Foreign Relations

Saudi Arabia Says Mecca Defense Pact Is Not Linked to Nuclear Ambitions or an Arms Race

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Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of three national leaders in formal dress greeting one another with a handshake inside an ornate palace reception hall with chandeliers, flanked by aides and a uniformed military officer.

Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly said in a post on X that the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement with Turkey and Pakistan is not linked to any nuclear ambitions or an arms race and is focused on building sustainable capabilities. He said it creates no military axis or sectarian bloc and threatens no country in the region. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed it in Mecca on Friday, treating an armed attack on one as an attack on all three. Pakistan is the Muslim world's only nuclear power, and Institute for National Security Studies researcher Gallia Lindenstrauss called the pact a worrying development from Israel's perspective.

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