Kuwait is negotiating an expanded defence agreement with Pakistan in exchange for energy cooperation and investment with the South Asian country, according to a Reuters report.

A Pakistani official told Reuters that Kuwait wanted Islamabad to deploy "thousands of Pakistani troops on the ground, fighter jets, drones, an air defence system, and other defence-related facilities”.

The talks, while at an early stage, underscore how the regional security landscape is being upended by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Oil-rich Kuwait has endured some of the most intense Iranian strikes in retaliation for the war. On Friday, Kuwait said a power and desalination plant had been seriously damaged by Iranian strikes.