ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday urged Muslim nations to adopt a unified strategy to counter Israel, warning that failure to act collectively would leave them vulnerable, as he expressed full diplomatic support to Iran in a speech to the National Assembly following Israeli strikes.

Israel launched surprise attacks on Iranian nuclear and military facilities in the early hours of Friday amid Tehran’s negotiations with Washington over its nuclear program. The strikes killed several senior military commanders and nuclear scientists, according to Iranian media, and also caused civilian casualties.

Israel, at war in the region since October 2023, initially launched a military campaign against Gaza following a Hamas assault, which the Palestinian group said was retaliation for decades of oppression. Since then, the Israeli government has expanded its military operations to neighboring Muslim states such as Syria and Lebanon before targeting Iran.

Pakistan condemned the Israeli action and said Iran had the right to defend itself under international law.

“Just as Israel is currently targeting Yemen, Iran, and Palestine, if the Muslim world does not unite today and continues to prioritize its own interests and agendas, then everyone’s turn will come,” Asif told lawmakers.

“An OIC meeting should be convened, and all Muslim countries must come together to devise a strategy through which Israel can be confronted collectively,” he continued. “There is a need for an initiative that reflects the unity of the Islamic world. Wherever there are diplomatic ties with Israel in the Muslim world, they should be severed.”

The Pakistani minister added the Muslim world remained “militarily vulnerable” and voiced what he described as Pakistan’s unwavering solidarity with Iran.

Later in the day, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told the assembly Pakistan had presented a “robust position” at the United Nations Security Council a day earlier, where it denounced the Israeli strikes.

He said Iran’s permanent representative at the world body had acknowledged and praised Pakistan’s support.

Tarar reiterated that under the UN Charter, Iran had the right to self-defense and emphasized that Pakistan had consistently condemned the suffering of Palestinians.

“The Palestinian cause is close to our hearts,” he said. “We have always raised our voice for our Palestinian brothers and sisters at every international forum.”

The Iranian foreign ministry announced earlier in the day it would no longer take part in planned nuclear talks with the United States in Oman, calling them “meaningless” while Israeli attacks continued.

“It is obvious that in such circumstances and until the Zionist regime’s aggression against the Iranian nation stops, it would be meaningless to participate in dialogue with a party that is the biggest supporter and accomplice of the aggressor,” an Iranian spokesperson said according to international wire agencies.

Israel’s defense minister also warned “Tehran will burn” if Iran continued to launch missiles at Israeli cities.

Iran had retaliated on Friday night by launching a barrage of missiles at Israel, with explosions lighting up the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

A day earlier, Pakistan’s envoy to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, condemned Israel’s strike on Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure, calling it a violation of international law.

“Iran has the right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter,” he said, urging all sides to avoid further escalation and emphasizing the need to resolve tensions through diplomacy.

ISLAMABAD: The head of a delegation visiting Brussels to present Pakistan’s point of view regarding the country’s recent military standoff with India said on Saturday that Islamabad can develop a “phenomenal” counterterror partnership with Delhi, similar to the one it has with Washington. 

India blames Pakistan for arming and funding militants who carry out subversive activities in the part of disputed Kashmir it governs, an allegation Islamabad has always denied. The two countries engaged in a military confrontation for four days last month after India accused Pakistan of supporting an attack at the Pahalgam tourist resort in Indian-administered Kashmir. Twenty-six people, mostly tourists, were killed in the attack. 

Pakistan enjoys counterterror cooperation with several countries, including the US, which includes intelligence sharing and other forms of coordination to thwart militant attacks. The head of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), General Michael Kurilla, this week praised Pakistan as a “phenomenal partner” in counterterrorism efforts during a testimony. 

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is the head of the Pakistani delegation, pointed out that the US and Pakistan have thwarted “terrorist attacks” in Europe, the US and Pakistan through counter-terror coordination. 

“Will we be more effectively able to combat terror if India and Pakistan sat together and coordinated, conducted intelligence sharing,” Bhutto Zardari asked in response to a question. 

Citing Kurilla’s statement, Bhutto Zardari said Islamabad can develop a counter-terror partnership with New Delhi similar to the one it enjoyed with Washington. 

“We can develop that phenomenal partnership with India as well,” he added.

He lamented that there was no cooperation or coordination between the two nuclear-armed nations on combating “terrorism,” adding that the two countries last had a dialogue on counter-terror in 2012. 

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the nine-member diplomatic group last month, headed by Bhutto Zardari, who is a former foreign minister and the head of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

He has been leading a team to visits in New York, Washington DC, London and Brussels since June 2. Another delegation, led by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi, has visited Moscow.

While the ceasefire between the two countries continues to remain in place, tensions continue to simmer as India says it is holding in abeyance a decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan. 

Islamabad had said after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty that it considered any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan to be an “act of war.”

About 80 percent of Pakistani farms depend on the Indus system, as do nearly all hydropower projects serving the country of some 250 million.

Pakistan and India, bitter rivals, have fought two out of three wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir that they both claim in full but govern only parts of.