International News

Mecca Joint defence agreement 2026

August 15 , 2026 10 hrs 0 min 16 0

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed a joint defence agreement.
It was saying an attack on one of them would be seen as an attack on all three.
It sees three of the world's most powerful Muslim nations come together to offer mutual defence guarantees.
After the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, Tehran and its allies struck targets in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states and disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping channel, and the Red Sea.
Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are the three Sunni-majority powers.
It is also called as Sunni NATO.
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.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had already announced a joint defence pact last year.
Kuwait, another Gulf state, has also ratified a broad defence cooperation agreement with Pakistan in 2023.
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.
Last month, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels – who control much of the north-west of the country - announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and targeted Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.