attacked Iran<\/a> on February 28.<\/p>\nThe conflict has imperilled Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil exports and \u2060ambitious development plans, and has raised serious questions about the reliability of its longstanding US security umbrella.<\/p>\n
While Turkiye and Pakistan have avoided significant direct attacks, both are eager to calm regional conflicts that threaten their security and economies.<\/p>\n
The deal follows nearly a year of negotiations. Sealing the agreement in Mecca, home to Islam\u2019s holiest site, adds symbolic heft to a pact that builds on longstanding bilateral military ties.<\/p>\n
Pakistan has provided training and technical assistance to Saudi forces for decades, while Turkiye and Pakistan have exchanged warships \u2060and training aircraft. In 2023, Riyadh agreed to buy Turkish drones in what Ankara called its largest defence export contract.<\/p>\n
\u2018Not linked to nuclear ambitions\u2019<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia\u2019s deputy minister for public diplomacy, Rayed Krimly, said the pact is not a threat to any country in the region. \u201cThe agreement does not represent any intention to build a military axis or a sectarian\/religious bloc,\u201d he posted on X, adding that it is \u201cnot linked to nuclear ambitions or an arms race, but rather to building sustainable, self-reliant capabilities\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a post on X, Turkiye\u2019s Erdogan said the deal was signed \u201cbased on collective deterrence\u201d and that Ankara would continue \u201cits principled stance toward resolving conflicts and crises through dialogue and diplomacy on the basis of respect for international law\u201d.<\/p>\n
Pakistan\u2019s Sharif called the joint pact a \u201chistoric endeavour\u201d which serves \u201cthe interests of our homelands and enhances the security and stability of our region\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei warned Riyadh that it would take more than the pact to achieve regional security. In a post on X, he said: \u201cSaudis must know that a paper agreement with Turkiye and Pakistan will not bring them security, just as years of one-sided nursing to the Americans did not bring them security.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReform your policies so that you do not need to beg for security from others,\u201d added Rezaei.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera\u2019s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from the Qatari capital, Doha, said the pact \u201cessentially puts three of the largest Muslim populations together\u201d, marking the beginning of a \u201cdifferent security architecture\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cPakistan brings with it, obviously, its nuclear arsenal, battle-hardened military, and munitions it has been supplying,\u201d Bin Javaid said. \u201cTurkiye, with its advanced drone and munitions systems, is a NATO member, combined with the economic power of Saudi Arabia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reporting from the Turkish capital Ankara, Al Jazeera\u2019s Resul Serdar Atas said that while the deal was purely defensive, such agreements bring about cooperation in other sectors, too. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the trust now,\u201d Serdar said. \u201cThere are expectations in Ankara that this will also boost economic ties with Riyadh and Islamabad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abdulaziz Alghashian, a senior nonresident fellow at the Gulf International Forum, told Al Jazeera that the tripartite alliance sought to merge \u201cdeterrence and diplomacy\u201d. While the pact is not against any specific actor, the analyst said it was a formula to move the region towards more stability.<\/p>\n
Retired Pakistani Major-General Zahid Mahmood expressed a similar view, saying the intent was \u201ccollective security\u201d. By joining forces, the three signatories would \u201ccollectively approach the challenges the region is facing, and \u2026 help achieve stability and peace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saudi \u2060Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye have signed a \u2060joint defence agreement, deepening \u200csecurity cooperation amid heightened military tensions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1487,5704,49,632,151,50,2321,5386,51,47,52,48,1644,166618],"class_list":["post-731070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-asia","tag-conflict","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-news","tag-pakistan","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-turkey","tag-us-israel-war-on-iran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}