The Gulf stops waiting for Washington 

https://arab.news/r5g9k

The mutual defense pact signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan sent several signals at once. It aligned three of the most influential powers in the Muslim world, took its name from Islam’s holiest city, and was concluded at a venue overlooking the Kaaba. The choice of Makkah carries its own weight across the Muslim world. 

The bloc brings together nuclear capability, military strength, defense industry and money among states that already share ideological influence, leadership ambitions and a set of contemporary grievances. 

The three pledged that an armed attack on any one of them will be regarded as an attack on them all, a clause that mirrors NATO’s Article 5. 

Their commitment to a collective defense framework is a strategic gambit with far-reaching diplomatic consequences, and signals a possible shift in the region’s security architecture against the backdrop of the ongoing US-Iran war. 

The composition is unusual, with Turkiye and Pakistan as non-Arab members of a Gulf-centered pact. Each brings different capabilities. Saudi Arabia brings economic weight and regional influence. 

The pact supplements rather than replaces the American security umbrella, at least for now.  Owais Tohid

The pact supplements rather than replaces the American security umbrella, at least for now. 

Turkiye, which fields NATO’s second-largest military, adds a proven domestic defense industry in drones, missiles and naval platforms. Pakistan, the only nuclear-armed Muslim state, brings long experience in integrating conventional and asymmetric warfare doctrines, and a highly trained officer corps. 

The pact comes as the wider Gulf is embroiled in war, Israel’s continuing aggression and Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners’ oil installations, while the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to commercial shipping. 

Iran-backed Houthis in........

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