A gold-plated gun and $20 billion: How Pakistan could get sucked into the Saudi-Iran rivalry

[Jaanbaz]

Do you know what's funny? I used to be a big fan of Iran but screw these crazy Mullahs they have lost their minds, they are suicidal they piss of USA, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan maybe the world should just get together and get rid of this fanatic crazy Mullahs. I reckon a lot of Secular Iranians would be more then happy to see this insane regime being taken out.

 

[Path-Finder]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1103338517348929536

Can anyone clarify this please!!

 

[Rafi]

Pakistan doesn't give two hoots about Iran, Pakistan has long standing relationships with Gulf countries, Pakistani people have an affinity with Arabs (good or bad is a different debate) but Pakistani people have no link with Iran for a Pakistani an Irani is just as stranger as a Somalian. Besides, Iran has chosen India and any friend of Indian cannot be a friend of Pakistan because India's friendship with Pakistan's neighbors has an angle so for Pakistan Afghanistan and Iran fall in the same category...be careful and dont trust category

BS.

 

[Awan68]

BS.

Mate its not about shia or sunni, its about national interests of Pakistan. We are getting big money from th Arabs so naturally we will lean towards them. Iran is welcome to invest equal amounts in Pakistan and then we will mantain a healthy balance between the Arabs and Iranians. The recent empty, almost Indian media like threats from Iran didnt help. The Saudis atleast have never threatened to attack us. We refused to hurt Irans interests in Yemen for free, we did them a big favour, a big big favour. We couldve easily finished off the houthis and scored billions of dollars from the Arabs, we didnt. Iran must return the favour by shunning India.

 

[Rafi]

Mate its not about shia or sunni, its about national interests of Pakistan. We are getting big money from th Arabs so naturally we will lean towards them. Iran is welcome to invest equal amounts in Pakistan and then we will mantain a healthy balance between the Arabs and Iranians. The recent empty, almost Indian media like threats from Iran didnt help. The Saudis atleast have never threatened to attack us. We refused to hurt Irans interests in Yemen for free, we did them a big favour, a big big favour. We couldve easily finished off the houthis and scored billions of dollars from the Arabs, we didnt. Iran must return the favour by shunning India.

I understand where you are coming from, but the saudis and UAE are also getting close to india, we should be pragmatic and have good relations with the Arabs and Persians.

 

[vi-va]

I understand where you are coming from, but the saudis and UAE are also getting close to india, we should be pragmatic and have good relations with the Arabs and Persians.

In my humble opinion, Iran will get nuclear weapon when USA shrink sphere of influence. Actually USA is shrinking sphere of influence already.

If I am Iran leader, I will focus on economy development and science. Wait patiently, when USA decline, grab the window of opportunity and arm with nuclear weapon.

Pakistan is surrounded by Iran, Afghanistan and India. A mature and healthy relationship between Pakistan and Iran benefit both countries' interest.

Arabs have money for now, but how long they can last? New energy and electric cars made oil and gas less and less important.

 

[Sabretooth]

A bangladeshi started this thread in 1971

 

[Awan68]

I understand where you are coming from, but the saudis and UAE are also getting close to india, we should be pragmatic and have good relations with the Arabs and Persians.

Mate, iam all for a pragmatic approach and as u can see we have been going over our heads to mantain that policy actually. The thing is that i think it is time to dispose of the Ummah baggage specially when it comes to these two countries namely Sauds and Iranians as both of them clearly have no notion of the concept. The only country with whom i feel an ummah kinship is Turkey and they have repeatedly earned this feeling. We must treat both these countries with a secular policy of economic and strategic benefits.

 

[RoadRunner401]

I hate television and newspaper “experts”, the infamous “analysts” who know all – and support all – the infamous American “think tank” personnel whose right-wing, pro-Israeli beliefs are carefully shielded from viewers by the US Media who employ them. I always characterise the antiseptic and pseudo-academic institutions to which they belong as the “Institute for Preposterous Affairs”.
Hundreds of robotic folk who will churn out claptrap about “key players”, “stakeholders” and “moderate allies” and, of course, “world terror”. They turn up on CNN, Fox and CNBC. And, of course, the BBC.

So long story short ladies and gentleman according to same experts ; Chinese Investments are bad for Pakistan, Saudi investments are bad for Pakistan..

 

[Pakistani E]

We need to have a good relationship with both the Arabs and Persians. But they should both understand, that just like they will not pick between Pakistan and India, they should not expect us to pick one over the other. Our relationship with both of them has its own dynamics, independent of each other.

Nothing but best wishes for both of them.

 

[farhan_9909]

Pakistan should not annoy Iran but GCC should be preferred because atleast we can trust GCC.

For the time being we should ignore Iran

 

[fitpOsitive]

A gold-plated submachine gun and $20 billion: How Pakistan could get sucked into the Saudi-Iran rivalry

• Saudi Arabia announced $20 billion in infrastructure and energy investments for the cash-strapped country of 200 million, which is currently on the brink of financial crisis.
• Many of the projects are located in Pakistan's impoverished and restive Balochistan region, which lies along the 565-mile border with Saudi arch-rival Iran.

Natasha Turak | @NatashaTurak
Published 7 Hours Ago Updated 1 Hour Ago CNBC.com

AAMIR QURESHI | AFP | Getty Images
Pakistani soldiers (R) patrol on a street next to welcoming posters of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Islamabad on February 17, 2019.
Pakistan risks becoming the latest arena for Saudi Arabia and Iran's rivalry as it accepts billions of dollars in aid and investment from Riyadh.

Perhaps one of the most visually memorable moments of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's red carpet tour of Asia last month was the gifting to him, by Pakistani senators, of a gold-plated submachine gun. Pakistan, the crown prince's first stop on his tour that also included India and China, announced a national holiday in honor of his visit, calling Saudi Arabia "a friend in need."


Handout | Senate of Pakistan
Pakistani senators gifted the gold-plated gun, a German-made Heckler & Koch MP5, to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his visit to Pakistan.
And indeed, Islamabad is happy: Saudi Arabia announced $20 billion in infrastructure and energy investments for the cash-strapped country of 200 million, which is currently on the brink of financial crisis and trying to avoid its thirteenth International Monetary Fund bailout.


The location of the investments is significant. Many of the projects focus on oil refining infrastructure in Pakistan's impoverished and restive Balochistan region, which lies along the 565-mile border with Saudi arch-rival Iran.

"I don't think the Pakistanis want to declare Iran an enemy and have a full-on confrontation... but they have to do something for that Saudi money." -Gregory Gause, International Affairs Department head, Texas A&M University
"Mohammed bin Salman has this strategic view that you've got to pressure Iran. And with Pakistan, he'd love to be able to pressure Iran from two sides," Gregory Gause, head of the International Affairs Department at Texas A&M University, told CNBC.

That presents a hard choice for the Pakistanis, who currently neither see Iran as a major ally nor a major threat, though they are wary of Iran's increasing cooperation with their own arch-rival, India.

"I don't think the Pakistanis want to declare Iran an enemy and have a full-on confrontation," Gause said, "but they have to do something for that Saudi money."

And the Iranians aren't taking it lightly — Tehran has long accused Saudi Arabia of fomenting unrest in its border area with Pakistan, which is home to Iranian Sunni anti-regime militants who have launched numerous attacks on Iranian military personnel. The Saudis deny the accusations.

In February, Sunni militants from the extremist group Jaish al-Adl killed 27 Iranian Revolutionary Guards along the border, triggering the accusation from Tehran that Pakistan is housing militants and allowing them to attack Iran.

Helping Pakistan: What's in it for the Saudis?
For Riyadh, the Pakistan deals are more strategic than economic, says Gause.

"There's just no economic benefit to Saudi in Pakistan," he said. "Let's face it — Pakistan is kind of a basket case. But for the Saudis, Pakistan is first and foremost a security partner, a reliable Muslim ally in intra-Muslim disputes."

Indeed, the two have a long history of helping each other out. When Pakistan was hit with international sanctions for its nuclear tests in the 1990s, Riyadh came to its rescue with oil supplies and funds. And there are some 70,000 Pakistani nationals serving across Saudi Arabia's armed forces, experts estimate, with more deployed in recent years to provide training and assistance to the Saudi military.


PRIME MINISTRY OF PAKISTAN | HANDOUT | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan (R) meets Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman (L) in Islamabad, Pakistan on February 17, 2019.
Pakistan's military is ranked as the world's 17th strongest, according to military analysis website GlobalFirepower.com, in between Israel and North Korea. Saudi Arabia's is ranked 25th.

There are also rumors that Pakistan, a nuclear power, could share its weapons technology with the Saudis, who have expressed their desire for a nuclear program with no restrictions on the uranium enrichment capabilities necessary for making a bomb.

While experts agree this sort of help is unlikely, "I think that the Saudis nurture hopes that if they need it either conventionally or in a nuclear sense, the Pakistanis will give them assistance," Gause said.

… but it could backfire
There are plenty of ways this could backfire on the Pakistanis. For one, Iran, which is Shia, could foment sectarian unrest within Pakistan's 20 percent Shia population, the second-largest of any country in the world. Thousands of Pakistanis have been killed in sectarian violence in the last decade.

Iran could also serve as a gateway for Indian spies to infiltrate Pakistan, something some in Pakistan have already accused it of doing.



Saudi overseas investments give some guarantees, expert says 3:45 AM ET Mon, 18 Feb 2019 | 04:23

"Iran is likely to be on Pakistan's mind, as there is a growing partnership between India and Iran," said Kamal Madishetty, a research analyst at the Economist Unit, pointing to India's multi-billion dollar Chabahar Port project in Iran's border region with Pakistan. "This has unsettled the leadership in Pakistan, so the relationship with Saudi is kind of a counterbalance to all of that."

A new proxy battleground?
Pakistan "to some extent already has" become a proxy theater for Iran and Saudi Arabia, Gause said, but he added that this was at a relatively low level — nothing like what we've seen in Syria, Yemen or Iraq, for instance. That's because Pakistan is a relatively stronger state that hasn't been crippled by war. Furthermore, it doesn't always do what the Saudis want: In 2015, the government in Islamabad passed a resolution ruling out sending troops to join the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, despite pressure from Riyadh.

But there are indications that Pakistan will indirectly provide more support for the Saudi campaign in Yemen, despite the war's deep unpopularity among the Pakistani public.

Last year, when Pakistan sent an additional 1,000 troops to Saudi Arabia, the defense minister made public assurances that they wouldn't be participating in the Yemen War.

"But it's interesting," Madishetty observed, "the Pakistani army has developed significant expertise in mountain warfare and counterinsurgency, and they will be transferring these skills to Saudi forces."

The only mountainous region within Saudi Arabia that's currently a conflict zone? Its border with Yemen.



Natasha Turak

Very negative way to look over things. We are providing services, and hence charging.
We are on nobody's side.

 

[Serpentine]

I like how a few billion GCC money can always, I mean always buy the opinion of Pakistanis on this forum. It's always like this, always, in past years that I have been on this forum.

Then after a while, when there is no enough Saudi money according to plan, everyone is like, Iran is a neighbour, Iran brother, we should be close to Iran. All this because Iran can't complain about terrorists attacking it from Pakistan, because Pakistan is always the innocent side, always its neighbors are at fault. Iran, Afghanistan, India, they are all at fault, Pakistan has always done the right thing. Its intelligence agency, ISI, its gov, they are all perfect.

I think if Iran offers a few billions too or some discounts for oil or cheap gas, things can turn around quite easily.

Do remember, Iran is your neighbor, it always will be, and it will be here to stay. Saudis won't be there for you in critical times ahead, just like they weren't there when Saudi-inspired terrorists killed 70,000 Pakistanis since 2001 (if we also consider ISI mess up in Afghanistan in line with Saudis). Of course if we don't consider a few billions here and there every once in a while.

 

[El Sidd]

I like how a few billion GCC money can always, I mean always buy the opinion of Pakistanis on this forum. It's always like this, always, in past years that I have been on this forum.

Then after a while, when there is no enough Saudi money according to plan, everyone is like, Iran neighbour, Iran brother, we should be close to Iran. All this because Iran can't complain about terrorists attacking it from Pakistan, because Pakistan is always the innocent side, always its neighbors are at fault. Iran, Afghanistan, India, there are all at fault, Pakistan has always done the right thing. Its intelligence agency, ISI, its gov, they are all perfect.

I think if Iran offers a few billions too or some discounts for oil or cheap gas, things can turn around quite easily.

Do remember, Iran is your neighbor, it always will be, and it will be here to stay. Saudis won't be there for you in critical times ahead, just like they weren't there when Saudi-inspired terrorists killed 70,000 Pakistanis since 2001 (if we also consider ISI mess up in Afghanistan in line with Saudis). Of course if we don't consider a few billions here and there every once in a while.

There is no need for such emotional stricken post.

The border management issue is quite old and Pakistan has turned a blind eye for Iran and will continue to do so. You can boast and play victim in a same post which in itself is a testament to international diplomacy.

 

[nahtanbob]

I am amused how these so called analysts use thier stupid terms to fantasize about alternate realities......the writer uses a term "relitively stronger" when comparing us to countries like syria and iraq when even a teenager with a little know how of militray capabilities can easily deduce that Pakistan can annihilate both Saudis and Iranians conventionally i might add in a matter of months.
There isnt gonna be any proxy war in Pakistan, our deep state is too strong and stable for anything like that. We will milk the Saudis to the fullest and Iran can sit like a good little boy and cry.

excuse me - pakistani army could not cross the Arabian Sea to conquer Saudi Arabia. Royal Saudi Air Force would make sink any ship that approaches their shore. you do not have the logistics capability to drive 1500 km into Iran (that is how far the Iranian oil fields are)