Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan forge NATO-style defense pact as Iran tensions escalate

In the ancient city of Mecca, three of the Muslim world's most consequential military powers — Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan — have bound themselves together in a collective defense pact that echoes the architecture of NATO, a structure born from a different century's fears. The agreement reflects a sobering recognition that the old order of bilateral arrangements and American guarantees can no longer absorb the pressures of a region where proxy wars have begun to blur into something more direct and more dangerous. Iran's campaign through its Houthi partners has cost dozens of lives and s