Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met Pakistan’s powerful military chief Thursday, as the Pakistan government wrestled with a dilemma over how to respond to a request from Saudi Arabia for Pakist-ani troops to fight in Yemen.
Mr Zarif was winding up a two-day trip during which he was expected to urge Pakistan to reject the Saudi request for troops, planes and naval support for a Saudi-led coalition against Iran-allied Houthi fighters in Yemen.
Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Rah-eel Sharif has publicly remained silent on the re-quest. Army officials say they will defer to the civilian government. Saudi Arabia’s request puts Pakistan in a tight spot. The nuclear-armed nation of 180 million people has strong economic, religious and military ties to Saudi Arabia but also a long and porous border with Iran in a mineral-rich region plagued by a separatist insurgency.
Pakistan and Iran on Thursday vowed to play role for a peaceful solution to the Yemen crisis. Mr Zarif met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif here to discuss the issue. “Foreign minister Moha-mmed Javad Zarif and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were to discuss the Yemeni conflict”, a Pakistan government official said.
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