Pakistan says Makkah defense pact sends message of ‘unity, peace’ across region
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday a new collective defense pact between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye had brought the three countries closer and sent a message of “unity and peace” across the region.
The Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, signed by Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 7, stipulates that an armed attack against any one of the three countries will be regarded as an attack against all of them.
The agreement significantly expands security cooperation among three major Muslim states spanning South Asia and the Middle East, bringing together nuclear-armed Pakistan, NATO member Türkiye and Saudi Arabia at a time of heightened regional tensions following the war between the United States and Iran.
“The prime minister said that the recently signed Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan had brought the three countries even closer together and sent a message of unity and peace throughout the region,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Sharif made the remarks during a meeting in Islamabad with Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley.
The Makkah agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against external aggression and expand defense cooperation among its members, according to a joint statement issued when the pact was signed.
Pakistan has stressed that the agreement is defensive and is not aimed at any particular country. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said it does not replace existing bilateral or multilateral defense arrangements and remains open to other regional states willing to uphold its principles.
In September 2025, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement that similarly stipulated that aggression against either country would be considered aggression against both. The Makkah pact broadens that collective-defense framework to include Türkiye, which has NATO’s second-largest military and an expanding domestic defense industry.
Pakistani officials have said the trilateral agreement was the culmination of years of coordination rather than a response to a single regional crisis. Its signing, however, came against a dramatically changed security environment in the Middle East following the outbreak of war between the United States and Iran in February.
The conflict has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and heightened security concerns across Gulf states, adding urgency to regional discussions about deterrence and defense cooperation.
Saudi and Pakistani officials have sought to counter suggestions that the Makkah agreement represents a new military bloc.
The agreement provides for enhanced defense cooperation among the three countries but publicly released details have not specified how the collective-defense commitment would operate in practice if one of the signatories were attacked.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office has described the pact as a mechanism for the three countries to share responsibility for regional peace and security and coordinate their response to common threats.