ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the Makkah defence agreement is not aimed at aggression, but seeks to promote peace, security and prosperity in the region among the three countries.
Briefing the federal cabinet, the prime minister said the Makkah agreement was an extension of the defence cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, noting that the two countries had also signed a defence pact last year.
Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi has discussed regional and international developments with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul.
Their call came after Germany appeared to back Trump’s 15-point peace plan for Gaza, with a foreign ministry spokesperson saying the proposal could pave the way for the disarmament of Hamas.
Strikes by Yemen‘s Houthis on Sunday killed at least 11 people, a medical source in the Yemeni port city of Mokha has told AFP, after an earlier drone salvo targeted a Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea coast.
A years-long truce in Yemen‘s civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government appeared to collapse last month.
Iraqi political leaders agreed on a mechanism for armed factions to hand over their weapons to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which would register and store the arms under state supervision, a source in the leading Shiite Coordination Framework told Shafaq News on Sunday.
Under the agreement, the PMF —a state security organization comprising mostly Shiite armed factions— would take custody of the weapons, document their types and storage locations, and oversee any subsequent movement of arms or personnel under orders from the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih al-Zaidi emphasized that regional issues should be resolved through dialogue, while recalling the end date of the US coalition mission in Iraq.
He also announced September 30 as the final deadline for the withdrawal of US coalition forces from Iraq.
Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola discuss how Trump’s war with Iran is pushing Tehran to dig in for a prolonged conflict.
(August 6, 2026)
In recent weeks, Iran has gone on the offensive, striking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz and launching a surprise attack on U.S. forces in Jordan. From a distance, these moves look like self-defeating escalation. Why should a badly damaged state, under severe economic pressure, lash out at the U.S. instead of pushing for a ceasefire?
The answer, simply put, is that Iran is digging in for a long war. Whatever Washington‘s intentions, Tehran increasingly interprets sanctions, negotiations, temporary ceasefires and military strikes as different instruments aimed at a single objective: regime change.
As long as this primary objective remains, Iran expects no sanctions relief or meaningful de-escalation. My conversations with Iranian foreign policy analysts suggest that Tehran now believes the war will continue in different forms until the end of Donald Trump‘s presidency.
(July 19, 2026)
Irgendeine Gruppe oder Fraktion hat die Staatsführung des Iran übernommen, in deren Interesse nicht der Iran selbst, sondern die Fortführung des Krieges auf unabsehbare Zeit steht. Welche Rolle dabei der Sohn des in der ersten Angriffswelle auf den Iran am 28. Februar ermordeten „Obersten Führers“ („Supreme Leader“) Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei spielt, erscheint völlig unklar. Bisher ist er nicht in der Öffentlichkeit aufgetreten. Ausgerechnet über israelische Medien wird gestreut, dies werde so bleiben bis zum unabsehbaren Ende des Krieges. Die formal dem „Obersten Führer“ unterstellten Revolutionsgarden agieren gegen die iranischen Interessen. Gewinner des Krieges sind u.a. Ölmagnate, Kriegsproduzenten und der internationale geheimdienstliche Komplex, nicht zuletzt in der Russischen Föderation, sowie der zum Machterhalt auf Krieg und externe Bedrohung angewiesene Machthaber in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Dabei ist das Interesse der Kriegsgewinnler auf allen Seiten den Westasienkrieg insgesamt noch auszuweiten.
Houthis’ expansion of cross-border attacks on government forces means the threat of all-out war between the two sides is no longer far-fetched.
Iraq’s Prime Minister, Ali al-Zaidi, has discussed efforts to enhance regional security cooperation with Saudi Arabia’s general intelligence chief, Khalid bin Ali Al Humaidan, according to the Iraqi PM’s office.
Al-Zaidi reiterated Iraq’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with Saudi Arabia and stressed Baghdad’s position that Iraq would not be used as a “launching pad” for activities harming any foreign state, his office statement said.
During Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi‘s visit to Washington, the United States and Iraq reaffirmed that all remaining U.S. military forces would withdraw from Iraq by 30 September 2026, marking the end of the U.S.-led military mission in the country.
(August 14, 2006)
Eine Auflistung der Befürworter und Gegner der wichtigsten Entscheidung nach dem Irakkrieg
(August 3, 2026)
Iraq is facing a fresh wave of regional pressure after Saudi Arabia struck sites inside the country and several neighboring states, including Kuwait, Jordan and Syria, warned Baghdad that any attack launched from Iraqi soil against their territory would be met with direct military retaliation against armed factions inside the country.
A senior Saudi official, speaking anonymously to Reuters late on Thursday, said intelligence gathered by Saudi Arabia, the United States and other countries in the region indicated that civilian and economic sites could be targeted.
The potential targets include energy infrastructure, ports and airports.
Saudi Arabia had detected the movement of drones and missiles, according to the official, suggesting preparations for attacks from Iraq to the north and Yemen to the south.
“The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression” and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three countries “would be regarded as an attack on all”, according to a joint statement cited by Reuters.
The pact brings together NATO member Turkiye, which has the alliance’s second-largest military, nuclear-armed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, one of the Gulf’s most powerful states and the world’s leading oil exporters.
The sources added that the casualty numbers were expected to rise.
Fighting in Yemen between the pro-Iranian Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces has intensified in recent weeks, after four years of relative calm.
On one side, the ultra-hardliners who oppose any negotiations with the United States are pressing for total victory in the war. Known as the “Paydari” movement – Persian for “stability” – they are hard-core ideologues who want to enforce the Islamic Republic’s control over society.
On the other, those who support President Masoud Pezeshkian and powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf — who doubles as Iran’s chief negotiator — see military pressure as a way to win a negotiated deal with the United States. This camp is also spurred by concern over the economic toll Iran is suffering from the war and the need to adapt to social change in the country.
He also emphasized the need to make every possible effort to achieve de-escalation, paving the way for diplomatic solutions that would deliver positive outcomes, preserve the region‘s security and stability, and prevent the situation from escalating into a broader conflict with repercussions for regional and international security and stability.
The warnings, posted online simultaneously by missions in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, came a day after President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran „very hard.“ The alerts advised citizens to check flight schedules and prepare for potential airspace closures and travel disruptions.
Fourteen countries have backed a Saudi proposal to establish a multinational “Maritime Defense Alliance,” aimed at protecting international shipping routes and global trade, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement Thursday.
The countries are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia.
The ministry said military chiefs and other representatives from 43 countries attended a meeting on the initiative, either in person or by video link. A European Union delegation also took part.
The drone attack in Egypt has raised fears of the conflict in the region widening to a new front. No party has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
While the new blockade has disrupted shipping in the region, Ansar Allah hasn’t announced a blanket ban on shipping through the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Some Chinese ships loaded with Saudi crude have also been able to pass through the strait, and Reuters reported that Beijing had cleared each passage with Sanaa.
But as the US-Iran war and conflict across the region are escalating again, the chances of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait being completely closed are rising. The Al-Monitor report, which cited two diplomatic sources and an unnamed US official, said that Riyadh has invited around 50 nations to join the Red Sea coalition, but that US support was seen as vital for the initiative to take off, and it was unclear at this point if Washington would participate.
Der Bundestag hat am Donnerstag, 16. Oktober 2025, den Bundeswehreinsatz im Roten Meer um ein Jahr verlängert. Dazu lag ein Antrag der Bundesregierung für die fortgesetzte Beteiligung der Bundeswehr an der EU-geführten Operation Eunavfor Aspides zur Abwehr von Angriffen der Huthi-Milizen auf die Schifffahrt im Roten Meer vor (21/1372(Dokument, öffnet ein neues Fenster)). In namentlicher Abstimmung wurde der Antrag auf Empfehlung des Auswärtigen Ausschusses mit 435 Ja-Stimmen bei 69 Gegenstimmen und 77 Enthaltungen angenommen.
(January 30, 2026)
Die Bundeswehr beteiligt sich seit 2015 am internationalen Anti-IS-Einsatz. Die Mission wird von einer breiten Koalition aus mehr als 70 Ländern getragen – darunter auch Deutschland.
Die Personalobergrenze von 500 deutschen Soldatinnen und Soldaten wird unverändert beibehalten.
Das aktuelle Mandat ist bis zum 31. Januar 2027 verlängert worden.
(July 19, 2026)
Für den einigermaßen wachen Beobachter erscheint es, als ob Mossad, CIA, MI6 und BND in Teheran an der Macht wären und sich einen ihren üblichen grausamen Scherze erlauben.
(July 28, 2026, 10:26 PM)
The meetings with Trump were expected to give both leaders a chance to push their agendas with the president at a time when U.S. policy towards Iran and the Russia-Ukraine war continues to be in flux.
(July 28, 2026)
Kyiv on Saturday launched an attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, an incident which Tehran said left one sailor dead and injured several others. The Islamic Republic has threatened retaliation over the strike, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying via social media that it “CANNOT GO UNANSWERED.”
In a post on X on Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had “achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship.”
The meeting comes as new polling shows that a growing share of the president’s base no longer believes the war is worth its economic costs. And Republicans are increasingly resigned to the fact that the war will likely still be hanging over voters in some form when they head to the polls in November.
Curt Mills, executive director of the American Conservative magazine, described the meeting as “DEFCON 1.”
Netanyahu has been working to secure an invitation to the White House for several weeks, according to a US official and an Israeli source, to discuss progress in the Iran war and warn Trump against diplomatic concessions.
Trump had been resistant to meeting, and some White House officials have been frustrated at what they regarded as Israeli attempts to secure a meeting through media leaks — to “will a meeting into existence,” the US official said
At Trump’s invitation, Netanyahu flew to Washington on Monday for the service, his office announced. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also plans to attend the Washington funeral, a White House official confirmed.
Both leaders are planning to meet with Trump during their respective visits.
Iran‘s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen „cannot be attributed to Iran“ and that the escalating tensions in the Bab al-Mandeb strait are “rooted in old disputes and issues“ between the two countries.
“We believe that there is no military solution to the issue of Yemen, Bab al-Mandeb, and other regional issues,” he said in an interview with the state-run Iran Daily newspaper.