Saudi Arabia, Iran, and others are playing a key albeit unfamiliar role in trying to cool regional tensions, filling a vacuum vacated by the U.S.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister visits India and Pakistan, as regional powers stake out their diplomatic positions

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s prime minister met Friday with envoys from Gulf allies, seeking to defuse tensions with India following last week’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region, his office said.

India and Pakistan engaged in the most intense fighting in decades with four days of escalating conflict that included fighter jets, missiles and drones packed with explosives. It ended almost as abruptly as it began.

Arab countries welcomed the announcement Saturday of a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan, which came after four days of deadly fighting that nearly escalated into a full-scale war.

India hit Pakistan with air strikes deep into the country, killing dozens, but Pakistan claimed to have shot down multiple Indian planes. (The details of that claim remain murky.) India accused Pakistan of a drone attack near the Kashmiri line of control,