The attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday night, which killed one person and injured eight, has exposed a troubling reality: Saudi Arabia can intercept missiles and drones, but it has not yet deterred further attacks. The perpetrators of this particular incident have not been confirmed, although the Houthis have repeatedly targeted Saudi airports and energy infrastructure. On the same day, debris from an intercepted drone killed two people near the Shaybah oilfield. How long can a regional coalition remain largely defensive while civilian targets remain vulnerable?

This is not evidence of complete military inaction. Saudi forces have intercepted attacks and struck Houthi positions. Rather, it raises a question about the purpose of deterrence. If every interception is followed by another attempted strike, superior firepower is not translating into political restraint. The consequences extend beyond Riyadh: they test Pakistan’s and Türkiye’s commitments under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, and Pakistan’s ability to keep its relationship with Iran from becoming another casualty of the Yemeni war.

That makes Field Marshal Asim Munir’s visit to Tehran on 20 October particularly important. Pakistan has continued to engage Iranian leaders while maintaining its defence commitments to Saudi Arabia. Munir met President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior Iranian military officials, but Tehran made no publicly confirmed commitment to halt the Houthi offensive. The visit nevertheless helped keep a diplomatic channel open. Its significance lies as much in what the Iranians refused to concede as in what was discussed.

Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, who showed off a deliberate cold physical response when greeting the Field Marshal, declared that no enriched nuclear material would leave Iran. The timing and body language deserves scrutiny. Russia has offered to receive Iran’s enriched-uranium stockpile, while President Trump has previously demanded that such material be removed. Iranian reports say Munir received Tehran’s response to an American proposal, without disclosing its contents. Was he carrying a renewed suggestion of Russian custody, prompting Tehran to reject it so publicly? Or was Iran pre-emptively establishing a red line before negotiations resumed? Without disclosure of the message, this remains a hypothesis, not a finding.

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