The new West Asia NATO type alliance
Sat 6:00 am +00:00, 8 Aug 2026Wyatt Lim analyses the NATO type alliance just declared between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
These three countries encircle Iran’s sphere, and it looks like an attempt to clip the wings of Iran as her military success explodes across the region. All three have insecurities of their own. If they are willing to join a ground war against Iran, it will be a real alliance of major significance. But otherwise their loyalty to each other will be severely tested by future events. As with NATO, how real is America’s willingness to come to Europe’s aid, so with Saudi Arabia, how far will the others go to stop Saudi from imploding from war with Yemen?
The Israelis have mostly backed off from Southern Lebanon unable to secure ground against Hezbollah’s fighters, taking endless casualties.
Syria could easily revert into civil war.
TAP – Is this a holding alliance , to reassure the USA and Israel that the three are not going to flip and support an Iranian regional regime, reducing the pre-election panic in Washington and the collpase of morale in Tel Aviv? Until that is, the war has progressed further and the collapse of UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia is more certain. Turkey and Pakistan will ultimately face the choice of either fighting Iran on the ground, or negotiating boundaries/trade, and spheres of unfluence – maybe when a new US President comes in. Grump’s regime has already won, remember – and he desperately needs victory narratives. This alliance can give him a new angle to play in the media.
Turkey has the choice of being the next US proxy against Iran, or coming across to the more significant emerging alliance between Russia,China and Iran. Israel fearing the latter, is threatening Turkey as they withdraw their troops from Lebanon. This Saudi/Turkey/Pakistan alliance might hold back Israeli aggression being directed towards Turkey. Saudi Arabia is becoming desperate. Pakistan fears the secession of Baluchistan. All three know their situation is weakening, and a mutual defence alliance/pact must feel reassuring – for now.
Iran is clearly supported by Afghanistan and Iraq. Syria claims to be working for US/Israel and appears to threaten Lebanon, which keeps the money flowing, but Syria could easily fracture once more, which also worries Turkey. Saudi Arabia’s economy is going pear-shaped with its oil exports blocked. If war were to seriously break out, Iran would knock out the Saudi water supply, and the country would become uninhabitable, as would UAE and Bahrain. Kuwait could fall to Iraq. Qatar seems able to settle with Iran as does Oman.
The tension is building, and each encounter seems only to stregthen Iran and the axis of resistance. This new alliance is more a sign of the insecurity of those affected, including the US/Israel, than a move of strength to turn events back around. The train is travelling now and is unlikely to be stopped. This is a delaying move to slow down only the pace of change, not do much to change its direction.
Pepe Escobar has more detail.
