Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defence pact
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defence pact
Saudi Arabia signed on Wednesday a mutual defence pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan, amid growing fears in the Gulf over the US’s willingness to constrain Israeli belligerence.
Pakistan said the agreement “reflects the shared commitment of both nations to enhance their security and to achieving security and peace in the region, adding that “The agreement states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both”.
Asked by Reuters whether the agreement would place Saudi Arabia under Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella, a senior Saudi official said, "This is a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means”.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have enjoyed close military ties for decades. The Financial Times cited a Saudi official saying that the agreement had been under discussion for two or three years.
But the deal’s timing comes after Sunni monarchs were shocked by Israel’s attack on Qatar last week. Middle East Eye revealed that the Trump administration approved the attack beforehand—as subsequent reporting from Axios has confirmed.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are all strong US partners that are home to US military bases. Qatar is home to Al-Udeid, the largest US military base in the region.
The Gulf states have long relied on the US to underwrite their security and have watched warily as Washington acquiesces to Israeli attacks on Syria, Lebanon and Iran—despite their tense relations with the Islamic Republic.
However, few officials in the region expected Israel to attack Qatar with US backing, a major non-Nato ally that has been mediating between Hamas and Israel.
“This could potentially have profound implications for how regional states view US security guarantees,” Ted Singer, former head of Middle East operations for the US Central Intelligence Agency, told MEE after the Israeli attack.
The agreement was signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Riyadh.
Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was also in attendence. The Pakistani military exercises outsized influence in the country.
The defence pact is likely to have deep implications for the region. Pakistan has close military and economic ties with China, but Munir visited the White House earlier this year in a sign that Islamabad was also courting the Trump administration.
The US and Pakistan cooperated extensively on security during the US war in Afghanistan, but the relationship waned as a result of the US withdrawal and Beijing’s rising influence.
Saudi Arabia also enjoys good relations with Pakistan’s historic rival, India. Pakistai and India engaged in a deadly air war in May that almost brought them to the brink of nuclear conflict. Pakistan thanked US President Donald Trump for mediating an end to the war, but India bristled at the suggestion that it wanted a truce, hurting ties with the US.
Saudi Arabia’s nod to Pakistan will not go unnoticed in Washington. Islamabad has strongly condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza and also criticised Israel’s attack on Iran, its neighbour, in June.
Analysts say that Pakistan was alarmed by the precedent set by US and Israeli air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities - and the potential extension of Israeli aerial dominance near Pakistan’s western frontier.
Pakistan is the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons. It has always framed its arsenal as for defensive purposes, but does not have a “no-first-use” doctrine, which rules out preemptively attacking foes with nuclear weapons.
Israel is widely understood to possess nuclear weapons.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to forge a defense pact with Pakistan comes after it was rebuffed by the US, which wanted to condition a defensive agreement and the sale of civilian nuclear technology to Riyadh on normalising relations with Israel.
Saudi Arabia forcefully pushed back on US lobbying efforts ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region in May, MEE reported.
Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has labeled Israel's war in Gaza a genocide.
Saudi Arabia enjoys close security ties to the US, and the Crown Prince is understood to have a good relationship with US President Donald Trump.
In May, Trump credited the crown prince for convincing him to drop sanctions on Syria. Riyadh also successfully lobbied the US to stop its attacks on the Houthis in Yemen earlier this year.
The kingdom pledged over $600bn in investments in the US when Trump visited.
