In a significant geopolitical development, Pakistan’s Defence Minister has announced that the nation’s nuclear program will be at Saudi Arabia’s disposal, should the need arise under their recently established defense pact. This marks the first explicit acknowledgment that Islamabad is extending its nuclear umbrella to the kingdom.
Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif’s remarks, made late Thursday (September 18, 2025) night, underscore the profound importance of the agreement forged earlier this week. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have maintained close military ties for decades, but this pact elevates their alliance to a new strategic level.
Analysts widely interpret this move as a powerful message aimed at Israel, which has long been presumed to be the only nuclear-armed nation in the Middle East. The announcement follows a recent Israeli attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, which resulted in six fatalities and heightened anxieties among Gulf Arab nations about their security. This concern is particularly acute given the devastating Israel-Hamas war, which has ravaged the Gaza Strip and left the entire region on tenterhooks.
During an interview with Geo TV, Mr. Asif directly addressed a question regarding whether “the deterrence that Pakistan gets from nuclear weapons” would be shared with 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 asserted. “What we have, and the capabilities we possess, will be made available to (Saudi Arabia) according to this agreement,” he reiterated.
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The defense agreement, formally signed on Wednesday, explicitly states that an attack on one nation will be considered an attack on both. However, neither country has yet provided further details on what this pact entails, particularly concerning Saudi Arabia’s potential access to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
Saudi Arabia’s historical connections to Pakistan’s nuclear development are well-documented. Retired Pakistani Brigadier General Feroz Hassan Khan previously noted that Saudi Arabia provided “generous financial support to Pakistan that enabled the nuclear program to continue, especially when the country was under sanctions.”
Pakistan itself faced years of U.S. sanctions over its pursuit of nuclear weapons, with new restrictions imposed for its ballistic missile activities towards the end of the Biden administration. The country developed its nuclear arsenal primarily as a deterrent against India, which is estimated to possess 172 nuclear warheads, slightly more than Pakistan’s 170, according to the U.S.-published Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.