Pakistan's Dar Holds Separate Calls With Saudi, Turkish FMs to Follow Up on Istanbul Committee
Deputy PM/FM Ishaq Dar held separate telephone calls with Saudi FM Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Turkish FM Hakan Fidan, following up on the understandings reached at the Aug 31 inaugural meeting of the Makkah Defence Alliance's Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Istanbul. With the Saudi FM, Dar discussed regional and international developments and multilateral cooperation; with Fidan, he thanked Turkey for hosting the Istanbul session and discussed ways to further advance cooperation under the alliance framework. Pakistan's Foreign Office readout did not reference the Sidr tanker attack, Iran, or any new military measures — the calls were framed as routine diplomatic follow-through on the committee's institutional agenda rather than a response to the ongoing Hormuz crisis.