Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey announced Friday they signed a landmark joint defense pact in Mecca, declaring that an attack on one would be treated as an attack on all — a move that could reshape the security landscape as Iran continues missile strikes and threatens vital energy routes across the Gulf.
The agreement comes as Tehran and its allies have repeatedly targeted Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states during the US war on Iran, sending shockwaves through global energy markets and raising fears that Washington’s traditional security partners may seek new ways to protect themselves.
The pact — signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — creates a new security framework linking a NATO power, the Arab world’s heavyweight and the only nuclear-armed Islamic nation.
The timing was impossible to ignore. Read more, and see photos here.
