Pakistani-Saudi-Turkish defence agreement on horizon Security pact outside of Beijing, Washington orbit

After nearly a year of consistent deliberations, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye have confirmed the existence of a draft trilateral defence agreement, marking a step toward the creation of a new regional security bloc independent of Western alliances. The prospective pact could serve as the foundation for a cooperative platform aimed at countering instability, terrorism, and external “hegemonies” in an increasingly volatile region.

Pakistani Minister for Defence Production Raza Hayat Harraj told Reuters this week that “all three countries are deliberating” on a draft agreement, while Türkiye’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan confirmed that talks have taken place. Although no document has been signed as of this reporting, Türkiye’s foreign minister noted that the initiative aligns with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s vision of an inclusive regional security platform.

Fidan stressed, however, that the proposal should be understood within the broader context of regional cooperation, rather than as the formation of a narrow alliance. He argued that such cooperation is necessary to overcome the distrust that often fuels external intervention, terrorism, and chronic instability.

“At the end of all of these, we have a proposal like this: all regional nations must come together to create a cooperation platform on the issue of security,” Fidan said. Regional challenges could be resolved if the relevant countries were “sure of each other,” he noted.

A defence pact among these three influential regional powers would directly address their shared security concerns, as highlighted in an article on this development by the Modern Diplomacy outlet. Those include Pakistan’s tensions with India, Saudi Arabia’s rivalry with Iran, and Türkiye’s conflicts with Kurdish groups alongside its strained relations within the NATO alliance.

Beyond the immediate benefits of formalized cooperation that such a pact, which is separate from the existing Saudi-Pakistani bilateral accord, offers for the involved parties, the potential agreement carries broader geopolitical significance. It would establish a non-Western, Muslim-majority security axis bridging the Middle East and South Asia, operating outside both US and Chinese spheres of influence.

Washington is likely to take particular notice, as the move would signal a strategic recalibration by some of its closest security partners. Pakistan and Türkiye are both treaty allies of the United States, with Türkiye also being a fellow NATO member, while Saudi Arabia is one of Washington’s largest arms clients and among its closest regional partners, alongside Israel. How the Trump administration might view the development of independent collective defence capabilities—which will effectively reduce reliance on US security guarantees—remains an open question.

According to the article’s projections, a finalized pact could pave the way for joint arms production, intelligence sharing, and coordinated contingency planning, directly challenging Iran’s regional network and potentially shifting the balance of power in conflicts ranging from Yemen to Kashmir.

The analysis further argues that such an alliance could deepen Iran’s isolation, pressuring Tehran either to intensify its military partnerships with Russia and China or to pursue diplomatic accommodation with its newly aligned neighbours.

In any case, the completion of a trilateral defence pact would introduce a new variable into great power competition, offering an alternative regional order not fully controlled by either the US-led system or the China-Russia axis, and potentially drawing interest from other influential Muslim-majority states such as Egypt or Indonesia.

By Nazrin Sadigova