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WASHINGTON — The much-hyped Iran-Oman deal that US officials predicted would reopen the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week never materialized — but another consequential agreement moved forward Friday as three of the Muslim world’s most powerful nations joined forces against a region on fire.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey announced Friday they signed a landmark joint defense pact in Mecca, declaring that an attack on one would be treated as an attack on all — a move that could reshape the security landscape as Iran continues missile strikes and threatens vital energy routes across the Gulf.
The agreement comes as Tehran and its allies have repeatedly targeted Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states during the US war on Iran, sending shockwaves through global energy markets and raising fears that Washington’s traditional security partners may seek new ways to protect themselves.
The pact — signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — creates a new security framework linking a NATO power, the Arab world’s heavyweight and the only nuclear-armed Islamic nation.
The timing was impossible to ignore.
For weeks, the Trump administration has pushed to restore stability after Iran disrupted commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway through which a huge portion of the world’s oil supply flows.
US officials had expected an Oman-brokered arrangement with Tehran to create a limited shipping corridor through the strait to help traffic kick up. But as those efforts stalled, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan moved ahead with their own answer to the growing threat.
Under the “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement,” the three countries said they would strengthen collective deterrence against aggression and consider an armed attack on any member an attack on all three.
Still, the agreement did not spell out specific military commitments or automatically require a military response, leaving questions about how far the alliance would go if one member came under attack.
Iranian officials swiftly pushed back against the deal, warning Saudi Arabia that new alliances would not replace Tehran’s preferred vision of regional security.
“The Saudis should understand that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan will not bring them security, just as decades of one-sided dependence on the Americans failed to do so,” Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of Iran’s parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, posted to X on Friday.
“Change your policies so you don’t have to beg others for security.”
The pact also reflects growing anxiety among US allies after years of escalating conflict across the Middle East, regional sources told The Post on Friday.
Saudi Arabia has long relied on Washington as its primary security partner, but Iranian attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and fears over America’s willingness to intervene have pushed Riyadh to diversify its defense relationships.
Turkey brings NATO’s second-largest military to the arrangement, while Pakistan contributes decades of military cooperation with Saudi Arabia — including training, deployments and defense support.
Pakistan has previously deployed thousands of troops, fighter jets, drones and air-defense systems to Saudi Arabia, although Islamabad has avoided direct military retaliation against Iran and has served as a neutral mediator throughout the war.
The agreement also comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to protect its economic plans and energy exports from a regional war that has already disrupted shipping routes — with Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen repeatedly targeting Saudi ships in the Red Sea.
Turkey and Pakistan have also supported Saudi plans for a multinational maritime defense coalition aimed at protecting regional shipping lanes.
While critics have shared concerns that the pact could become a new military bloc, the countries’ officials insisted it was defensive.
“This historic agreement embodies the unity of three brotherly countries, bound by ties of faith and deep-rooted brotherhood, united by a sincere will and shared vision to strengthen the foundations of peace, security, and stability and to safeguard the interests of their peoples and serve their nation,” Shehbaz said in a statement.
As the Trump administration has consistently called for other nations to take on more of their own defense, the new pact is one of the most tangible examples to date of America’s allies taking more control over their own defense arrangements.
The result is a new Middle East security equation, according to regional officials: as Tehran tests US resolve, Washington’s partners are beginning to build their own lines of defense.
English (US)