A Sunni Military Alliance Against Iran

Since the start of the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran, the Gulf's oil monarchies have been paying a heavy price: unable to strike Tel Aviv or Washington directly, the Islamic Republic has not hesitated to target its Arab neighbors on the pretext that they host American military bases — bases that have largely been evacuated. As a result, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar — despite being considered an Iranian ally — as well as Oman and Jordan have all come under attack.

Recently, Tehran activated its proxies in Iraq and Yemen — Iraqi Shia militias and the Yemeni Houthis — who have targeted Saudi oil infrastructure.

On top of that, further threats loom over the Arab countries' economies, with the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the only maritime outlet of the Persian Gulf, and the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, the gateway to the Red Sea.

This simmering conflict is yet another reminder of the lukewarm commitment shown by the great American ally toward its Arab "protégés." The announcement made by these three Washington allies sends a message to Tehran, but also to the United States, increasingly seen as an unreliable partner, according to experts.

The NATO model

Against this backdrop, it is easy to understand what drove Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey to conclude a defense pact linking the three countries, signed on Friday in Mecca.

"The agreement aims to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any one of the three states shall be considered an attack against all of them," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry stated, with Turkey describing it as "an important contribution to the preservation of peace" in the region.

The three Sunni Muslim countries share a common interest in contributing to efforts to resolve the conflict between Iran and the United States, which has set the region ablaze and shaken the global economy.

A nuclear power and NATO's second-largest army

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are also already bound by a mutual defense agreement signed in September 2025, the product of a long tradition of military cooperation.

Its announcement raised many questions, given that Islamabad possesses nuclear weapons.

On Friday, Riyadh denied any connection to "nuclear ambitions" and assured, as did Ankara, that the pact was not directed at any country in the region.

Turkey also stated that the agreement with Islamabad and Riyadh was "not in contradiction" with Ankara's commitments to NATO.

Ankara further stressed that this trilateral agreement, signed earlier in Mecca, "targets no third country or bloc" and is solely intended to "strengthen cooperation in the defense industry, military training, technology sharing, and regional stability."

Turkey has NATO's second-largest military in terms of troop numbers, covers the alliance's eastern flank, and hosted the NATO leaders' summit in early July, which was attended by U.S. President Donald Trump, among others.

Security hub in exchange for investment

According to an analyst quoted by AFP, this announcement reinforces Saudi Arabia's ambitions to become the guarantor of regional security and to diversify its defense partnerships — a security that has been seriously threatened in recent times by its rivalry with the United Arab Emirates, a rivalry that risked escalating into open conflict in Yemen, well before the war with Iran.

For Turkey, also a NATO member, and for Pakistan, the goal is to gain influence and attract Saudi investment.

This rapprochement "is clearly directed against Iran," Oumar Karim, a Saudi Arabia specialist at the University of Birmingham, told AFP.

The stakes of the straits

According to him, the alliance "aims to address the new strategic approach" of Tehran, "which seeks to dominate the entire Gulf region and control maritime traffic through strategic waterways, whether the Strait of Hormuz or the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb."

For Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, keeping these maritime passages open is essential.

The Red Sea and the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb had become alternative routes as Iran once again locked down the Strait of Hormuz following the resumption of clashes with the United States in July.

However, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have recently imposed a blockade on Saudi vessels and are also threatening shipping through Bab el-Mandeb, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

Beyond the maritime front, Saudi Arabia has been targeted on its own soil by the Houthis, who have struck oil infrastructure in recent weeks.

The Riyadh-led coalition, which has backed the Yemeni government since 2015, also accused the rebels on Friday of carrying out strikes in the border region of Najran, wounding 11 civilians — an unprecedented attack on the kingdom since the ceasefire reached between the two sides in 2022.