Trump's USA Iran War

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey in New Defense Pact

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey have signed a NATO-style defense pact, CNN reports.

The agreement, which was signed in Mecca on Friday, states that an attack on one of the countries will be considered an attack on all.

This means that Saudi Arabia has two of the heaviest Muslim military powers in its corner. Turkey has NATO's second-largest military and Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear-armed country.

The defense pact risks drawing Pakistan and Turkey into the Iran war, which they have so far kept at arm's length, CNN reports.

As the war progresses, the oil-rich Gulf states have increasingly begun to doubt Washington's ability to protect them.

Expert: Shows a completely new geopolitical reality

The new security pact between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey is remarkable, not least because Saudi Arabia and Turkey have previously been on different sides in several important regional conflicts. This is what Middle East expert Alexander Atarodi tells SVT Nyheter.

– It shows that the security policy landscape in the Middle East has now changed to such an extent that the countries are ready to reevaluate their view of each other, and actually their entire foreign policy doctrine.

For Turkey, it may be that they are unsure about the future role of the United States in NATO, Atarodi continues.

With his “anarchist foreign policy”, Donald Trump has managed to reshape the entire global security order in just 1.5 years, he notes.

Trump defends Hegseth: "He's one of my best"

After the summer's media reporting that Donald Trump is starting to lose patience with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the president has come out to Hegseth's defense.

In a phone interview with NBC News, Trump says that the Defense Secretary is a "smart guy" and "one of my best". In a post on Truth Social last night, he adds that everything Hegseth has done as Secretary has been "extraordinary".

The president accuses the Washington Post of being behind unfounded rumors. Yesterday, the newspaper reported, citing sources, that Trump berated Hegseth at the Camp David retreat because of the US's weapons shortage.

"Their false 'reporting' is treasonous", Trump writes.

NBC notes that several Republicans have been critical of Hegseth and that the Iran war is unpopular among voters.