The government of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan officially signed a joint strategic defence agreement on September 17 after the agreement mentioned that a third-party attack on either country of the two countries would be considered an "aggression against both countries", whose cooperation quickly attracted public attention.

According to Xinhua News Agency on the 18th, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and Prime Minister mohammed bin salman and visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a joint statement after the talks. The statement said that the two sides signed a common strategic defense agreement, which reflects their common commitment to strengthening national security and achieving regional and world security and peace, aiming at developing defense cooperation between the two countries and strengthening joint deterrence against any aggression.

On September 17, 2025, local time, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this photo released by the Saudi News Agency shows Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) embracing Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman after signing a joint defense agreement. China

¡°Of the majority of Islamic countries, the Pakistani army is probably the strongest combat force. Some countries in the Middle East have had a long-standing habit of seeking mercenaries from Pakistan. The content of the latest Saudi and Pakistani joint statement has formalized the content of the cooperation between the two countries,¡± Liu Qing, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute for International Affairs and director of the South Asian Research Center, told The Press (www.thepaper.cn).

Mohamed Fassal, a South Asian security researcher at Sydney University of Technology, Australia, said in an interview with the media that the agreement could become a model agreement that will integrate and formalize the existing multi-level defence cooperation and explore new expansion pathways, such as joint training, defence production, and potentially expanding the size of the Pakistani military presence in Saudi Arabia.

Cooperation does not come suddenly.

In the statement, the two countries said that the common strategic defense agreement is based on the "historic partnership of nearly 80 years" between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and is also based on "brotherhood and Islamic unity between the two countries, as well as common strategic interests and close defense cooperation".

According to the Financial Times, Saudi officials have revealed that the agreement signed on September 17 has been working for years and that the military interests of the two countries have been intertwined decades ago.

According to this report, around 1974, India completed its first nuclear test, while Israel won the Arab War in 1973. Against this background, then Pakistani Prime Minister Ali Bhutto sought the support of then Saudi King Faisal, hoping to provide backing for Pakistan's nuclear program. Military historians pointed out that the US dollar support from Saudi oil trade enabled Pakistan to successfully enter the "nuclear club". The Brookings Institution, an American think tank, estimates that since the 1960s, Pakistan has received the most aid from Saudi Arabia among countries outside the Arab world. This relationship was also strengthened after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, when Saudi Arabia was worried that Tehran would "export the revolution".

Retired Pakistani Brigadier General Feroz Khan mentioned in his book Eating Grass: The Making of Pakistani Bombs that when Pakistan was in trouble due to Western sanctions in the 1990s, "Saudi Arabia provided generous financial support to Pakistan, which enabled the nuclear program to continue". After Pakistan's nuclear test in 1998, many countries in the Islamic world praised the birth of the "Islamic nuclear bomb". In order to publicly thank Saudi Arabia for its assistance, Pakistan even renamed a city "King Faisal City".

¡°For so many years, every time Pakistan encounters financial and economic difficulties, it has sought the help of traditional partners such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey,¡± Liu said.

According to AP, Pakistan¡¯s defense relationship with Saudi Arabia lasted for decades, partly because Islamabad was willing to defend the Islamic holy lands of Mecca and Medina. Earlier in the late 1960s, Pakistani troops entered Saudi Arabia for the first time because of concerns about the war in Yemen at the time.

Rabiya Ahhtar, director of the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Studies at the University of Lahore, Pakistan, wrote in an analysis at the Belfort Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School of Politics that over the years, Pakistan has trained 8,000 to 10,000 Saudi military personnel and regularly in the Saudi Armed Forces Agreement has largely fixed the existing strategic partnership on paper, rather than put forward any major and new commitments ... In short, the new agreement formalized a deep alliance with historical roots, which is not in vain.¡±

Salman and Shabaz photographs

Significant geological signals.

Saudi Arabia has longined close economic, religious and security ties with Pakistan, but the timing of the agreement shows that Saudi Arabia wants to send a signal to Israel. Israel launched an attack on September 9 after Qatar hosted a meeting of Hamas leaders.

¡°Qatar even has U.S. bases, but the U.S. has not provided Qatar with protection against Israel.The Middle East countries are also very concerned about seeing such attacks,¡± Liu said.

Reuters reported on the 19th that the outside world believes that this agreement may mean that Pakistan's nuclear umbrella is officially brought to the Middle East. However, there is nothing in the published text of the agreement that involves nuclear weapons, and Pakistani officials have always insisted that their nuclear arsenal is only used to deter India. When Reuters asked a Saudi official directly whether Pakistan is obliged to provide the kingdom with a "nuclear umbrella," the official only replied: "This is a comprehensive defense agreement that covers all military means."

According to the analysis of the Financial Times, this deliberately broad statement neither confirmed nor denied any nuclear-related content. This shows that the agreement generally covers all forms of military cooperation, but does not explicitly extend Pakistan's nuclear deterrence to Saudi territory. Pakistan's previous defense agreements have never touched on nuclear assurances, and this one is no different.

Islamabad security analyst Sayid Muhammad Ali told AP that the National Command, which oversees Pakistan's nuclear weapons, did not make any statements about the deal, but he said that even without nuclear deterrence, Pakistan has the ability to deal with Israel.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia¡¯s main competitor is Iran, and Israel is a nuclear threat. Liu said it is unlikely that Israel will use nuclear weapons even if it attacks Saudi Arabia. In conventional warfare, Pakistan¡¯s military strength is sufficient to deal with the threat. Unless Israel threatens Pakistan, it is unlikely that the latter will deploy nuclear weapons to the Middle East.

Uzz Alad, former director of research at Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, said that Israel has been closely monitoring Pakistan¡¯s nuclear program and that Pakistan is not an Arab country but an Islamic state ¨C it does not belong to the Middle East, but the United States sees it as part of the Middle East. More importantly, in the 1980s it was an important partner of the United States in Afghanistan, while its nuclear ambitions were seen as a problem for the United States.

Rabia Akhtar analyzed that Pakistan has signed many defense cooperation treaties since the founding of the People's Republic of China, but none of these treaties involved other countries in Pakistan's wars, and rarely involved Pakistan in other countries' wars. Accordingly, she believes that similar agreements are more of a political signal of unity and strategic cooperation than an unconditional guarantee of war.

It is believed that the two countries can gain more military benefits from this agreement. Hussein Haqqani, Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States, posted on social platform X: "It is likely that Pakistan can use Saudi funds to buy the American weapons it needs, and the Trump administration seems willing to sell these weapons." For Saudi Arabia, this agreement strengthens its defense against Iran, the Houthi armed forces in Yemen and regional unrest caused by Israel.

Indian and Pakistani flag data map

India is cautious

According to the "Indian Express" report on the 19th, the Indian government is cautious about the first official statement of the new agreement. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman randhir jaswal said in a statement: "The government has long been aware of this development under consideration, which is actually the formalization of the long-term arrangement between the two countries. We will study the impact of this development on national security and regional and global stability."

In India, the agreement is the most significant formal defence commitment Pakistan has received in decades, and will bring double strategic and economic benefits.It ensures key Saudi investment and financial support that will ease fiscal pressure, while consolidating Islamabad¡¯s position as a pan-Islamic world security provider.

"In addition to the opportunity when Qatar was attacked by Israel, another important opportunity is that Pakistan has demonstrated its capabilities in this year's hot war between India and Pakistan, especially at the level of weapons and air combat, which has greatly enhanced Pakistan's position and voice in the Islamic world." Liu Zongyi told The Paper, "Saudi Arabia should also show the United States that they can find other security protectors."

A photo of a meeting at the signing of the agreement on 17 May showed that Marshal Asim Munir, Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Army, was attending the event with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Prince of Saudi Arabia and others. According to the Global Times, Munir was promoted from Chief General to Marshal on 20 May, which is the first time Pakistan has awarded the highest military rank in 65 years since Pakistan's then President Mohammed Ayyub Khan was awarded this title in 1959.

However, India and Saudi Arabia have also become closer and closer in recent years. According to Indian media reports, Saudi Arabia has long established relations with India politically, strategically and economically. India is Saudi Arabia's second largest trading partner, while Saudi Arabia is India's fifth largest trading partner. From fiscal year 2023 to 2024, the bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached US $42.98 billion, of which India exported US $11.56 billion and imported US $31.42 billion. Important senior official visits were held between India and Saudi Arabia in 2006 and 2010. Indian Prime Minister Modi visited Saudi Arabia in 2016 and was awarded the Medal of Abdulaziz, the highest civilian honor in Saudi Arabia, by the king. Since then, the two sides have conducted many high-level visits.

Modi was visiting Saudi Arabia on April 22 when the attacks on the town of Pahalgam in the Kashmir region took place, and Saudi Arabia condemned the ¡°terrorist incident¡±.

According to PRAVIN DOTTI, senior analyst at International Crisis Organization India, despite India and Israel getting closer in defence and diplomacy in recent years, New Delhi will not rush to ¡°formalize its defence relations¡± but will continue to strengthen the basic strategy of multilateral diplomacy. He also believes that Saudi Arabia will continue to strengthen and India¡¯s cooperation and India will understand Saudi¡¯s security needs, as well as the history of Saudi and Pakistan. These actions are more signaling to the United States that Saudi has other options and that the United States is not the only player in the game.

But in Liu's view, if India continues to see Pakistan and China as hypothetical enemies, then Israel and the United States are the objects India must rely on, such a security mindset would make it difficult for the Middle East to deepen cooperation with India.

Some analysts say that the strengthening of defense cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia may also endanger Pakistan's recent relatively moderate relationship with the Trump administration of the United States. A former official familiar with the nuclear strategic mediation dialogue between Pakistan and Israel said: "Americans and Israelis have always been paranoid that Pakistan's nuclear weapons and missile programs may pose a threat to Israel, and this agreement may aggravate their concerns."

Feroz Khan believes that Pakistan must be very cautious to "avoid shaking its geopolitical balance among China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States". In his view, "if this brings India and Israel closer, leads to further sanctions (from the United States) on (Pakistan's) ballistic missile program, and fuels India's efforts to isolate Islamabad, it may eventually become a strategic mistake."