Pakistan has sent fighter jets and other military forces to Saudi Arabia to boost security under a defence pact between the two countries, the Saudi defence ministry said on Saturday, as Islamabad hosted talks aimed at ending the Iran war .
The deployment follows a wave of Iranian talks on the Gulf kingdom over the past weeks that struck key energy infrastructure and killed a Saudi national.
Riyadh and Islamabad signed a mutual defence pact in September 2025 , committing both sides to treat any aggression against either country as an attack on both. That significantly deepened a decades-old security partnership.
Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said in a statement that Pakistani fighter jets and support aircraft had arrived at the King Abdulaziz Air Base in the country's eastern province.
It said the Pakistani deployment aimed to strengthen joint defence cooperation and support regional and international security and stability.
Pakistan has long provided military support to the kingdom, including training and advisory deployments, while Saudi Arabia has repeatedly stepped in to support Pakistan financially during periods of economic stress.
Saudi Arabia's finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan was in Pakistan on Friday to demonstrate economic support for the country, a source familiar with the situation told AFP .
Al-Jadaan had met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif a day earlier, according to the premier's office, which said Islamabad was committed to expanding cooperation "in trade, investment, and economic development".
"He is there as a show of economic support for Pakistan," the source said.
Cash-strapped Pakistan recently said it would return more than $3 billion in loans to the UAE that Abu Dhabi had been rolling over since 2018.
Islamabad is dependent on IMF bailouts and loans from friendly countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE to service its huge debt, which swallows up half of its annual revenues.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia were once close partners, but relations have soured in recent years as the neighbours found themselves at odds in Yemen, Sudan and the Horn of Africa.
Pakistan, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey, has been engaged in efforts to find an off-ramp to the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has seen the Gulf bear the brunt of Tehran's retaliatory strikes.
The UAE has sustained more Iranian attacks than any other country.
It has also shown a more hawkish posture towards Tehran, warning against solutions that stop short of addressing its full range of threats and securing freedom of navigation.
While Abu Dhabi has not directly commented on the efforts to find a diplomatic solution, some Emirati pundits and analysts have lambasted Egypt and Pakistan in social media posts for their role in the mediation.
Last month, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey held talks about trying to end the war in the Middle East.
In 2018, Riyadh announced a $6 billion support package for Pakistan, including a $3 billion deposit at the central bank and $3 billion worth of oil supplies on deferred payment.