Pakistan urges open Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb amid regional tensions
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb to remain open, warning against turning the key waterways into arenas of confrontation.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday, Sharif described the two waterways as “arteries of the global economy” and said they should connect nations rather than become points of conflict. He also condemned recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and expressed solidarity with the Saudi people, including after an attempted drone attack near the holy city of Makkah.
Sharif also defended the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan, saying it was intended to promote defence, stability and peace rather than target another country. On the war in the region, he renewed Pakistan’s support for an independent Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, and called for an end to Israeli military action in Lebanon and Syria.
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