Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign Mecca Joint Defense Agreement

Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement in Mecca on Friday, creating a trilateral security pact with a mutual defense clause that treats an armed attack on one member as an attack on all three. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the arrangement is comparable to NATO's Article 5, does not define a common threat in writing and is not directed at any country that does not attack the signatories. Iran's public reaction has been restrained. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi praised Muslim unity without directly mentioning the agreement, while Hossein Noushabadi, a director general for parliamentary and legal affairs and former Iranian envoy to Oman, said Tehran views the pact as a sign of the weakening of US security dominance in West Asia and the Persian Gulf. Analysts cited in the new report said Iranian officials do not appear to see the pact as an immediate threat, but Tehran could be concerned over time if it strengthens Saudi deterrence or evolves into a broader coalition that increases pressure on Iran and its regional allies. The pact comes after months of war involving Iran that spilled into the Gulf and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and as Saudi Arabia faces continued attacks from the Houthis in Yemen. On Sunday, the Houthis claimed a drone strike on the Saudi Aramco refinery in Jizan, while Saudi Arabia said a fire there was extinguished without casualties. In Yemen, Houthi missiles and drones also struck the Saudi-backed government's Red Sea port of al-Makha, where officials reported at least seven people killed, 15 wounded and severe infrastructure damage. Analysts and Iranian commentators are divided on the significance of the agreement. Some see it as part of a post-American regional security order and a balance to the Abraham Accords rather than a direct challenge to Tehran, while hardline voices in Iran argue it could eventually be turned against the "resistance front." Experts also said that if the arrangement expands into a wider regional security architecture, questions about possible Iranian participation could emerge over the longer term, though expansion to other Arab states such as Egypt appears more plausible in the near term.