Overview

• Signed in Riyadh by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during Sharif’s state visit, the agreement is framed as expanding defense cooperation and joint deterrence.
• The accord states that any aggression against one will be considered aggression against both, according to statements from the Saudi Press Agency and Pakistan’s prime minister’s office.
• Neither government has said whether Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is covered by the pact, leaving unresolved whether a nuclear umbrella would apply to Saudi territory.
• India’s foreign ministry said it will study the implications of the agreement for national security as well as regional and global stability.
• The deal formalizes decades of Saudi–Pakistani security ties after an Israeli strike in Doha heightened Gulf threat perceptions, and reporting describes it as Pakistan’s first formal mutual-defense treaty.