Pakistan deploys fighter jets to Saudi Arabia amid fragile US-Iran ceasefire

Sunday April 12, 2026

Pakistan has made its first public military gesture under a newly signed defence pact with Saudi Arabia, sending fighter jets to the kingdom while it simultaneously helps broker ceasefire talks meant to halt weeks of regional conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran.

The aircraft, a mix of fighter and support jets, arrived at King Abdulaziz Air Base in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on Saturday, according to the Saudi Ministry of Defence.

The deployment took place under a collective defence agreement signed in September 2025, which stipulates that any attack on one country will be treated as an attack on both.

The accord was finalised during a visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Riyadh last September, when he held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

At the same time the jets were landing in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan was hosting direct talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad, with senior delegations from both sides present and Pakistani mediators working to bring the fighting to an end.

Since Iran began launching missile and drone strikes at what it said were US targets in Gulf states after the US-Israeli killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February, Islamabad has been trying to manage obligations to both Tehran and Riyadh.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said he personally told Iranian leaders in early March that Pakistan was bound by its commitments to Saudi Arabia under the agreement.

Dar added that Iran wanted assurances Saudi territory would not be used for attacks on it, and said he obtained those guarantees.

Even so, Iranian attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia have continued, including strikes on important bases and a US embassy building.

Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir travelled to Riyadh in early March to discuss steps to stop the Iranian strikes within the framework of the pact.

Just four days before Saturday’s jet deployment, Sharif phoned the crown prince and pledged that Pakistan would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the kingdom.

The two sides also agreed to speed up a promised $5bn Saudi investment package for Pakistan.

Earlier on Saturday, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan met Prime Minister Sharif in Islamabad, along with Dar and Munir.

Saudi Arabia is home to about 2.5 million Pakistani workers whose remittances help prop up Pakistan’s fragile economy, and the kingdom has repeatedly stepped in with financial support for Islamabad.

Islamabad-based security analyst Imtiaz Gul told Al Jazeera the move should not be read as a military escalation, but rather as a signal to Iran about Pakistan’s commitments.

“Three jets won’t make much of a difference militarily,” he said, pointing to the size of Saudi Arabia’s own air force.

“It’s messaging Tehran to be flexible in these talks, but also it is underlining to them that Pakistan has obligations under the mutual strategic agreement it has with Riyadh,” he said.

Michael Kugelman, a resident senior fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council, told Al Jazeera the deployment was “a bit of a risky gambit”.

“This is Pakistan signalling to Iran that if Iran is not willing to make the types of concessions that lead to a deal and the conflict resumes and escalates, there is a chance that Pakistan could move itself closer to Saudi Arabia and conceievably invoke the mutual defence pact,” Kugelman said.