Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on Friday, August 7. The pact aims to ensure a collective response if any member faces an armed attack and to strengthen mutual defense capabilities. Under the agreement, an armed attack against one of the three countries will be treated as an attack against all three.

The agreement comes amid renewed questions over security and strategic stability in the Middle East following conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran. Baker Institute fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen said regional states had questioned the reliability of US partnership for nearly a decade. Center for International Policy analyst Sina Toossi said Riyadh was expanding regional security cooperation rather than relying only on Washington.

Ulrichsen said the pact is not intended to bypass the United States completely, but to provide additional strategic and policy options alongside US cooperation. International Crisis Group analyst Yasmin Farouk said it should not be seen as a direct replacement for the US-led security system. All three signatories remain US partners and have supported de-escalation and mediation since the war began.