Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye Sign Mutual Defence Pact
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- Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye signed a trilateral defence agreement at Al-Safa Palace in Mecca on Friday, with PM Shehbaz Sharif, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as signatories
- The pact stipulates that an armed attack on any one of the three countries will be treated as an attack on all three, and provides for expanded defence cooperation across all areas per the joint statement
- The trilateral deal builds on a bilateral Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed in 2025, which already defined aggression against either as aggression against both
- Sharif was accompanied on the three-day Saudi visit by Deputy PM Ishaq Dar and Army Chief Asim Munir
- Opposition leader Fawad Chaudhry told PTI the pact should not be read as anti-Iran and that Pakistan likely brokered closer ties between Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, whose relations he said had not been ideal since World War II
- The agreement comes as the West Asia conflict widens to the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, with Iran attacking Gulf states hosting US bases — even as Pakistan separately mediates between the US and Iran under a June Memorandum of Understanding
Why it matters: The pact creates a mutual-defence commitment among three major Muslim-majority powers just as the West Asia conflict widens to the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, with Iran striking Gulf states hosting US bases. Pakistan simultaneously positions itself as mediator between Washington and Tehran under a June MOU, straddling rival camps while anchoring this new security bloc.
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