A NATO That Lasted a Few Weeks

The “Islamic NATO” has proved to be little more than a public-relations firework, with no credible deterrent or capacity to intervene. The initiative exposes the confusion and insecurity of its founding members.
By Giorgos Kapopoulos for EFSYN.GR
Thursday, November 5, 2026 - ATHENS, GREECE

At first, everything appeared to be unfolding better than expected, particularly when it came to public relations. An “Islamic NATO” with three founding members — Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan — and a fourth, Egypt, which came close to joining but dropped out along the way. It was a sudden development that offered an early warning of just how limited the substance of the Mecca Agreement might prove to be.

Donald Trump, unpredictable as ever, inadvertently strengthened the position of the three Mecca signatories by fueling expectations of a major military strike against Iran following the midterm elections.

The three countries have avoided taking any diplomatic initiative to mediate the crisis, apparently unwilling to risk collateral damage to their respective bilateral relationships with the United States.

The agreement envisages automatic solidarity among its members in the event of an attack, much like NATO's founding treaty.

Within just a few weeks, however, the “Islamic NATO” had proved to be little more than a public-relations firework, lacking any credible deterrent capability or capacity to intervene. The initiative has instead exposed the confusion and insecurity of its founding members.

Egypt continues to keep Turkey at arm's length. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's efforts to support Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood left wounds that are unlikely to heal anytime soon.

Deep divisions also persist between Erdoğan and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The coming days and weeks will be critical for the Mecca trio if Trump follows through on his pre-election threats to launch a devastating strike against Iran.

The growing momentum toward escalation leaves the three countries little room to maintain a safe distance between Washington and Tehran.

Whenever closer cooperation has been attempted among the regional powers of the Arab and Muslim world, the outcome has fallen far short of expectations. One particularly telling example was the 1958 union between Egypt and Syria, which created the United Arab Republic. The experiment came to an end in 1961 when Syria seceded.

With the exception of Pakistan, which has consistently sought to improve its strategic position vis-à-vis India and has championed Muslim solidarity from Central Asia to Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have spent decades cultivating regional rivalries. These are not divisions that can simply be swept aside.