Saudi Arabia signs a mutual defense pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan after Israel’s attack on Qatar

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.

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.