{"id":2930,"date":"2026-08-20T22:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=2930"},"modified":"2026-08-20T22:07:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:07:50","slug":"an-islamic-nato-without-iran-is-symbolic-thats-its-purpose-and-its-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=2930","title":{"rendered":"An \u2018Islamic NATO\u2019 Without Iran Is Symbolic: That\u2019s Its Purpose and Its Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

<\/p>\n

\n

The signing of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement left us with a picture of Muhammad bin Salman, de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, and Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, praying together with Mecca in the background. This picture is highly symbolic for Muslim audiences, who make up almost a quarter of the world\u2019s population.<\/span><\/p>\n

The agreement, which has been dubbed the \u2018Islamic NATO\u2019, theoretically brings together Saudi money, the Turkish defence industry, and Pakistan\u2019s nuclear capabilities and manpower. However, as most analysts have pointed out\u2014including Conor Gallagher on this blog<\/a>\u2014the agreement is unlikely to yield any real military power in the short term. The main reason is that the three countries\u2019 previous defence agreements, primarily with the U.S., prevent the alliance from functioning independently.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli<\/a> and Iranian<\/a> analysts both see this pact as a strategic counterweight to their regional ambitions. This \u2018Sunni bloc\u2019 has emerged in response to Israel\u2019s disasters in its neighbourhood, which include the genocide in Gaza, the gradual annexation of the West Bank, and the occupation of southern Lebanon and parts of Syria, among others\u2014basically, the pursuit of the \u2018Greater Israel\u2019 project. The pact may attempt to offer a credible front against it, especially if it includes other nations such as Egypt and Qatar.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it has also been motivated by the emergence of Iran as a regional power\u2014and perhaps an international one. Iran has not only survived a joint attack by Israel and the U.S., but it is also inflicting a strategic defeat on them. This has solidified its regional position and given it the legitimacy to demand concessions, such as control of the Strait of Hormuz. If the momentum of the war continues as it is\u2014and it most likely will\u2014Iran will emerge stronger, albeit more isolated from its immediate neighbours.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an outcome that Israel might have been looking to achieve. Tel Aviv would have preferred<\/a> to break up the country, but in the absence of that scenario, it could not allow the normalization of Iranian relations with other Arab countries. Israel did not fear an isolated Iran, just as it does not really fear the emerging U.S.-aligned \u2018Sunni bloc\u2019. But Israel fears an alliance between Iran and its Arab and Sunni neighbours.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is why Washington has viewed this pact favourably<\/a>. The three constituent countries, alongside potential future members, are intertwined with the U.S. security establishment and security architecture in the region. In the short term, at least, this pact will work in collusion, or directly in tandem, with U.S. interests\u2014and by extension, with Israeli foreknowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, that does not mean this pact lacks the potential to become something else. The defence alliance is built on the back of other regional projects. The Hejaz Railway project connects Istanbul with Mecca through Syria and Jordan. The Middle East leg of China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative would pass through Iran and T\u00fcrkiye to Europe. The Road Development Project connects the Persian Gulf with Europe. If these and other connectivity and trade networks were to materialize, we might witness the emergence of a new Middle East. Yet, for it to become a reality, Iran has to be an integral part.<\/span><\/p>\n

This \u2018New Middle East\u2019 would not be the one that Netanyahu\u2014and the Israeli establishment\u2014want. That is why they have worked hard to sever ties and prevent the integration of Iran into the region. That was the argument of a paper published<\/a> by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) shortly before the \u2018Ramadan War\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, the paper argued that the \u2018victories\u2019 the U.S. and Israel were achieving in the region were shifting the balance of power towards Tel Aviv, which was prompting the emergence of a Sunni bloc to counter it. More dangerously, this \u2018Sunni bloc\u2019 was ready to cooperate with Iran in order to contain Israel. That could not be allowed. From their point of view, Israel and the U.S. had to attack Iran regardless of the immediate outcome, because it would either break Iran or distance it from its neighbours.<\/span><\/p>\n

They were not wrong. They have managed to unite three of the most important regional players, but instead of being aligned solely against them, these players are also directed against Iran. They seem to be counting on the\u2014dubious\u2014premise that \u201cthe enemy of my enemy is my friend.\u201d What they did not anticipate is that Iran could emerge stronger, not only as a regional power, but as an ideological one in the minds of many Sunni Muslims.<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. and Israel have achieved something no amount of Iranian propaganda ever could. By standing up to them, Iran has been legitimized in the eyes of many Sunni Muslims. After the havoc created by the U.S. over the decades, the millions of deaths from its senseless wars, and the atrocities committed by Israel\u2014especially the genocide in Gaza\u2014many Muslims see Iran as an avenger. And the Iranians have been clever enough to capitalize on that in their war propaganda.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, the Yaqeen Institute, a Sunni Islamic research institution based in the U.S., put out a series of videos explaining the theological and historical differences between Sunnis and Shias. The series received backlash, not only from Shias, but also from Sunnis, leading them to withdraw one of the episodes and offer<\/a> an apology. The argument was that it contained some mistakes that perpetuated the Sunni-Shia divide. But the underlying sentiment was that it was not the time to delve into the divide, but rather to stand united with Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another prominent U.S. Muslim scholar, Yasir Qadhi, who was a foremost voice of the Salafi ideology that he has now rejected, held<\/a> an open dialogue with Shaykh Mahdi Rastani, a prominent U.S.-based Shia scholar. This would not have really been possible if two things had not happened before. On the one hand, Muslims and Islam have become the recipients of much hatred in the West, and, on the other, Iran has been the only country to face the U.S. and Israel while publicly proclaiming to be defending Muslims.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is, of course, still a lot of resentment in both camps. Many of the recent wars in the Middle East have exploited and encouraged sectarian Sunni-Shia fighting to promote political or geopolitical interests. Israel has done so\u2014as the paper quoted above exemplifies\u2014while despising both. But Iran has gained a new legitimacy. I have met Sunni Muslims who have told me that while they completely reject Shia theology, they were reconsidering their entire political stance based on the Iranian model.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is the narrative the picture of the three leaders of three of the most important Muslim-majority countries worldwide is trying to counter. By standing together in front of the Kaaba, these leaders are trying to show a united Sunni front that can give them legitimacy to claim they represent almost a quarter of the world\u2019s population. That is not only a religious claim, but a geopolitical one. However, no picture can stand against Iranian missiles.<\/span><\/p>\n

There will be no geopolitical reality for the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement or a new security architecture in the Middle East if it does not include Iran. I don\u2019t think that a nation-state can embody a religious order\u2014there are two competing claims for sovereignty\u2014and therefore T\u00fcrkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, and others should put aside their theological differences, fulfill their nationhood claims, and work together for their own benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I think there is no narrative that can ever be won in the minds of many, if not most, Muslims that does not openly defy Israel and its genocidal policies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Print<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The signing of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement left us with a picture of Muhammad bin Salman, de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, and Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, praying together with Mecca in the background. This picture is highly symbolic for Muslim audiences, who make up almost…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[126,2297,807,446,4788,4787],"class_list":["post-2930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-iran","tag-islamic","tag-nato","tag-problem","tag-purpose","tag-symbolic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}