Saudi Arabia Signs Defense Pact

PHOTO CAPTION: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sign a joint defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, August 7, 2026. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

RIYADH, Aug. 12 — Increasingly drawn into a war it did not choose, Saudi Arabia is building regional defense alliances that it hopes will deter attacks and strengthen its ability to respond to Iran and its network of regional allies.

But early efforts to form a multinational maritime coalition in the Red Sea, along with a new defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan, have so far failed to stop attacks, analysts and diplomats said. Saudi military responses to attacks from Iran, Iraqi groups and Yemen’s Houthis have remained limited.

Riyadh’s challenge is to protect itself and the ambitious economic program it is pursuing without becoming more deeply involved in the wider regional conflict sparked by the U.S.-Iran war.

“Saudi Arabia’s problem is that the kingdom’s enemies know it wants to avoid war. They are abusing that,” one Middle Eastern official said.

The Saudi government media office did not respond to a request for comment.

“This is all very concerning and is exactly what Saudi Arabia wanted to avoid,” said Aziz al-Ghashian, a Saudi analyst and senior non-resident fellow at the Gulf International Forum. He said Iran and its allies appeared to have interpreted Saudi restraint as acceptance of continued attacks, leaving Riyadh searching for a way to strengthen deterrence without triggering a larger war.

“The trick is how to balance it,” Ghashian said. After the new defense pact was signed, the Houthis again attacked oil installations in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi response gradually expands

Since the United States and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28, Saudi Arabia initially focused on diplomacy while later beginning limited military responses that were kept secret. It reached a tentative calm with Iran around the time of an April ceasefire with the United States and for a period emerged as a comparatively safer location in the Gulf.

That position has become more difficult to maintain in recent weeks as Saudi Arabia faced damaging attacks on oil infrastructure from Yemen and Iraq, along with attacks on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea.

Two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia and the United States carried out joint airstrikes against Iraqi militias they said were involved in attacks on the kingdom. It was the first Saudi retaliation publicly announced during the war and came despite Riyadh’s efforts to avoid being seen as a co-belligerent alongside the United States and Israel.

Two days later, the kingdom announced plans to lead a maritime defense coalition in the Red Sea. Last week, Saudi Arabia signed a joint defense agreement with Turkey and Pakistan in Mecca.

“This is Saudi Arabia’s way to signal to Iran that we are willing to go further up the ladder, of course [first that] of diplomacy before crossing the line of diplomacy to the other side,” said Yasmine Farouk, project director for the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula at Crisis Group.

Farouk described the pact and maritime coalition as Saudi Arabia moving toward the later stages of its de-escalation and deterrence strategy. She cautioned, however, that the alliances remain “trial balloons” and that joint military action is currently unlikely.

What the Mecca defense pact means

Announced in Mecca after Friday prayers, the Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan agreement carried the symbolic weight of Muslim countries pledging to defend one another as if they were a single “Ummah,” or Muslim nation, according to Sultan Alamer, a non-resident scholar with the Carnegie Middle East Program.

The practical obligations are less clear. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saturday that the agreement was technically similar to NATO’s Article 5 but would require consultations among all three countries to determine what support would be provided if one of them were attacked and requested help.

Pakistan has previously sought to avoid becoming militarily involved against Iran or its allies despite its existing defense relationship with Saudi Arabia and hundreds of missile and drone attacks on the kingdom.

Iran has portrayed the agreement as a move away from reliance on outside powers, apparently referring to the United States, and said it saw no reason for concern “so long as it correctly identifies the enemy and the threat.”

Yemen remains a major vulnerability

On Saudi Arabia’s southern border, Yemen’s Houthis ended a four-year truce last month, declared a naval blockade against the kingdom and attacked Saudi oil infrastructure. The strikes have again highlighted Saudi vulnerability to asymmetric warfare and revived memories of 2019, when Saudi oil production was cut in half after Houthi drone and missile attacks that Reuters previously reported were planned by Iran.

Yemen remains particularly sensitive for Riyadh after Saudi Arabia led a military intervention there in 2015 following the Houthi seizure of the capital, Sanaa. That intervention drew international criticism over the human toll from the war and famine.

With Yemen again moving closer to war, Riyadh wants Yemen’s internationally recognized government to lead any new offensive, while Saudi Arabia has said a multinational maritime coalition is needed to protect Red Sea shipping.

Several people who attended initial discussions said invitations went out only days before the first meeting, underscoring the urgency of the Saudi effort. So far, 14 regional countries have joined, and more are expected to participate.

European governments are still considering whether to join, Western diplomats said, amid concerns about how deeply participation could draw them into another war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia wants to formally announce the coalition as soon as possible, with additional meetings planned this week in Jeddah.

(Source: Reuters)