ISLAMABAD — Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan have signed a mutual defense pact that defines any attack on either nation as an attack on both — a key accord in the wake of Israel’s strike on Qatar last week.
The kingdom has long had close economic, religious and security ties to Pakistan, including reportedly providing funding for Islamabad’s nuclear weapons program as it developed. Analysts — and Pakistani diplomats in at least one case — have suggested over the years that Saudi Arabia could be included under Islamabad’s nuclear umbrella, particularly as tensions have risen over Iran’s atomic program.
But the timing of the pact appeared to be a signal to Israel, long suspected to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state, which has conducted a sprawling military offensive since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel stretching across Iran, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Syria and Yemen.
Israel did not respond to requests for comment. The pact marks the first major defense decision by a Gulf Arab country since the Qatar attack. The United States, long the security guarantor for the Gulf Arab states, also did not respond to questions posed to the State Department.
Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed the pact on Wednesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
While not specifically discussing the bomb, the agreement states “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both,” according to statements issued by both Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry and the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
“This agreement ... aims to develop aspects of defense cooperation between the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression,” the statement said.
Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. diplomat with long experience in Afghanistan and Pakistan, expressed concern over the deal, saying it comes in “dangerous times.”
“Pakistan has nuclear weapons and delivery systems that can hit targets across the Middle East, including Israel. It also is developing systems that can reach targets in the U.S.,” Khalilzad wrote on X.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have a defense relationship stretching back decades, in part due to Islamabad’s willingness to defend the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and Medina in the kingdom. Pakistani troops first traveled to Saudi Arabia in the late 1960s over concerns about Egypt’s war in Yemen at the time.
Those ties increased after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the kingdom’s fears of a confrontation with Tehran.
Pakistan developed its nuclear weapons program to counter India’s atomic bombs. The two neighbors have fought multiple wars against each other and again came close to open warfare after an attack on tourists in April in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India is believed to have an estimated 172 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has 170, according to the U.S.-published Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
On Thursday, India’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged the Saudi-Pakistan pact and said it “will study the implications of this development for our national security as well as for regional and global stability.” Saudi Arabia also maintains close ties with India.
Neither Pakistan nor Saudi Arabia responded to questions from The Associated Press on Thursday on whether the pact extended to Islamabad’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Pakistan “has historically maintained a deliberately ambiguous nuclear doctrine,” according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security analyst, noted on Thursday that Pakistan’s National Command Authority — which oversees the country’s atomic weapons — had not made any statement on the pact. However, he said he believed Pakistan capable of responding to Israel even without the deterrent effect of atomic weapons.
“Pakistan is more than confident that its conventional capability is adequate,” he said. “Pakistan’s military ... is adequate enough to improve the security of Saudi Arabia without having to resort to the nuclear option.”
