Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed a defence pact in Mecca that commits each country to treat an armed attack on one as an attack on all.
The agreement, signed on 7 August, has been described by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan as technically equivalent to NATO's Article 5 mutual defence clause. He said it does not target Iran and that the three countries will set up a ministerial committee resembling NATO's decision-making structure, along with a general secretariat based in Saudi Arabia. Fidan added that Egypt could join once technical issues are resolved.
The pact combines Saudi financial power, Turkey's defence industry and Pakistan's military strength. It comes amid regional tensions involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
The agreement has reopened tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political analyst and former aide to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, questioned the alliance, saying strengthening Gulf cooperation mattered more and asking who the common enemy would be. Saudi Prince Abdulrahman bin Musaid responded that the pact was a matter of national sovereignty. Fahad al-Arabi al-Harthi, chairman of the Asbar Centre for Studies and Research, said the agreement was not an alliance aimed at anyone but a collective capacity for deterrence and defence.
Some Saudi social media users pointed to the UAE's own 2020 normalisation deal with Israel, questioning whether Abu Dhabi had consulted Gulf states before that. Abdulaziz al-Tuwaijri, former head of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, suggested that critics of the pact lacked moral standing because of the UAE's ties with Israel.
India said it is studying the implications of the agreement. Foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal made the comment on Tuesday.