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Pakistan Extends Nuclear Deterrence to Saudi Arabia
October 2025
Pakistan committed to extend its nuclear deterrent to Saudi Arabia as part of a defense pact the two states signed in September, officials said.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement during Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to Riyadh Sept. 18. A joint statement released after the signing emphasized that the agreement is focused on strengthening joint deterrence against aggression and developing defense cooperation.
The joint statement does not specify if extended nuclear deterrence is included in the agreement, but comments from officials suggest it is part of the defense pact.
In a Sept. 18 interview with GeoTV, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons capabilities “will be made available” to Saudi Arabia under the agreement.
The signing of the agreement followed the Israeli strike against Hamas officials in Qatar. Asif, however, said the agreement is not directed at a particular threat or state, but as an “umbrella agreement.” If there is aggression against either country, “it will be jointly defended, and the aggression will be met with a response,” he said.
Ali Shibani, a Saudi analyst that AFP described as having ties to the government, said that “nuclear [deterrence] is integral” to the deal and that Pakistan remembers that Saudi Arabia financed its nuclear program.
Pakistan first tested a nuclear device in 1998 and is now estimated to possess about 170 nuclear warheads. Pakistan’s agreement with Saudi Arabia is the first time that a state with nuclear weapons outside of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has made an extended nuclear deterrence commitment to another state.
Saudi Arabia, as a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the NPT, is prohibited from developing its own nuclear weapons. Saudi Arabia has threatened to develop its own nuclear weapons to match any move by Iran to weaponize, but Riyadh does not currently possess the nuclear infrastructure to produce fissile material for a bomb.—KELSEY DAVENPORT