyers of oil and gas from Iran.

“China is far ahead of that; they have been banking a lot of fossil fuels they got in tankers … they have been building more reserves … but they are going to need Iran,” she said.

“It does seem to me that’s where the best pressure would come from if Trump were willing to actually use diplomacy instead of bluster,” Ms. Clinton said.

Her comments came after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a new round of sanctions aimed at Iran and warned every country that does business with the Islamic Republic to sever those financial ties or face retaliation from the U.S., while Tehran has threatened a military response to the U.S. plans to impose fresh sanctions.

China, Turkiye and the UAE are Iran’s largest trade partners.

When asked if she would impose secondary sanctions against China, Ms. Clinton said, “I would certainly tell the Chinese I was unless they were going to help us to try to get the Iranians to open the Strait of Hormuz and try to go back at least to the status quo ante.” On August 20, U.S. President Donald Trump had said he would go for what he called the “most crushing economic operation” against Iran if Tehran failed to strike a deal.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaid met Tuesday (August 25, 2026) with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Tehran to discuss a framework for managing ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

A joint statement by the two countries, located on opposite sides of the narrow strait, said the proposed framework includes a “joint temporary navigational corridor” and both countries working to clear mines from the waterway.

The statement said Iran and Oman will continue technical negotiations toward establishing a permanent shipping corridor and an agreement on the future administration of the strait.

About a fifth of the world’s traded oil passed through the strait before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb 28.

It’s unknown whether the U.S. will accept the emerging deal. U.S. President Donald Trump last week threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of American efforts to reopen the strait.

Iran’sForeign Minister dismissed the threat of ‌new U.S. sanctions as a sign of desperation on Sunday (August 23, 2026) and said the expected new ​measures would fail to defeat Tehran.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is due to ⁠hold a press conference at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Monday (August 24, 2026), has threatened to impose “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran.

Iran’s economy is already under huge pressure from international sanctions, its infrastructure has been hit repeatedly and thousands of people have been killed ‌in airstrikes on the Islamic Republic since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on February 28.

But Tehran remains defiant after nearly six months of war and has brought shipping to a virtual ‌standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, refusing to allow unauthorized oil tankers to transit a waterway that ‌is ⁠vital for global oil shipments. The effective blockade of the strait has pushed up global ⁠oil prices.

Describing what he said were “repetitive scenarios”, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a video posted on Telegram: “The fact that they [U.S. leaders] have moved on from military operations … to bring up the same old plans shows that they are desperate.”

He said Washington must speak to ​Iran respectfully to find “a solution based on ‌justice and honour.”

“We have never been afraid. All of their actions — whether blockades or other military moves they have made — have failed, and this new issue of theirs will fail as well,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned of economic consequences against any country that provides “any type of lifeline to Iran,” ‌and Mr. Bessent has urged cooperation with Washington by China, which buys more than 80% of Iran’s ​shipped oil, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler. China has urged diplomacy.

PAKISTAN’S ARMY CHIEF TO VISIT TEHRAN

Iran said Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, would visit Tehran on Monday (August 24, 2026) ⁠as part of efforts to restore peace and security in the region, but gave few details.

Pakistan has been mediating in the conflict and a Pakistani government source said Mr. Munir would touch on recent developments including the U.S. threat ‌of new sanctions.

Mr. Trump said on Friday (August 21) that Washington was observing “what happens” in the conflict.

“They would love to make a deal, but they’re not ready to make the right deal, in my opinion,” Mr. Trump said of Iran.

U.S. attacks have severely diminished Iran’s economy and devastated its navy and air force, but Tehran maintains enough missile and drone capability to impede oil tanker traffic and attack regional rivals.

Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Saturday (August 22) that Tehran had received “numerous messages” from neighbouring countries about establishing new regional security arrangements and economic cooperation.

Mr. Qalibaf did not ‌say which countries he was referring to. He accused the U.S. of endangering the security of its allies in the region for ​the sake of Israel, adding that an independent, “homegrown” regional order would deliver peace and security.

Mr. Trump has yet to achieve objectives he set at the start of the war, such ⁠as dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme — the state of which remains uncertain given that U.N. inspectors have been shut out since ⁠2025 — and creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their clerical rulers.

While Iran remains defiant, President Masoud Pezeshkian has also called for a diplomatic solution.

“It would be better to end the war today, when ‌we are powerful and have dignity, and the whole world acknowledges our victory and emphasizes that America, contrary to all regulations, attacked our schools, hospitals, and infrastructure and is hated in the world,” the ISNA news ​agency quoted him as saying on Friday (August 21).