Turkey Very Likely To Join Saudi Arabia-Pakistan Mutual Defense Pact.

January 2026: Turkey is in advanced talks to join the mutual defense pact that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan reached in September, official sources have reported on 09th January 2026. A pact of the three US-allied Muslim nations could potentially put Ankara under Islamabad’s nuclear umbrella.

Saudi Arabia, which does not have nuclear weapons, signed the original agreement with Pakistan, the world’s only nuclear-armed Muslim nation, in the wake of Israel’s botched September 09th strike on Hamas’s leadership in Qatar. The strike sparked alarm and outrage among Gulf nations.

Under the agreement, which did not directly address nuclear arms, an attack on one country is considered an attack against all. Turkey, which also hosts Hamas leaders, is “very likely” to join the agreement. Ankara hosts US nuclear weapons as part of its role in NATO, but does not have any of its own. Turkey and Saudi Arabia share longstanding concerns over the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran, while Pakistan’s borders with both Afghanistan and nuclear-armed India have flared up over the past year.

In addition, US allies have growing questions about Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. “As the US prioritises its own interests and that of Israel in the region, changing dynamics and fallout from regional conflicts are prompting countries to develop new mechanisms to identify friends and foes”, Ankara-based analyst Nihat Ali Ozcan told Media Reporters.

Despite these concerns, Trump has close ties with Erdogan and has pushed for a greater Turkish role in the region, much to Israel’s concern. He has also indicated the US could reinstate Turkey in the advanced F-35 stealth fighter jet program, something Jerusalem strenuously opposes.

Turkey has been one of Israel’s harshest critics due to the war in Gaza, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has likened to the Holocaust. The two countries’ relations have been further strained by developments in Syria after Turkish-backed Islamist rebels, whom Israel has remained leery of, toppled long time Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Team Maverick.