Pakistan-Saudi Arabia mutual defense pact: News & Discussion

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www.arabnews.com

Saudi crown prince, Pakistani PM sign joint strategic defense agreement

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed a joint strategic defense agreement in Riyadh on Wednesday, Saudi Press Agency reported. The agreement comes within the framework of the two countries’ efforts to enhance their security and...
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www.middleeasteye.net

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defence pact

Riyadh's bid to bolster defensive ties with nuclear-armed Pakistan comes after it was rebuffed by Washington and Israel attacked Qatar
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Yasser76 said:
Strategically this has some major implications

1) Pakistan in the past was indirectly part of the Middle Eastern security dynamic, now we are directly involved in it
2) Pakistan forces need to treat Israel as a direct and close (not indirect or distant) threat
3) This greatly complicates relations with Iran
4) Also complicates relations with US, as we are now effectively their rival in helping Saudi
5) Saudi relations with India now complicated. Assuming it truly is a mutual pact, attacking Pakistan will be seen as an attack on Saudi, with all the implications that involves
6) Expect a massive western and Israeli propaganda effort against our nuclear programme
7) Egypt has effectively been sidelined as the leading Middle Eastern military power
Click to expand...

whats the return of all that risk?!
 
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Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defence pact​

Riyadh's bid to bolster defensive ties with nuclear-armed Pakistan comes after it was rebuffed by Washington and Israel attacked Qatar

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif embrace each other on the day they sign a defence agreement, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 17 September 2025 (Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters)
By MEE staff
Published date: 17 September 2025 21:57 BST | Last update: 9 mins 26 secs ago
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Saudi Arabia signed on Wednesday a mutual defence pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan, amid growing fears in the Gulf over the US’s willingness to constrain Israeli belligerence.

Pakistan said the agreement “reflects the shared commitment of both nations to enhance their security and to achieving security and peace in the region, adding that “The agreement states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both”.

Asked by Reuters whether the agreement would place Saudi Arabia under Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella, a senior Saudi official said, "This is a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means”.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have enjoyed close military ties for decades. The Financial Times cited a Saudi official saying that the agreement had been under discussion for two or three years.

But the deal’s timing comes after Sunni monarchs were shocked by Israel’s attack on Qatar last week. Middle East Eye revealed that the Trump administration approved the attack beforehand—as subsequent reporting from Axios has confirmed.

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Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are all strong US partners that are home to US military bases. Qatar is home to Al-Udeid, the largest US military base in the region.

The Gulf states have long relied on the US to underwrite their security and have watched warily as Washington acquiesces to Israeli attacks on Syria, Lebanon and Iran—despite their tense relations with the Islamic Republic.

However, few officials in the region expected Israel to attack Qatar with US backing, a major non-Nato ally that has been mediating between Hamas and Israel.

What the Israel-Iran-US conflict taught Pakistan
Read More »
“This could potentially have profound implications for how regional states view US security guarantees,” Ted Singer, former head of Middle East operations for the US Central Intelligence Agency, told MEE after the Israeli attack.

The agreement was signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Riyadh.

Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was also in attendence. The Pakistani military exercises outsized influence in the country.

The defence pact is likely to have deep implications for the region. Pakistan has close military and economic ties with China, but Munir visited the White House earlier this year in a sign that Islamabad was also courting the Trump administration.

The US and Pakistan cooperated extensively on security during the US war in Afghanistan, but the relationship waned as a result of the US withdrawal and Beijing’s rising influence.

Saudi Arabia also enjoys good relations with Pakistan’s historic rival, India. Pakistai and India engaged in a deadly air war in May that almost brought them to the brink of nuclear conflict. Pakistan thanked US President Donald Trump for mediating an end to the war, but India bristled at the suggestion that it wanted a truce, hurting ties with the US.

Saudi Arabia’s nod to Pakistan will not go unnoticed in Washington. Islamabad has strongly condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza and also criticised Israel’s attack on Iran, its neighbour, in June.

Analysts say that Pakistan was alarmed by the precedent set by US and Israeli air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities - and the potential extension of Israeli aerial dominance near Pakistan’s western frontier.

Israel's attack on Qatar eviscerates promise of US security umbrella for Gulf
Read More »
Pakistan is the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons. It has always framed its arsenal as for defensive purposes, but does not have a “no-first-use” doctrine, which rules out preemptively attacking foes with nuclear weapons.

Israel is widely understood to possess nuclear weapons.

Saudi Arabia’s decision to forge a defense pact with Pakistan comes after it was rebuffed by the US, which wanted to condition a defensive agreement and the sale of civilian nuclear technology to Riyadh on normalising relations with Israel.

Saudi Arabia forcefully pushed back on US lobbying efforts ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region in May, MEE reported.

Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has labeled Israel's war in Gaza a genocide.

Saudi Arabia enjoys close security ties to the US, and the Crown Prince is understood to have a good relationship with US President Donald Trump.

In May, Trump credited the crown prince for convincing him to drop sanctions on Syria. Riyadh also successfully lobbied the US to stop its attacks on the Houthis in Yemen earlier this year.

The kingdom pledged over $600bn in investments in the US when Trump visited.
 
Mighty_Dragon_Strike said:
whats the return of all that risk?!
Click to expand...

Well, Saudi can economically hurt India a lot and of course fund many Pakistani projects.
This also gives us bases within striking distance of Israel, so they know we can hit them back if they attack Pakistan
Israel has always been a threat to us, not just Saudi....
 
Yasser76 said:
Strategically this has some major implications

1) Pakistan in the past was indirectly part of the Middle Eastern security dynamic, now we are directly involved in it
2) Pakistan forces need to treat Israel as a direct and close (not indirect or distant) threat
3) This greatly complicates relations with Iran
4) Also complicates relations with US, as we are now effectively their rival in helping Saudi
5) Saudi relations with India now complicated. Assuming it truly is a mutual pact, attacking Pakistan will be seen as an attack on Saudi, with all the implications that involves
6) Expect a massive western and Israeli propaganda effort against our nuclear programme
7) Egypt has effectively been sidelined as the leading Middle Eastern military power
Click to expand...

I agree with everything but item 3). I do think Iran is being brought into the cold for the Middle East (imho).

Let’s see of course.
 
This is excellent. Although an Islamic NATO should have been created decades ago. Better late than never I guess.

In the case that India tries any misadventure again, at the very least we should be able to secure a healthy oil supply for free......

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Mobius said:
This is excellent. Although an Islamic NATO should have been created decades ago. Better late than never I guess.

In the case that India tries any misadventure again, at the very least we should be able to secure a healthy oil supply for free......

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Click to expand...


Yup, and of course right now this may be followed by replacing of Indians in Saudi by more Pakistanis
 
Yasser76 said:
Yup, and of course right now this may be followed by replacing of Indians in Saudi by more Pakistanis
Click to expand...

It is in our interest for Indians to remain reliant on the remittances which is where we will extract the leverage if needed.

What's confirmed is if Pakistan is attacked by India again, Pakistan will use overwhelming force in their response and Saudis will follow up with heavy sanctions. This will be enough to keep the peace.
 
So much for "Net security provider"

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Distant_Observer said:
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I am hearing a lot of Al-Bakistan from GCC these days, Allah reham kare lol Arabs are like Sindh Police, jin ki na dosti achi na dushmani achi.
 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the KSA

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Yasser76 said:
Logical idea, but too much history there, maybe just make GCC closer knit and a form of NATO?
Click to expand...
UAE in that NATO ?... Lol... Might as well put Israel in there and call it a day... Saudis don't need money.. they need partners... Qatar has also had a reality check best time to reconsider... Pakistanis should try and bring in Yemen and Saudis closer...
From Hadith point of view I'm not very optimistic about all of this though...
Anas ibn Malik reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “No land will be safe from the False Messiah except for Mecca and Medina. No passage leads to them but that it will be guarded by angels arranged in ranks. The False Messiah will appear in a barren place next to Medina, and the city will be shaken three times. Allah will expel from it every unbeliever and hypocrite.”
The land between Medina and Israel that is Barren is Harrat Khaybar...
Who has shown optimism to take back Khaybar ? The other most barren city in the vicinity is Riyadh itself.... That's why a Naval base on the Red Sea or better relationship with Oman and Yemen to access those routes... The direction Qatar and UAE are chasing shows no hope but rather a closed door.
 
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