Opinion | The Gulf's New Defence Agreement Has A 'Credibility' Problem

Updated: Aug 24, 2026 16:50 pm IST Published On Aug 24, 2026 16:50 pm IST Last Updated On Aug 24, 2026 16:50 pm IST

Published On Aug 24, 2026 16:50 pm IST

Last Updated On Aug 24, 2026 16:50 pm IST

The tripartite Saudi-Pakistan-Turkey defence pact follows the Saudi-Pakistan defence pact. The latter came as a surprise, even though Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have had known security links. Pakistani troop contingents have reputedly provided security protection to the Saudi monarchy. The former Pakistani Army Chief, Raheel Sharif, is heading the grouping, which again points to security-related understandings between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It is also believed that the Saudis had played a role in financing Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.

Formalising a defence pact between the two countries is, of course, a major step. Especially if it contains a provision that the attack against one country will be considered an attack on both. The timing of the pact was politically very sensitive as it came during an armed conflict in the region involving US-Israel and Iran, with Iran attacking several Gulf countries hosting US bases and threatening to cause havoc to the energy and water desalination infrastructures of these countries should the US begin destroying the energy and other vital infrastructure of Iran. This continues to be a nightmare scenario for Saudi Arabia.

In addition to the Iranian threat, Saudi. Arabia faces a threat also from the Houthis with which it has been engaged in a conflict for some years now, but without success. The Houthis threaten maritime shipping in the Bab el Mandab Strait. This, coupled with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, constitutes a vice-like grip on the movement of oil from the region internationally, including that of Saudi Arabia. whose oil terminals on the Red Sea are also vulnerable to Houthi attacks.

Why Saudi Arabia calculates that Pakistan can join hands with it to counter the threat from Iran or Houthis is not clear. Even the US and Israel have not been able to deal with Iran successfully, or with the Houthi threat to maritime shipping. Can Saudi Arabia count on Pakistan to treat an Iranian attack on it as an attack against Pakistan itself? What capacity does Pakistan have to deal with........

© NDTV