By Ariba Shahid
KARACHI/RIYADH, Aug 7 – Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will sign a joint defence agreement on Friday, regional sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, at a time of regional turmoil with Gulf states coming under fire from Iran after it was attacked by the U.S. and Israel.
While the pact further cements a burgeoning grouping of major Sunni Muslim powers, there was no immediate clarity on each state’s commitments.
A Turkish official confirmed the agreement will be signed.
Turkey is a member of NATO. Saudi Arabia, another U.S. ally, is one of the world’s top oil exporters and the strongest Gulf state, while Pakistan is the only nuclear-armed Muslim country.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by powerful army chief Asim Munir, will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah for the signing.
The pact follows nearly a year of negotiations, reported by Reuters in January, and as the Iran war exposes Gulf states’ security vulnerabilities and disrupts the shipping of oil and other key goods through the Strait of Hormuz.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in January said that Ankara favoured a broader regional security platform to promote cooperation and stability.
An existing Saudi-Pakistani pact treats an attack on either as an attack on both and encompasses “all military means”, a Saudi official previously told Reuters.
The Pakistani military and government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Saudi Arabia’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(By Ariba Shahid, Timour Azhari, Daren Butler and Maha El-Dahan; Editing by Angus McDowall and Sharon Singleton)
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