2 min readAug 11, 2026 06:10 AM IST First published on: Aug 11, 2026 at 06:10 AM ISTThe Mecca Joint Defence Agreement signed between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey — between an oil-rich economic powerhouse, the only Islamic country with a nuclear weapon and a NATO member with the second-largest military — is significant. The agreement proclaims a NATO-like principle of collective defence: “Any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all.” But it lacks the one thing that makes collective defence alliances work: A shared threat. Saudi Arabia and Israel (which has called Turkey the new Iran) may not have official diplomatic relations with each other but they engage in security cooperation, while both Pakistan and Turkey’s relationships with Iran — which has pummelled Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles — are complicated. Consider, also, the fact that Pakistan, despite its mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia last year, has not responded militarily to Iran’s attacks on the kingdom. The Saudis did not help Pakistan, either, when the latter country went to war with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.The pact will boost defence cooperation, intelligence-sharing and joint production of weaponry. But the tangled web of regional relationships and rivalries in a changing West Asia characterised by growing American unpredictability means that it is a far cry from a NATO-style alliance. For now, it is better understood as a hedge against a changing regional order and a response to Iranian and Israeli military manoeuvres, as well as the failure of the Donald Trump administration in assuring the security of the Gulf states against either actor. Each of the three signatories has its own calculus in the region: Riyadh, which recently signed a civil nuclear deal with Washington, is trying to assert its leadership; the pact embeds Islamabad more deeply in the emerging security architecture; and it advances Ankara’s long-standing ambition to play a larger security role in West Asia.AdvertisementIndia should not be overly concerned. It should cultivate stronger ties with the countries of the region, deepen its economic and strategic engagement with the Gulf and maintain working relationships across the regional rivalries.