Turkey denies Mecca pact targets Iran

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday that the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed last Friday in Mecca by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, is not aimed at Iran or any other country. The pact declares that an armed attack on one of the three signatories will be treated as an attack on all, a clause that mirrors NATO’s Article 5 collective‑defence principle.

Fidan explained that the agreement does not name a common threat and that countries which do not attack the signatories will not be considered targets. Assistance would be provided only after a request from the attacked nation, and could range from intelligence sharing and logistics to ammunition or the deployment of troops. The pact also creates joint political and military committees, a secretariat in Saudi Arabia and plans for joint training, threat assessments and defence‑industry cooperation.

Iranian officials have responded skeptically. Mahmoud Nabavian, a member of Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, warned that Saudi leaders should not expect security guarantees from the new partners. Another commission member, Ebrahim Rezaei, dismissed the pact as a “paper agreement.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a message on X, urged regional states to rely on themselves and highlighted the strength of Iran’s armed forces, without directly addressing the pact.

The agreement signals a shift toward regional self‑reliance, with Turkey positioning itself as a counterweight to external influence. While Ankara insists the pact was developed over nearly three years and not a reaction to current Iran‑related tensions, the move could alter security calculations in the Middle East. The next steps will involve the implementation of joint exercises and the establishment of the planned committees, which will shape how the three countries coordinate future defence responses.