Mecca Pact: Saudi-Türkiye-Pakistan Alliance Transforms Middle East Security After Iran Conflict

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A new defense pact between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan is raising questions about whether a new security bloc is emerging in the Middle East. Signed in Mecca, the agreement commits the three countries to treat an attack on one as an attack on all, drawing immediate comparisons with NATO's Article 5. Bringing together NATO's second-largest military, the Gulf's leading economic power and the Muslim world's only nuclear-armed state, the pact could reshape regional security at a time of continued conflict with Iran, Houthi attacks and growing doubts about long-term US engagement in the region. Is the Mecca Pact the foundation of a "Sunni NATO" — or a more limited framework for defense cooperation? In this episode, we examine what the agreement actually commits its members to, how it could affect the balance of power in the Middle East and what its broader implications are for the Indo-Pacific. *Recorded on August 13, 2026 at 2pm Taiwan Standard Time Host: Wen-Ti Sung Producer: Suvam Pal Videographer: Celest Kao Our guests: Guermantes Lailari - Jewish Policy Center Senior Non-Resident Fellow Swasti Rao - O.P. Jindal Global University Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA) Associate Professor Müge Yüce - Atatürk University Middle East and Central Asia-Caucasus Research Center director

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