JEDDAH: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye are set to sign a joint defence agreement in Jeddah on Friday, according to sources close to the Saudi military and government, in a move that could reshape security alignments across the Middle East and South Asia.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is due to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the Red Sea city to formalise the pact. Sharif and Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, along with their delegation, arrived in the kingdom on Thursday as part of a visit scheduled to run until Saturday. Erdogan is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia later on Friday, according to the Turkish presidency.
Acording to the international media APF, a source close to the Saudi military told that discussions on the trilateral arrangement had been under way for a long time but that recent developments in the region had accelerated the process. Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the visit was taking place from August 6 to 8.
Foreign Office spokesman Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday that although the visit was taking place against the backdrop of heightened tensions in the Gulf, it would carry significance beyond the immediate crisis and short-term considerations.
The trilateral summit comes amid a months-long conflict between the United States and Iran that has disrupted global supply chains, led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and drawn in other Gulf states. Pakistan has been playing a mediating role in efforts to end the conflict. Speculation has mounted for months that the three Sunni-majority countries were seeking to formalise a stronger strategic alliance.
The expected agreement builds on the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in Riyadh in September 2025, under which both countries committed to treating any act of aggression against either as an attack on both. In April this year, Pakistan sent fighter jets and other military assets to Saudi Arabia under that pact, according to the Saudi defence ministry.
Officials and analysts describe the Riyadh pact as a watershed in Pakistan-Saudi relations, elevating decades of friendship to a formal defence partnership with implications extending across the wider region. Friday’s expected trilateral signing would extend that framework to include Turkiye, positioning the three countries within a more structured security arrangement as regional tensions persist.
Details of the agreement’s specific provisions have not yet been officially released. Pakistani, Saudi and Turkish authorities are expected to issue formal statements following the signing ceremony.
