Pakistan says nuclear arsenal ‘available’ to Saudi Arabia under defence pact

A Pakistani minister has said his nation’s nuclear programme “will be made available” to Saudi Arabia if needed under the countries’ new defence pact.

Defence minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif’s comments were the first specific acknowledgment that Pakistan is placing Saudi Arabia under the umbrella of its nuclear arms.

Speaking to Geo TV in an interview, Mr Asif made the comments while answering a question on whether “the deterrence that Pakistan gets from nuclear weapons” will be made available to Saudi Arabia.

“Let me make one point clear about Pakistan’s nuclear capability: that capability was established long ago when we conducted tests. Since then, we have forces trained for the battlefield,” Mr Asif said.

“What we have, and the capabilities we possess, will be made available to (Saudi Arabia) according to this agreement,” he added.

The two countries signed a defence deal on Wednesday declaring that an attack on one nation would be an attack on both.

The move is seen by some as a signal to Israel, long believed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed nation.

It comes after Israel’s attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar last week killed six people and sparked new concerns among Gulf Arab nations about their safety amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Neither country has responded to questions about the pact and what it meant in regards to possibly accessing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

Saudi Arabia has long been linked to Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

Retired Pakistani Brigadier General Feroz Hassan Khan has said Saudi Arabia provided “generous financial support to Pakistan that enabled the nuclear programme to continue, especially when the country was under sanctions”.

Pakistan faced US sanctions for years over its pursuit of the bomb, and saw new ones imposed over its ballistic missile work at the end of the Biden administration.

Pakistan developed its nuclear weapons programme to counter India’s atomic bombs.

The two neighbours have fought multiple wars against each other, and again came close to open warfare after an attack on tourists in April in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

India is believed to have an estimated 172 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has 170, according to the US-published Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Pakistan’s Shaheen 3 ballistic missile, believed to be able to carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, has a maximum range of 2,750 kilometres (1,700 miles) — making it capable of reaching Israel.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with which both nations have monitoring agreements, did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the Pakistani defence minister’s remarks. Mr Asif criticised Israel in the interview for not fully disclosing its suspected nuclear weapons programme to the IAEA.

Israel has not commented on the two nations’ defence pact. Pakistan long has criticised Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, but has not been directly involved in any war against it.

And while neither nation has diplomatic ties to Israel, American officials had sought to mediate a diplomatic recognition deal involving Saudi Arabia before Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

“We have not named any country whose attack would automatically trigger a retaliatory response. Neither has Saudi Arabia named any country, nor have we,” Mr Asif said in the interview.

“This is an umbrella arrangement offered to one another by both sides: if there is aggression against either party – from any side – it will be jointly defended, and the aggression will be met with a response.”

The deal came a week after the attack in Doha as Gulf Arab countries weigh how to defend themselves. Israeli attacks since October 7 2023 have stretched across Iran, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Syria and Yemen.

Asked if others could join the pact, the minister added: “I can say the door is not closed to others.”