The president of the United States, Donald Trump, applauded this Sunday the recent signing of the Joint Defense Agreement of Mecca, signed last Friday by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey, and described it as a "first great step" for a "more effective" defense in the Middle East.
"I am very glad to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have recently, and finally, signed the Joint Defense Agreement of Mecca," the leader stated in a message on social media in which he added that this demonstrates "how the Middle East is coming together and how countries will finally be able to defend themselves more effectively."
Immediately, the occupant of the White House extended his congratulations to the "great leaders" of the three involved states: the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif.
"This is a big, bold, and important first step," the leader of the U.S. Executive stated about the pact sealed in the holy city of Mecca, designed to strengthen the joint deterrence capacity in the face of rising tensions in the area.
In this line, the joint statement released on the day of the signing by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs set as the purpose of the agreement to "strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression," specifying that "any armed attack against any of the three states will be considered an attack against all of them."
The trilateral understanding comes after Riyadh and Islamabad signed a defense agreement last year that already introduced the idea of shared deterrence. At that time, Pakistan's Defense Minister, Jawaja Asif, did not rule out the incorporation of a third partner into this framework.
With this historic pact, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan aim to intensify their coordination in defense matters in the context of the war between the United States and Iran, which has impacted Saudi territory and altered maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, an essential corridor for oil transport in the region.