Makkah Pact Sparks Regional Power Shift Amid War with Iran

The Saudi-Pakistan-Turkiye pact has been signed in Mecca, creating a mutual defence agreement between the three countries. The pact, known as the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, treats an attack on any one of the countries as an attack on all three.

The agreement was signed by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It builds on a bilateral Saudi-Pakistan pact signed less than a year ago and includes Turkiye's defence industry and NATO-standard military.

The pact has raised questions about the region's changing power dynamics, with analysts arguing that it is more of a strategic signal rather than an operational alliance. The agreement does not name a specific threat, but is seen as a response to the US-Israel war on Iran, which has led to missile and drone fire onto Gulf oil exporters.

Pakistan's nuclear status and manpower are being seen as significant contributions to the alliance, while Turkiye brings its fast-growing defence-export industry. Saudi Arabia sees this alliance as an opportunity to develop its own defence sector capacity.