AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
Following Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests and subsequent sanctions, it became viewed as a potential nuclear shield for Saudi Arabia. A new Saudi-Pakistan defense agreement fuels speculation about a formal nuclear umbrella. The deal includes collaboration on defense industry, technology transfer and military co-production, reflecting Saudi Arabia seeking to bolster defenses beyond US protection. Saudi Arabia initially hoped for stronger US security guarantees under Trump, but was disappointed by Washington’s muted response to attacks on its oil facilities. Despite renewed hopes during Trump’s second term, a desired defense pact with the US failed to materialize.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
After Pakistan’s first nuclear test in 1998 landed it under international sanctions and diplomatic isolation, the country turned for help to a longtime ally: Saudi Arabia.
That moment helped shape Pakistan’s role, in the eyes of many, as a de facto nuclear shield for the kingdom.
So when Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a mutual defense agreement on Wednesday, it reignited speculation over whether Riyadh might now formally fall under Islamabad’s nuclear umbrella. “This is a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means,” a Saudi official told Reuters.
The deal includes defense industry collaboration, technology transfer and military co-production, according to Jamal Al Harbi, the media attaché at the Saudi embassy in Islamabad. Writing in Arab News Pakistan, a Saudi state-linked outlet, he added that “capacity-building and training” were also part of the agreement.
While the senior Saudi official said the deal was “years” in the making, its timing – just a week after an unprecedented Israeli attack on neighboring Qatar, a staunch US ally – suggests that Riyadh is looking beyond Washington to bolster its defenses after decades of near-total reliance on American protection.
During Donald Trump’s first term, Gulf Arab states had hoped that he would be the US president who truly appreciated their security concerns and acted decisively to protect them. His first term initially seemed promising: he withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, and his administration ordered the assassination of Iran’s powerful general Qassem Soleimani, a figure loathed by Gulf Arab governments.
But ultimately, the Gulf states were disappointed. In 2019, when a missile and drone strike on Saudi oil facilities – widely blamed on Iran – knocked out half the kingdom’s oil output and sent crude prices skyrocketing, his administration responded with only muted condemnation.
When Trump returned to the White House, Saudi Arabia placed renewed hopes in him.
Riyadh rolled out the purple royal carpets for him during the first international trip of his second term. But the defense pact Riyadh sought has yet to materialize.
During that same trip, Trump made a public pledge to “protect” Qatar, after Gulf states committed trillions of dollars to the US economy. Yet, he has gone on to provoke the first-ever direct Iranian strike on a Gulf state and failed to prevent the first-ever Israeli strike on one – both within a matter of months.
