ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Pakistan said on Monday a new trilateral defense pact with Pakistan and Türkiye would be implemented “on the ground” in the coming days, as US President Donald Trump backed the agreement as a step toward greater regional security.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye signed the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement earlier this month, stipulating that an attack against one country would be considered an attack against all three. The pact comes amid heightened Middle East tensions driven by the US-Iran war and continuing instability around the Strait of Hormuz.
The agreement expands a mutual defense pact signed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in September 2025 to include Türkiye, NATO’s second-largest military. It brings together nuclear-armed Pakistan, the world’s largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, which has one of the region’s largest militaries and a growing domestic defense industry.
“I think this agreement is a very important agreement. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye are very keen for the stability of the region,” Ambassador Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki told Arab News at an event at the Saudi embassy in Islamabad.
“In the coming days, we will make this agreement on the ground, and we will see a lot of cooperation between the three countries.”
The Saudi envoy said Pakistan had become a “very important country” not only in the region but globally amid tensions in the Middle East, adding that he hoped to see it among the world’s top 20 countries within three to four years.
His comments came as Trump welcomed the agreement on Monday, describing it as an “important first step” toward strengthening regional security and saying it showed how the Middle East was “coming together” and countries would be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for the endorsement, saying Islamabad, Riyadh and Ankara would work together to ensure the defense of their countries and the wider region.
“Together with the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Türkiye, Pakistan will continue to play a constructive role in ensuring the defense of our own countries as well as the entire region,” Sharif said on X.
Pakistan has said the trilateral agreement is defensive and is not directed against any country, adding that other nations could join if they agreed to uphold its principles.
While its collective defense provision has drawn comparisons with NATO’s Article 5, Pakistani officials have cautioned against describing the agreement as a regional version of the Western military alliance.
The pact comes as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye play diplomatic roles in efforts to contain the US-Iran conflict, which began in February and has disrupted shipping and energy markets across the Gulf.
A Pakistan- and Qatar-brokered framework signed by Washington and Tehran in June failed to produce a final peace agreement within its initial 60-day negotiating period, which expired on Monday.
Indirect contacts between Washington and Tehran through Pakistan and other mediators have continued, but there has been little sign of a diplomatic breakthrough.
