'Zionist agenda': Asif says war on Iran aims to bring Israel's influence to Pakistan's border

• Zionist agenda targets regional balance, Pakistan’s borders: Asif.
• Minister says Iran war imposed despite readiness for agreement.
• National unity urged against perceived regional encirclement plot.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said the war imposed on Iran, despite Tehran’s readiness for an agreement, was part of a wider "Zionist agenda" aimed at extending Israel’s influence up to Pakistan’s borders and surrounding the country with hostile forces.

"It is necessary for all 250 million Pakistanis, regardless of their political or religious affiliations, to understand this conspiracy and the intentions of our eternal enemies," the minister said in a post on X.

The Middle East conflict expanded with no end in sight, with Israel attacking Iran and Tehran firing missiles and drones at the “US interests and bases” across the Gulf states.

During the four-day conflict, a number of Iranian senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, embraced martyrdom in the "unprovoked and unwarranted" airstrikes by Israel and the United States.

Iranian officials warned that Khamenei’s martyrdom would mark a turning point, with the Revolutionary Guard vowing retaliation and declaring that “this great crime will not go unpunished.”

Meanwhile, the defence minister — in today's statement — called Zionism a threat to humanity, saying that from the establishment of Israel on the land of Palestine to the present day, every catastrophe faced by the Islamic world and every war imposed on it carried the direct or indirect role of Zionist ideology and the Israeli state.

He said Zionism had controlled the world’s economic system for a century and that major global powers were effectively being held hostage by it.

Referring to Pakistan’s strategic strength, Asif said the country was a nuclear power and, by the grace and help of Allah, the might of its armed forces was recognised across the world.

He said the nation was indebted to its "martyrs and ghazis" for safeguarding Pakistan’s sovereignty and prayed for Allah’s blessings on all those who contributed to making the country a nuclear power.

He paid tribute to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, saying his courage in conducting the nuclear tests had demonstrated to the world that Pakistan was a nuclear-armed state.

Asif said that although Iran was prepared for an agreement, war had been imposed on it and that the agenda behind the conflict, orchestrated by the Zionists, included pushing Israel’s influence right up to Pakistan’s border.

He warned that a single, coordinated agenda involving Afghanistan, Iran and India would then be directed against Pakistan, resulting in hostility towards the country, insecure borders, encirclement by enemies on all sides and the risk of Pakistan being reduced to a vassal state.

He prayed for unity in the Islamic world and for the ability to recognise its enemies, called for the freedom of Palestine, and said he hoped Pakistan would remain strong and safe until the Day of Judgment. He also prayed that the protectors of the country’s soil remain under Allah’s protection and that the Almighty be their helper and supporter.