Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian holds up a book as he addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the U.N. headquarters in New York, US.
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi: Tehran has extended its support to the defence agreement Riyadh recently inked with Islamabad, committing Saudi Arabia to help Pakistan respond to any aggression by a third country.
“We welcome the defence agreement signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan,” President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran said in his address at the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. He said that the agreement could mark the beginning of a regional security framework.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, hosted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Riyadh on September 17. They signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement, which stipulated that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan would consider any external aggression against either country as an aggression against both, necessitating a joint response.
Though New Delhi’s relations with Riyadh have been on a positive trajectory over the past few years, Saudi Arabia disregarded India’s security concerns and inked the agreement with Pakistan.