Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7, establishing a collective defence clause modeled on NATO’s Article 5. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formalized the deal after nearly a year of negotiations. The three countries combine a population of over 400 million, control Islam’s holiest sites, and possess substantial military capabilities, including NATO-grade Turkish forces and Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. The agreement comes amid growing regional instability, marked by the ongoing US-Iran war and Iranian missile attacks on Gulf states.
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