Pakistan secretly mediated a ceasefire-like understanding between Tehran and Riyadh to protect Saudi Arabia from Iranian missile attacks, the Israeli outlet The Times of Israel has claimed in a sensational report.
The report said that in return for this understanding, help was given to keep Iranian oil flowing secretly to Pakistan. According to the report, the understanding was reached late last March, mediated by Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir. At the time the early phase of Iran’s war with the United States and Israel was under way.
Mediation using a joint oil-transport venture
Citing three officials aware of the matter, The Times of Israel said Asim Munir mediated the understanding by raising the continuation of a jointly run oil-transport venture with Ahmad Vahidi, the chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The report claimed that since late last year, oil has been quietly transported from Iran to Pakistan through this joint venture. The company involved is linked to the two military officers and has generated huge financial benefits for them even amid the US blockade of Iranian ports.
Attacks on Saudi Arabia fell after the understanding
In the first month of the war, several Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia repeatedly came under Iranian attack. But after the understanding was reached, attacks on Saudi Arabia all but stopped. This was stated by a Middle Eastern diplomat, an intelligence official and another official aware of the matter.
After nearly three months without any significant attack, however, Iran fired a missile towards Saudi Arabia last weekend, the report claimed.
Asim Munir then sent a warning to the IRGC chief Ahmad Vahidi, the report said. Citing sources, it said Munir conveyed that if such attacks continued, their joint oil-transport venture could be put at risk. No Iranian missile has been fired towards Saudi Arabia since.
Why was Pakistan active?
According to the report, Pakistan is acting as a mediator between Iran and the United States in the ongoing war. At the same time Pakistan has a mutual defence agreement with Saudi Arabia, under which aggression against either country is to be treated as an attack on both.
The report also claimed Pakistan had an interest in further strengthening ties with Saudi Arabia and making Riyadh more dependent on Islamabad for security. For this reason Asim Munir played an active role in the mediation.
The understanding under criticism
A Middle Eastern diplomat, criticising the understanding, said it had effectively set a precedent legitimising as a kind of “ransom” the money or benefits Iran is demanding from regional countries in return for not being targeted in the ongoing war.
No official comment on the secret understanding has so far been available from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or Iran.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report