Saudi Arabia signs mutual defense pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan after Israeli attack on Qatar

Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan have signed a mutual defense pact that regards any attack on either nation as an at-

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tack on both in the wake of Israel’s strike on Qatar earlier this month.

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 immediately acknowledge the pact, which was the first firm defense decision made by a Gulf Arab country since the Qatar attack last week. The United States, long the security guarantor for the Gulf states, also did not immediately acknowledge the agreement.

Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed the pact Wednesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.