Israel’s Doha strike triggers Pakistan-Saudi defence deal

This week, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement, deciding to treat an attack on either country as an attack on both.

On the surface, it codifies decades of defence cooperation: Pakistani army personnel have historically guarded the Saudi royal family, while the Gulf nation has repeatedly bailed out Pakistan during financial crises.

Underneath, it indicates Saudi Arabia’s lack of confidence in US protection in case of tensions with Israel.

US-Saudi relations have been shaped by personalities: former US president Joe Biden had a testy relationship with MBS, largely due to the 2018 killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. President Donald Trump, however, has maintained a strong rapport with MBS. As in his first term, Saudi Arabia was the first country he visited in his second term as well.

Still, Trump’s almost complete backing of Israel in the Gaza conflict—and reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed him of the missile strike on Qatar’s capital—seems to have shaken Saudi trust in the US.

But how will Pakistan rescue the Gulf nation in such an eventuality, you may ask. Let’s not forget, it is the world’s only nuclear Islamic power.

This is also where the situation becomes tricky for India. How might the West Asian power react if India were to launch a punitive strike, like Operation Sindoor, against its arch-rival for enabling terrorism?

India-Saudi Arabia relations have evolved in recent years to cover a wide range of issues, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the Gulf country three times since 2014. In fact, his last visit earlier this year was cut short by the 22 April Pahalgam massacre.

But with Saudi Arabia now accepting Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella, New Delhi-Riyadh ties may undergo a shift. India must be scrutinizing the pact closely, as it puts Pakistan squarely into Middle East politics.

On that note, here are some other key developments of the week:

Gulf leaders at an emergency summit in Qatar urged Trump to rein in Israel. The summit rallied Arab and Muslim leaders in support of Qatar but did not announce immediate economic or political reprisals against Israel, such as suspending the 2020 Abraham Accords, which had five Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, normalize ties with the Jewish state.

That must come as a relief to the US, which has been trying to prevent a total collapse in Arab-Israeli relations.

However, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said its unified military command would now be instructed “to take the necessary executive measures to activate joint defence mechanisms and Gulf deterrent capabilities.” The GCC’s defence ministers meet regularly, but the joint defence council has only been activated twice—in 1991 against Iraq and during the 2011 Arab Spring.

Remember how the US Congress had threatened TikTok with a ban if its Chinese parent ByteDance did not give up ownership to non-Chinese or US companies? Well, that seems to be happening—a consortium, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz, is set to control 80% of the short-video app’s US operations. Chinese shareholders will retain the rest, while the US-dominated board will include a member chosen by the US government.

Meanwhile, Trump has extended the deadline for TikTok’s separation from ByteDance—for the fourth time—to mid-December.

US military officers—special invitees at the “Zapad-2025” war games—had a ringside seat at the joint military exercise between Russia and Belarus, just a week after Russian drones violated Polish airspace, rattling Europe.

The move is being read as Minsk’s nod to Trump’s overtures, who is trying to pry the longstanding Russian ally away from Moscow. Only days earlier, Washington removed curbs on Belarus’s national airline, Belavia, allowing it to service and buy components for its fleet, which includes Boeing aircraft.

India also sent 65 troops to the games, drawing concern from the European Union.

The EU and Indonesia have reached an agreement on a free trade pact, aimed at reducing their dependence on the US and China. The deal could be signed as early as next week.

The push to accelerate talks came after Trump slapped the EU with 15% and Indonesia with 19% tariffs.

Meanwhile, the EU is targeting a trade agreement with India by the end of 2025. In its new strategic agenda unveiled this week, the EU outlined a slew of plans to propel bilateral relations to the next level. “Now is the time to double down on partnerships rooted in shared interests and guided by common values,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a post on X, pledging to finalize the pact within the year.

Elizabeth Roche is an associate professor at O.P. Jindal Global University.