On 17 September, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a “Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement” during Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Riyadh.
This was Sharif’s third visit to the Gulf nations in a week, after the 9 September Israeli strike on Hamas in Doha. The pact contains a NATO Article-5 type declaration, ie, “An attack on one will be treated as an attack on both.”
The next day, Pakistan’s Defence Minister KM Asif, while underscoring the nearly eight-decades-old Saudi-Pakistan military ties, added that Pakistan’s nuclear programme will be made available to Saudi Arabia if needed under this agreement: "We have no intention of using this pact for any aggression, but if the parties are threatened …this arrangement will become operative."
He also suggested that the pact could be extended to other Gulf nations. Although no further details stand revealed, it “encompasses all military means”, perhaps implying conventional military forces, nuclear cooperation, and intelligence sharing.
The pact comes in wake of Operation Sindoor in May, and Israel’s 9 September strike and has led to much speculation. India's Ministry of External Affairs has stated that given the wide-ranging India-Saudi ties, “we expect this strategic partnership will keep in mind mutual interests and sensitivities.”