PM Shehbaz Sharif to Visit Saudi Arabia Within 48 Hours

Following an invitation from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia within the next 48 hours, according to a Monday report from GTV News.

The PM is anticipated to discuss important regional and global issues during the trip to Riyadh, a longtime ally of Pakistan, indicating ongoing diplomatic ties between the two nations.

The visit comes after highly anticipated negotiations in Islamabad, which took place from Saturday into early Sunday and were the highest-level talks since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the first direct US-Iranian encounter in over ten years.

The talks took place a few days after a ceasefire started on Tuesday with the goal of putting an end to six weeks of violence that has killed thousands of people around the Gulf, cut off essential energy supplies, and raised concerns about a more extensive regional battle.

After the marathon 21-hour talks failed to produce a formal agreement, the US military declared it would start a blockade of all marine trade entering and leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas, endangering a precarious two-week ceasefire.

Financial cooperation talks are also anticipated to be a major topic, especially in light of Riyadh and Doha’s announcement of $5 billion in aid for Pakistan.

Chief of Defense Forces Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and Special Assistant Syed Tariq Fatemi will accompany the prime minister.

Subject to the conclusion of his current tour to the United States, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is also anticipated to accompany the team in Riyadh.

In accordance with a defense agreement between the two nations, Pakistan sent fighter jets and other military personnel to Saudi Arabia to increase security, even though a truce is still in effect and Iran has ceased assaulting US locations in Gulf countries.

In September 2025, Riyadh and Islamabad agreed to treat any aggression against one nation as an attack on the other in a mutual defense treaty. That greatly strengthened a security alliance that has been in place for decades.