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The US-Iran conflict has triggered strategic realignments among Gulf Arab states — including renewed defence pacts with Pakistan and resumed Houthi-Saudi hostilities — with implications for regional stability and India's energy security.
Kuwait ratified a 5-year Defence Cooperation Agreement with Pakistan (training, intelligence sharing, logistics); Qatar deepened security cooperation with Pakistan, following the earlier Saudi-Pakistan Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (September 2025).
Fighting resumed between Saudi-backed Yemeni forces and the Houthis, including a Houthi naval blockade declaration in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait and strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities — meaning both the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz face simultaneous conflict-related disruption for the first time.
Saudi Arabia's new '123 Agreement' civil nuclear cooperation pact with the US raises the stakes for regional calm, especially after a drone strike on the UAE's Barakah nuclear plant revived post-Fukushima safety concerns.
For the first time, both the Red Sea (via the Houthi threat in Bab-el-Mandeb) and the Strait of Hormuz (via the US-Iran standoff) faced conflict-related disruption simultaneously — a scenario with outsized implications for global oil shipping and India's crude imports.
Simple Analogy: Two of the world's main oil 'doorways' being blocked or threatened at the same time, rather than just one.
GS Paper II > International Relations, West Asia
A September 2025 Saudi-Pakistan defence pact, distinct from Kuwait's non-binding Defence Cooperation Agreement