EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). The Jerusalem Post reports, citing Al Mayadeen and an Iranian parliamentary-linked media official, that Iran has been invited to join the Mecca defense pact recently formed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. The claim still lacks official confirmation from the four governments, and Iran has neither joined the pact nor entered a publicly acknowledged accession process. Yet the report fits an important sequence already confirmed by Pakistani authorities: Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar discussed the Mecca agreement directly with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on August 10; Islamabad subsequently declared that the pact was open to additional members; and Pakistan’s powerful military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is now expected in Tehran for discussions that reportedly include the emerging regional security architecture. In other words, Iran’s participation is not emerging in a diplomatic vacuum.
If this process advances, its significance reaches far beyond another defense agreement. A Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani pact incorporating Iran would mark the beginnings of a regional security system organized increasingly by the Middle East’s own major powers rather than around Washington’s military umbrella. The United States would not literally disappear from the region, but its long-standing monopoly over regional security could be ending, particularly after a war that exposed the vulnerability of its bases and the risks they create for Gulf states. For Israel, the strategic implications could be equally profound: an integrated regional framework linking Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran would sharply constrain the freedom of action on which Israeli regional dominance—and the maximalist ambitions often associated with “Greater Israel”—has depended. If confirmed, therefore, the real story is not simply that Iran may be joining the Mecca Pact; it is that the old American-Israeli strategic order in the Middle East may be beginning to give way to something fundamentally different.
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Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan invited Iran to join newly-established Mecca defense pact – report
The invitation has not yet been officially confirmed by Iran’s Foreign Ministry or by any of the three countries that are parties to the agreement.
The invitation has not yet been officially confirmed by Iran’s Foreign Ministry or by any of the three countries that are parties to the agreement.
Mehdi Rahimi, head of the Iranian parliament’s Khaneh Mellat news agency, told the channel that “Iran has received an invitation to join the Mecca Agreement, and the matter is under review.”
Rahimi added that countries in the region “are moving toward seeking a regional security umbrella,” and claimed that this represented “a victory for Iran, because it has been calling for this for a long time.”
This development fits right in with my prediction these past few months that Iran will become the hegemon of the Middle East and that we will be decamping from there.
Iran has most of the requirements for such a hegemonic position. The fact is that, with all its military bases destroyed or heavily damaged, the US is on the way out of the Middle East. Israel is crippled already – the most recent “Exodus” in thousands of years of Jewish history has started, and Israel’s population is dramatically reduced.
The vacuum will be filled by Iran – the “Mecca Agreement” is meant to control Iran’s regional power, either with Iran inside the “Mecca Pact” or outside. There is reason to believe that the “Mecca Pact”, in any form it finally takes, has the blessings of the US and very likely China and Russia. Nobody wants an expansive and uncontrolled Iran and, above all, nobody wants more damage than has already been done in the world economy…
I prefer Iran to Turkey being the regional power. Shiites are preferable to Sunnis. We should also not forget Turkey’s genocidal ambitions in Greece and Cyprus like they did against the Armenians in Karabakh.
Wars never end the way they are supposed to. World War One led to the destruction of five Empires, the rise of the Bolsheviks and the eventual rise of Hitler. WW2 ended with the Soviets taking half of Europe.
The Iraq war led to the rise of ISIS and the downfall of Syria. The end of Israel’s influence is a good thing. But it is still unclear how things will look when this ends. The war on Iran was a huge mistake.
I agree completely