Iranian officials and clerics moved quickly to downplay a new trilateral security pact between Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad, calling it a "paper agreement" that will not shield Saudi Arabia as the region braces for a wider war. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a mutual defense agreement in Mecca on Friday, binding the three Muslim-majority powers into a NATO-style collective security arrangement just as Iran's war with the United States and Israel edges closer to the kingdom's borders. Within hours, Iranian officials and religious figures had responded — dismissing the pact publicly even though its text named no adversary. The Agreement The "Mecca Joint Defense Agreement" was signed by Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the royal court in the Al-Safa Palace in Mecca. Sharif arrived in Jeddah on Thursday for a three-day visit accompanied by a...
Eight years ago, Turkey and Saudi Arabia appeared to be heading towards lasting enmity. On Friday, August 7, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stood together in Mecca as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a collective-defence agreement declaring that an armed attack on one would be considered an attack on all three. The contrast is difficult to ignore. On October 2, 2018, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and never came out. He was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents. US intelligence subsequently concluded that Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation, an allegation the crown prince has denied while accepting responsibility for the killing occurring “under his watch.” The murder plunged Turkish-Saudi relations into their deepest crisis in decades. Ankara pursued the case internationally and Turkish officials released a stream of evidence implicating Saudi operatives. Erdoğan repeatedly de...