Sunni Nato is here: Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia sign defence pact in Mecca

Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the three Sunni-majority powers, have signed a NATO-like defence agreement in Mecca. The agreement, called the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement and signed in Saudi Arabia, aims to establish a collective security and defence mechanism among the three countries.

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca on Friday, as the three Sunni-majority US allies seek to bolster collective security amid a wider regional conflict with Shia-dominant Iran and its proxies.

The agreement, named "Mecca Joint Defence Agreement", does not spell out the specific commitments or obligations undertaken by the three countries.

However, a joint statement said it aims to strengthen collective security and promote peace, security and stability in the region and beyond.

According to Pakistan's Dawn, citing the Pakistan Foreign Office, the agreement is intended to strengthen "collective deterrence against any act of aggression" and "stipulates that an armed attack against any one of the three countries would be regarded as an attack against all three".

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the pact in Mecca on Friday.

The deal comes amid a sharp escalation in tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and allied groups have launched attacks targeting Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, while energy shipments have also been disrupted, after the US and Israel held a joint operation on Iran on February 28.

A Turkish official told Reuters that the new agreement is defensive in nature, is not directed against any specific country or actor, remains open to other regional countries and does not replace or override existing bilateral or multilateral defence arrangements.

The pact also builds on a 2025 defence agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, under which an attack on either country is to be treated as an attack on the other.

The three countries bring significant military and strategic weight to the arrangement. Turkey has Nato's second-largest military, Saudi Arabia is the Gulf's leading military power and one of the world's biggest oil exporters, while Pakistan is the world's only nuclear-armed Muslim-majority country.

Pak PM Sharif was accompanied to Mecca by Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir. The two performed the Umrah pilgrimage before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Saudi Arabia.

The two later met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose country has faced repeated attacks from Iran as well as Tehran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen and Shia militias in Iraq since the conflict began on February 28.

Kuwait, another Gulf state, has also ratified a broad defence cooperation agreement with Pakistan that it had signed back in 2023 on July 26. The agreement established a framework for cooperation between the armed forces of Pakistan and Kuwait and focuses on military training, intelligence sharing, logistics, defence technology, research, and exchanges of expertise.

Turkey has sided with Pakistan in the Kashmir issue even after it has illegally occupied the area. Turkey has also helped the Islamic Republic during the four-day military retaliation by India against its sponsoring of terror in May 2025.

It not only provided over 350 military drones to Pakistan but also operators. Pakistan used Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and YIHA drones against India during Operation Sindoor.

Turkey's defence collaboration with Pakistan has grown at a fast pace in recent years. With the new "Mecca Joint Defence Agreement", the Sunni-dominated countries have built a Nato-like pact that would impact ongoing Middle East conflict.

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