The Saudi-Pakistan Defense Pact includes a nuclear program, says the Pakistani Defense Minister

The Pakistani Minister of Defense said that the nuclear program of his country “will be made available” for Saudi Arabia if necessary in the new defense pact of the countries.

The comments of the Minister of Defense Khawaja Mohammad Asif to Geo TV Thursday evening were the first specific recognition that Pakistan placed Saudi Arabia under the aegis of his nuclear weapons.

“What we have and the capacities we have will be made available to (Saudi Arabia) according to this agreement,” said AIF.

“If one or the other country is attacked, we will respond jointly,” he added.

The two countries signed a defense contract declaring that an attack on a nation would be signed on Wednesday would be an attack on both.

None of the two countries answered questions about the pact and that it meant with regard to access to the Pakistan nuclear arsenal.

Saudi Arabia would already have a domestic ballistic missile program, which can be a delivery system for a nuclear weapon. However, the Kingdom is a member of the Treaty on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and is not known to acquire the bomb through its own work.

Saudi Arabia asked for American aid to advance a civilian nuclear energy program, in part with what had been a diplomatic recognition agreement proposed with Israel, because US President Donald Trump hoped to extend the Abraham agreements to include Saudi Arabia during its second mandate. But Riyadh clearly indicated that he will not establish links with the Israelis until the War of Israel-Hamas has ceased and that there is a path to the Palestinian State.

Longtime Saudi financial support

This week’s move is considered by some as a signal for Israel, considered the only nuclear nation in the Middle East. This comes after Israel’s attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar last week killed six people and sparked new concerns among the Arab Nations of the Gulf over their security in the midst of the War of Israel-Hamas.

Saudi Arabia has long been linked to the Pakistan nuclear program. Retired Pakistani Brig. General Feroz Hassan Khan said that Saudi Arabia had provided a “generous financial support in Pakistan which allowed the nuclear program to continue, especially when the country was under sanctions”, a reference to American sanctions in Pakistan has been faced for years during its prosecution of the bomb.

Pakistan’s declared nuclear doctrine affirms that its weapons are only intended for the long -term opponent of India, the two countries becoming nuclear in the 1990s.

Pakistan, the only Muslim nuclear nation, is one of the poorest countries in Asia, but it has an army of more than 600,000 soldiers to defend against its much more important adversary, with which it fought three great wars. The countries have had many small clashes, including a four -day conflict in May which has been their heaviest fights for decades.

India would have around 172 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan was 170, according to the atomic scientists’ bulletin published by the United States.

But Pakistan is struggling to compete with an Indian defense budget which is at least seven times greater, which means that any new Saudi fundamental injection could even somewhat balance. The links between countries increased after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and fears of the kingdom of a confrontation with Tehran, and Saudi Arabia has helped Pakistan financially for decades.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, for “his lively interest in the enlargement of Saudi investments, trade and business ties”, in a statement.

India said on Thursday that it “would study the implications of this development for our national security as well as for regional and global stability”.

Israel and the United States have not made any comments on the agreement.