US President Donald Trump on Sunday touted the defense pact inked earlier this month by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan.

“It shows how the Middle East is coming together and how countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, calling the agreement a “BIG, BOLD, IMPORTANT FIRST STEP.”

The three-way agreement, signed August 7, comes as the US-Israel war with Iran that began in late February has extended across the Middle East, including Iran-backed Houthi rebel attacks, upending the security architecture in the region and forcing a rethink of decades of conventional wisdom rooted in American military supremacy.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the pact meant an attack on any member would be regarded as an attack on all, adding it was “intended to strengthen collective deterrence.”

The agreement, which also rejects Israel’s hegemony, declared a “shared commitment to further strengthening their collective security and to promoting peace,........

© The Times of Israel