Pakistan sent a squadron of jet fighters, an air-defense system, and about 8,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to honor a mutual defense pact between the two countries during the Iran war, according to a Reuters report on Monday.
“The deployment, the full scale of which is reported here for the first time, was confirmed by three security officials and two government sources, all of whom described it as a substantial, combat-capable force intended to support Saudi Arabia’s military if the kingdom comes under further attack,” Reuters wrote.
This seems like a delicate point, since Iran has attacked Saudi Arabia without any sign of an overwhelming response by Pakistani forces. The Saudis intercepted three more inbound Iranian drones on Monday, the day after Iran is believed to have used drones to bomb the Barakah nuclear plant in the United Arab Emirates.
As with past Iranian attacks, the Saudi Defense Ministry vowed to “take the necessary operation measures to respond to any attempt to violate its sovereignty and security,” but did not take any dramatic action against Iran. There was no clear indication that Pakistani forces played any role in taking down the latest three Iranian drones.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a defense pact in September 2025, shortly after Israel conducted a surprise airstrike on Hamas terrorist leaders living in Doha, Qatar. Although the defense pact did not specifically mention Israel, many observers suspected the agreement was intended to make the Israelis think twice about conducting similar strikes on Saudi or Pakistani territory – or perhaps to make the United States think twice about supporting Israeli strikes.
There was also some consternation in 2025 about the possibility that nuclear-armed Pakistan could extend its nuclear “umbrella” over Saudi Arabia, a possibility strongly hinted at by Saudi officials. In theory, Pakistan could have signed similar deals with many other Middle Eastern states to bring them under nuclear protection.
The full terms of the defense pact have yet to be made public, but both Saudi and Pakistani officials say it involves a mutual defense commitment.
According to Reuters on Monday, Pakistan held up its end of the bargain by sending “around 16 aircraft, mostly JF-17 fighters made jointly with China” to Saudi Arabia in early April, along with “two squadrons of drones,” a Chinese HQ-9 air defense system, and “around 8,000 troops, with a pledge to send more if needed.”
An unnamed security official said there were already “thousands of Pakistani troops with a combat role” in Saudi Arabia before the enhanced deployment began, thanks to security agreements that predated the September 2025 defense pact – and that number could swell to over 80,000 troops, if Saudi Arabia chooses to invoke the full scope of the pact.
The defense pact reportedly also covers the deployment of Pakistani warships, but Reuters’ sources did not say if any had been sent to Saudi Arabia yet.
Reuters reported last week that Saudi warplanes struck targets linked to the Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq during Operation Epic Fury, while the leftist outlet New York Times (NYT) said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carried out “secret attacks” inside Iran itself, against targets that were not named by the sources for the report.
The Pakistani deployment would give Saudi Arabia more muscle for counterattacks against Iran, a message Riyadh might have communicated to Tehran to persuade it to ramp down – if not entirely halt – its wanton attacks on the Saudis.