Houthis Reject Saudi Truce Offer as Pakistan Leans on Tehran
A Saudi offer of a two-week truce, carried through Omani mediators, was rejected by the Houthis — while Pakistan’s army chief pressed Iranian officials repeatedly to force a halt to attacks on the kingdom, invoking Islamabad’s obligations under the Mecca defence pact; Pakistan’s defence minister declared “the time has come” to implement it. Trade sources meanwhile revealed Riyadh loading sixty million barrels at Ras Tanura — routed through Hormuz, now judged safer than its own Red Sea coast.
The rejected truce clarifies the Houthis’ war: they are not fighting for terms Riyadh can offer but as Iran’s second front, and a fortnight’s pause serves Tehran nothing while Washington deliberates escalation. Pakistan’s pressure is the pact’s first real test moving from paper toward consequence — a nuclear-armed guarantor publicly reminded of its signature is either activated or exposed, and Islamabad’s discomfort is visible in the gap between the army chief’s phone calls and the defence minister’s podium bravado. The Ras Tanura rerouting is the quiet astonishment: the world’s largest exporter now treats the war’s original chokepoint as its safe passage — a complete inversion of February’s map. Watch whether Omani mediation persists — and any Pakistani asset actually moving.