By Maha El Dahan and Saeed Shah
DUBAI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan signed a formal mutual defense pact on Wednesday, in a move that significantly strengthens a decades-long security partnership amid heightened regional tensions.
The enhanced defense ties come as Gulf Arab states grow increasingly wary about the reliability of the United States as their longstanding security guarantor. Israel’s attack on Qatar last week heightened those concerns.
“This agreement is a culmination of years of discussions. This is not a response to specific countries or specific events but an institutionalization of longstanding and deep cooperation between our two countries,” a senior Saudi official told Reuters when asked about its timing.
Israel’s attempt to kill the political leaders of Hamas with airstrikes on Doha, while they were discussing a ceasefire proposal that Qatar is helping to mediate, infuriated Arab countries.
The pact could shift the strategic calculus in a complex region. Allies of Washington, Gulf monarchies have sought to stabilise ties with both Iran and Israel to resolve longstanding security concerns.
But the Gaza war has upended the region and Gulf state Qatar has been subjected to direct hits twice in a year, once by Iran and once by Israel.
The senior Saudi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the need to balance relations with Pakistan’s rival, India, also a nuclear power.
“Our relationship with India is more robust than it has ever been. We will continue to grow this relationship and seek to contribute to regional peace whichever way we can.”
Asked whether Pakistan would be obliged to provide Saudi Arabia with a nuclear umbrella under the pact, the official said: “This is a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means.”
Pakistani state television showed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, embracing after signing the agreement. In attendance was Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, regarded as the country’s most powerful person.
“This agreement, which reflects the shared commitment of both nations to enhance their security and to achieving security and peace in the region and the world, aims to develop aspects of defense cooperation between the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression. The agreement states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both,” a statement from the Pakistani prime minister’s office said.
(Reporting by Saeed Shah in Islamabad and Maha El Dahan in Dubai; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
