Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed a historic joint defense agreement this Friday in Mecca that establishes that any armed attack against one of the three countries will be considered an aggression against all, amid a profound reconfiguration of security in the Middle East.
The pact brings together three strategically significant capabilities: Turkey has the second largest army in NATO, Saudi Arabia is one of the main economic and energy powers in the Gulf, while Pakistan is the only Muslim country that possesses nuclear weapons.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry confirmed that the agreement aims to "strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression" and specified that an attack against any of its members will be considered an attack against all three states.
The signing was led by the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman; the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan; and the Pakistani Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif.
From Turkey, however, they tried to clarify that the new defensive architecture is not specifically directed against another state. The Turkish presidency assured that the agreement seeks to contribute to "the preservation of peace and stability" in the region.
The alliance comes at a particularly delicate time for the Middle East, marked by the war between the United States and Iran, attacks against Gulf countries, and actions by organizations backed by Tehran, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Shiite militias in Iraq.
