In the shadow of Islam's holiest city, three of the Muslim world's most consequential powers have drawn closer together. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan formalized a joint defence agreement in Mecca on Friday, concluding nearly a year of quiet diplomacy and reflecting a shared unease with the region's compounding instabilities — Iran's expanding influence, Israeli military assertiveness, and the vulnerability of the world's most critical energy corridors. The pact joins an oil sovereign, a nuclear power, and NATO's second-largest military into a single strategic embrace, raising questions a