Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan forge defence alliance amid Gulf tensions

In the ancient port city of Jeddah, three of the Muslim world's most consequential powers formalized on Friday what pressure and uncertainty had long been quietly demanding: a binding defence alliance between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan. The agreement arrives not in a vacuum but against the backdrop of renewed Houthi aggression, a widening US-Iran conflict, and a Gulf security order visibly straining under the weight of its own contradictions. What is being signed is not merely a treaty but a signal — that nations long accustomed to sheltering beneath American guarantees are now choosin