Has an Islamic NATO just been formed?

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COGwriter

Since at least 2018, I have warned of a coming Arab/Islamic NATO. Back then, we even made the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

15:19

Arab NATO and the Coming King of the South

For two weeks in November 2018, a joint-military exercise called ‘Arab Shield 1’ took place in Egypt. Some have wondered if this will lead to an ‘Arab NATO.’ Is this something the Obama and Trump administrations have pushed for? Is this consistent with biblical prophesies? What do followers of Islam want? What about a caliphate and the ‘Imam Mahdi? Has this type of Arab unity been promoted by American and European leaders? What territories will support the King of the South of Daniel 11? What peoples are involved in Ezekiel 30? Will Turkey betray the coming King of the South? Will Arab unity turn out well or disastrous for the Arab nations? Will Arab unity be in place by the time of the start of the Great Tribulation? Dr. Thiel answers these questions and more.

Here is a link to the sermonette video: Arab NATO and the Coming King of the South.

Yesterday, a defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan was announced and the Turkish representative said that others in the region were invited to join it (see Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan sign military alliance–another ‘King of the South’ step?).

Last night, RT posted the following:

Have Pakistan, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia just launched an ‘Islamic NATO’?

7 August 2026

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Türkiye signed a defense pact on Friday, sparking talk of a NATO style grouping that could alter the regional power balance.

The bloc’s formation comes amid a volatile security situation in the Middle East, triggered by the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Tehran’s retaliation against Gulf monarchies, who have been traditional US allies, has exposed the limitations of the American security umbrella and forced the Gulf Arabs to think of alternative security frameworks.

The pact was signed in Mecca by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Pakistan’s ⁠Foreign Ministry said in a statement that an armed ⁠attack on any one of the ⁠three countries would be ⁠regarded as an ⁠attack against them all. However, whether such an attack would elicit a combined military response – on the lines of NATO’s Article 5 collective defense commitments – from the bloc is not clear.

Why is the pact significant?

Still, the military alliance between three Sunni Muslim countries offers a powerful symbolism in a region wracked by conflict.

The chairman of the Saudi-based think tank Gulf Research Center, Abdulaziz Sager, told Reuters, “the trilateral framework could strengthen the three countries’ collective diplomatic and defense weight while contributing to the emergence of a more regionally driven security architecture.”

The three players bring very powerful assets to the grouping: Pakistan is the only Muslim country with a nuclear arsenal; Türkiye has a robust defense industry and the second-largest military in NATO; and Saudi Arabia – the world’s biggest crude exporter – has the financial muscle, apart from a military bristling with American weapons.

However, experts note that this is not the first attempt to establish a similar counterweight in the region, and the latest pact may not immediately be a “gamechanger.”

“I wouldn’t go to the extent of calling it Islamic NATO or the emergence of a new security block or a new alliance or… alignment,” Middle East expert and an associate professor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, Muhammad Mudassir Qamar, told RT India. He noted that such attempts at alliance have been made in the past. https://www.rt.com/news/643998-pakistan-turkiye-saudi-nato/

The agreement is like an Islamic NATO.

But again, only a three nations are in it.

However, as reported here, 14 nations (including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan) joined a naval alliance in the region (see Saudi Arabian general appointed head of a multinational military confederation: Another step towards the ‘King of the South’?).

These are concrete steps.

But more will follow.

Furthermore, despite the view that this is not an Islamic NATO, notice the following:

OIC hails Makkah defence pact as Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan forge NATO-style Muslim alliance

Three countries signed Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on Friday, pledging that attack on any one of them will be treated as attack on all — landmark commitment struck against backdrop of widening regional war with Iran

8 August 2026

RIYADH (MNTV) — The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has welcomed a newly signed trilateral defence pact between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan as a “historic” and strategically significant step for the security of the wider Muslim world. …

OIC’s endorsement

OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha expressed what the organisation described as his strong appreciation and support for the agreement, calling it an important strategic step that reflects the three countries’ commitment to strengthening regional and international cooperation.

Taha described the pact as a fundamental pillar for supporting security and stability across the region and the Muslim world, and said it embodied a shared determination to confront growing security challenges and deepen solidarity among OIC member states.

He praised the leadership of the three countries and voiced hope that the agreement would contribute to peace and prosperity in the region and beyond. …

Shifting security architecture

Analysts have described the agreement as a potential turning point in the security order of the Middle East and South Asia.

The Atlantic Council characterised it as an inflection point in an emerging multipolar order, noting that for Ankara it broadens a protective umbrella already extended to allies such as Qatar, Syria and Libya — adding significant new resources to what amounts to an emerging Muslim collective-defence mechanism.

Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center, said the political symbolism of three of the Muslim world’s most influential states convening at a moment of heightened uncertainty was significant in itself, demonstrating a growing willingness among regional powers to coordinate more closely on security.

If institutionalised and translated into concrete cooperation, he argued, the framework could strengthen the three countries’ collective diplomatic and defence weight and contribute to a more regionally driven security architecture — one less dependent on outside powers.

For the three governments, and for the OIC that has now blessed the arrangement, that may be precisely the point: at a moment when the region’s traditional security guarantees look increasingly uncertain, three major Muslim states have chosen to bind their defence together — and to do so in Islam’s holiest city, where the symbolism could hardly be clearer. https://www.muslimnetwork.tv/oic-hails-historic-makkah-defence-pact-as-turkiye-saudi-arabia-and-pakistan-forge-nato-style-muslim-alliance/

Consider further that Egypt has also been working on this:

Could Middle East war bring region closer to an ‘Arab NATO’?

March 20, 2026

Egypt is again calling for a joint Arab military alliance – sometimes described as an “Arab NATO” – to defend the region. But Arab states are deeply divided over the idea, Middle East analyst Hasni Abidi tells RFI.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi this week renewed calls for a common Arab force – a proposal that has been discussed for years but has never taken shape.

The idea has resurfaced as conflict spreads across the Gulf, with Iranian missile and drone strikes hitting several Arab states in retaliation for attacks by Israel and the United States. The escalation is also raising new questions about how Arab countries should organise their own defence. …

RFI: What does the idea of an “Arab NATO” involve?

Hasni Abidi: It is an old idea. During the war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia wanted to form an Arab coalition, similar to NATO, against the Houthis. It managed to involve some states, but their participation was largely symbolic and it never succeeded in creating a real military coalition.

As early as 2015, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi suggested forming an Arab military coalition, backed by the United States, to fight terrorism in the region.

More recently, when Qatar was hit by Iran, the Egyptian president spoke about the need for a common Arab defence to face this challenge.

Today, he has sent his foreign minister to support the Gulf countries, but also to tell them that the current circumstances require a new Arab architecture – in other words, a shared defence system run by Arab states themselves.

RFI: The idea is not new and has never succeeded. Could the situation today change that?

HA: It is very difficult to imagine all Arab states accepting this Egyptian proposal. Several states say they have no interest in joining a military alliance. …

RFI: Do the attacks on Gulf countries because of their alliance with the United States call into question their relationship with Washington?

HA: There is now a debate in Gulf countries about their relationship with the United States. Is this partnership still relevant? The war with Iran has exposed not only the vulnerability of the Gulf states but also what many see as American inaction when it came to protecting their partners, even though they are linked by mutual defence agreements.

There is a growing feeling of abandonment in the Gulf. https://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20260320-could-war-in-middle-east-bring-region-closer-to-an-arab-nato

An unintended consequence of the USA/Israel-Iran war is that the Arab nations are looking for increased military cooperation. Daniel 11:40-43 will come to pass.

Here is what the old Radio and Worldwide Church of God taught about a coming ‘King of the South’ related alliance: