Gulf International Forum Spotlights Changing Alliances in Middle East

By Elaine Pasquini

Washington, DC: As negotiations between the United States and Iran have failed to reach a peace agreement while the war passes the six-month mark, alliances in the Middle East and Gulf region are changing. To discuss the growing relationships among Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Pakistan, and potentially Egypt, and how defense ties, diplomacy and strategic interests may be linking them more closely together, the Gulf International Forum (GIF) hosted a webinar on August 13, 2026.

Aziz Alghashian, senior non-resident fellow at GIF, called the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement signed on August 7 by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan “a significant development” and not “merely a symbolic alliance.” Beyond the emphasis on mutual defense central to the agreement, it “broadens the scope of diplomacy and unifies three large Muslim powers.”

“I think diplomacy with Iran is still something of a strategic necessity that the Saudi ruling elite as well as a great deal of the region believe is important and cannot be negated,” he added. “I think the role of Pakistan is crucial because their mediating role is important and keeps Iran at bay.”

Asked by moderator Ambassador Patrick Theros, strategic advisor and senior fellow at the GIF, if the alliance hinders or comes at the cost of Saudi’s relationship with Washington or any other Western capital, Alghashian responded that it is a “complementation of it…because they are three major US allies and what many in the security establishment in Washington would want. They’ve called for American allies to work together. This actually provides a great deal of burden-sharing in theory.”

“I think the Saudis have been very clear time and again that notwithstanding the frustration that comes with dealing with the main security partner of the United States, it is still their number one preference,” he said. “But they don’t want an overdependence on the United States. There are other options and I think the Saudis are not hesitant to go to other options.”

Ambassador Theros interjected that one of the problems the United States has created for itself over the years is that “we happily watched our alliances turn into dependences where we decided we were going to solve all of the problems and the Europeans could demobilize and everyone else could stay weak because we were defending them. I think this has caused us an inordinate number of problems since then.”

Pakistani Brigadier (Ret) Feroz Hassan Khan, professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, stressed that it was important to remember that “the foundation of Pakistan has always come with a pan-Islamic vision. Pakistan’s founding vision was always that Muslim countries should stand together.”

For Pakistan, which has been mediating between Iran and the US during the war, the new joint defense agreement is important for broadening security partnerships, he noted. “In the long run, I would say the Pakistanis are looking for strategic diversification, looking for an external security partnership beyond the US and China on which it has been dependent for a long time.”

Responding to Ambassador Theros’ comment that Pakistan is unique in that it is the only country in the Muslim world that has nuclear weapons, Khan said that a nuclear-armed Pakistan with technological ability, scientists and technicians “gives a tremendous amount of strategic weight” to its position in the alliance.

Militarily, apart from nuclear weapons, Pakistan is positioned to provide manpower and technological assistance. “They have a lot of soft power in terms of technologically savvy people.”

Murat Aslan, associate professor at Kalyoncu University in Gaziantep, Turkey, and a senior researcher at SETA, emphasized Türkiye’s belief in the importance of regional alliances, pointing to his country’s long history of brotherhood with Pakistan along with its commitment to build alliances with Egypt.

“If you transfer the solutions to problems in the region to third parties, especially great powers like the United States or China, they will inject their own interests,” he warned. “So, every solution to every problem in the region should be region-wise and regional.”

Mirette Mabrouk, senior fellow and founding director of the Egypt Studies Program at the Middle East Institute, provided the Egyptian view on this new alliance among Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan.

“The world has seen a huge upheaval, and I think people are scrambling to find their places,” she said. “Alliances are important and I think Egypt is very aware of this and will always have a role to play as a mediator.”

“Egypt’s geostrategic and diplomatic relationships are excellent, and it often places them front and center,” she added, “but what I think is very clear is that unilateral or even bilateral action is not going to produce the desired results in terms of security or economic prosperity.”

The current political climate today has encouraged various nations to ignore international institutions, such as the Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation, she argued, which has made alliances like the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement more important.

The emphasis is on alliances, and “the ability to share experience, knowledge, technology and security information is what has made various alliances in the West so strong and so invincible,” Mabrouk concluded. “I do think that it has been lacking in our region, and I think it is high time that it started.” 

(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)