On 7 August Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca. It covers closer cooperation, intelligence sharing, joint military exercises and coordination between political and security officials to counter external threats. It also opens up the future prospect of greater collaboration in the defence industries, military technologies and cybersecurity.

The three countries have presented the pact as a strictly defensive alliance that is not targeted against any specific state. It chiefly reflects their desire to strengthen ties in response to the major shifts in the regional balance of power resulting from the US and Israel’s war against Iran and in the light of Tel Aviv’s expansionist ambitions.

The agreement is proof that the wider Middle East is entering a new phase of its history. This stems from the political and strategic upheavals that have occurred since 2023, which are reconfiguring power relations across a region shaped by war and the borders imposed in the early 20th century.

What looked like US disengagement under President Barack Obama (2009-17) – or at least the Middle East slipping down Washington’s priority list – contributed, after the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2011, to the emergence of new regional configurations and economic relations.

Iran establishes dominance

Iran, pursuing an expansionist policy, established itself as the region’s major power. In 2012 its intervention in Syria temporarily saved the regime of its ally Bashar al-Assad. Its partial domination of Iraq had been enabled by the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 following the Anglo-American invasion. It had considerable strategic depth thanks to its political and military presence in Lebanon through Hizbullah and its support for the Houthi movement in northern Yemen. The 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration and European governments subsequently consolidated its pre-eminent position. (…)

Full article: 3 487 words.

Ziad Majed

Ziad Majed is a French-Lebanese political scientist who teaches at the American University of Paris. He is the author of Le Proche-Orient, miroir du monde (The Middle East, mirror of the world), La Découverte, Paris, 2025.

(1) IG Metall, ‘Friedensgutachten 2025: Frieden retten – Demokratie stärken’ (2025 peace report: save peace, strengthen democracy), 15 September 2025.

(2) Ulrike Eifler, ‘Arrêtez le délire du surearmement, seule la paix peut sauver nos industries’ (End the arms race madness, only peace can save industry), L’Humanité, Paris, 15 April 2025.

(4) Name changed.