New Delhi: Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir used his financial ties with a senior Iranian commander to shield Saudi Arabia from Tehran’s missile attacks during the US-Israel war against Iran, says a report by The Times of Israel published Thursday.
Munir and Ahmad Vahidi, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are linked to a private company that has transported Iranian oil to Pakistan since late 2025. Munir allegedly used the prospect of keeping the oil operation running as leverage to persuade Tehran to stop targeting Saudi Arabia, the report said, citing three officials familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously.
The report comes as the US and Iran enter a second consecutive week of strikes.
The latest escalation is part of the conflict between the US and Israel, and Iran that began on 28 February this year. After a ceasefire arrangement secured under a 17 June memorandum of understanding faltered, US President Donald Trump said on 8 July that he believed the ceasefire was “over” as strikes resumed.
The agreement mediated by Munir was reached in late March, during the opening weeks of the US-Israel-Iran war. Saudi Arabia, which had faced repeated Iranian attacks during the conflict’s first month alongside other countries in the region, then largely escaped further Iran-attributed attacks for more than three months.
However, Iran launched a missile towards the kingdom over the last weekend, marking the first such attack in months.
Munir then warned Vahidi that further strikes could jeopardise their joint oil business, a Middle Eastern diplomat told the Israeli publication. No additional Iranian missiles are reported to have been fired at Saudi Arabia since.
The oil company has reportedly generated significant profits for both military leaders, particularly as the US blockade of Iranian ports restricted Tehran’s regular energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz. The venture, therefore, gave Munir direct financial leverage over one of Iran’s most powerful security officials.
The arrangement also underlines Pakistan’s attempt to balance its longstanding relations with Saudi Arabia against its geographical and economic ties with neighbouring Iran.
An intelligence official quoted in the report said Islamabad sought to strengthen its relationship with Riyadh, particularly by making the kingdom more dependent on Pakistani mediation and security support.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defence pact on 17 September last year in Riyadh, which further reinforced their close military relationship.
But Munir’s deal has attracted criticism. A Middle Eastern diplomat argued that the agreement “legitimised ransom payments” allegedly being demanded by Iran from regional countries in exchange for avoiding attacks during the conflict.
The UAE and Qatar have faced similar allegations of reaching informal financial understandings with Tehran to avoid being targeted, although both countries have denied such claims.
Kyra Menon is an intern with ThePrint
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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