Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif signed a tripartite agreement in Mecca on Friday. Known as the Mecca Joint Defense Pact, it says an attack on any one of the three countries will be treated as an attack on all three. The agreement was signed five months after the source-described ongoing war between the United States and Iran, which it says halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The report links the pact to a Saudi Arabia-Pakistan strategic mutual defense agreement signed in Riyadh in September 2025. Pakistan has trained and advised Saudi forces for decades, while Turkey and Pakistan have exchanged warships and training aircraft. Turkey and Saudi Arabia have also improved previously poor relations through trade and bilateral security agreements, according to the report.

Officials close to the talks said the tripartite agreement followed nearly a year of discussions. The report says it could lead to lasting structures through joint exercises and intelligence sharing. It adds that the roles Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad would take if a member faced a direct attack remain uncertain.