Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif put their names to the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement on 7 August 2026, at Al-Safa Palace. The Mecca Pact is the exact opposite. The plainest reading of the Mecca Pact is not that it targets Iran, or Israel, or anyone by name. Washington, watching from the sidelinesThe American reaction so far has been muted, which is itself the point. A pact born of doubt in American reliability can also, conveniently, serve an American interest in doing less.