Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan have signed a joint defence agreement committing all three countries to regard an armed attack against any one of them as an attack against all three.
The agreement was announced following a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Makkah.
Announcing the pact on Friday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the agreement was intended to strengthen defence cooperation and collective security between the three countries.
Crucially, the ministry said an attack on any of the three states “shall be regarded as an attack against them all”.
The agreement marks a significant expansion of security cooperation between three of the Muslim world’s most militarily powerful countries and comes amid heightened instability across the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had already strengthened their military relationship through a bilateral joint defence pact announced last year. The addition of Türkiye brings another major regional military power into the arrangement.
The pact comes against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict involving Iran, Israel and the United States, which has drawn Saudi Arabia further into regional hostilities and disrupted strategically important shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
Iran and its allies have launched attacks against targets in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states following US and Israeli attacks on Iran on 28 February. Regional shipping has also been disrupted as the conflict has expanded beyond Iran’s borders.
Tensions have been particularly acute around Yemen and the Red Sea.
The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have been fighting forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition.
Last month, the Houthis announced what they described as a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia and targeted Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers operating in the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia has responded with strikes against Houthi positions and established a new naval coalition aimed at protecting commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The trilateral agreement brings together three countries with considerable military capabilities and strategic influence across the Middle East, South Asia and the eastern Mediterranean.
Türkiye possesses one of the region’s largest armed forces and is a member of NATO, while Pakistan is the Muslim world’s only nuclear-armed state. Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest military spenders and has significantly expanded its defence partnerships in recent years.
The three governments have not stated that the agreement is directed against any particular country.
However, the commitment to treat an attack against one member as an attack against all three represents a major development in defence cooperation between Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad as the regional security landscape continues to shift.
