Arab NATO talk emerges again as Iran sends drones and missiles against its neighbors

Arab and Muslim countries are once again debating the creation of a NATO-style military alliance, as Israeli strikes on Doha and wider regional tensions sharpen concerns about collective security and outside protection.https://t.co/5oZrxS8cnu via @RFI_En

— RFI English (@RFI_En) December 19, 2025

COGwriter

Iran has been sending missiles and drones out at predominantly Muslim nations. Arab News reported the following:

Saudi Arabia intercepts dozens of drones as Iran escalates Gulf strikes

March 21, 2026

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s armed forces shot down dozens of drones in the first few hours of Saturday morning as Iran intensified strikes on Gulf energy infrastructure following Israel’s bombing of Iran’s South Pars gas field earlier this week.

A series of Saudi defense ministry posts on X showed the 51 drone attacks concentrated on the Kingdom’s Eastern Province — home to its major oil fields and refineries. A total of 92 drones have been intercepted since Friday.

The latest figures bring the total number of drone strikes targeting Saudi Arabia to at least 575 since February 28, according to a tally based on defense ministry reports.

In addition to the drones, Saudi air defenses have intercepted 42 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles over the same period, underscoring the sustained and varied nature of the aerial campaign against the kingdom.

The strikes extended across the Gulf.

Kuwait’s military said its air defense systems were responding to a missile and drone attack on Saturday.

“Kuwaiti air defenses are currently responding to hostile missile and drone threats,” an army statement said.

Bahrain said 143 missiles and 242 drones have been destroyed since start of Iranian attacks.

The Jordanian army on Saturday said that 36 Iranian missiles and drones have targeted the country’s territory during the third week of the war.

The UAE said they have engaged three ballistic missiles and eight drones launched from Iran on Saturday. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2637112/saudi-arabia

Iran also launched missiles at Diego Garcia, which is connected to Mauritius, today; whereas Israel also launched missiles into Syria within the past couple of days.

The President of Egypt is trying to set the stage for a broader Arab coalition:

Egypt intensifies diplomacy as Iran war reshapes regional tensions

21 March 2026

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s visits to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar this week underlined Cairo’s effort to show solidarity with Gulf states under attack, while stressing that their security is part of Egypt’s own. …

Egypt’s recent moves have focused on coordination rather than leadership.

Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has toured several Gulf capitals, carrying a message of solidarity and warning that the region is close to “exploding” if the conflict continues. At the same time, Cairo has stressed that it has not been asked to intervene militarily.

Instead, Egypt appears to be positioning itself as a diplomatic connector, maintaining channels with Gulf states, Western partners and, to a more limited extent, Iran. …

“Egypt is trying to signal relevance without overextending,” said H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. …

“Gulf states will welcome Egyptian alignment as reinforcement of the broader Arab hedging posture,” Hellyer said. https://www.euronews.com/2026/03/21/egypt-intensifies-diplomacy-as-iran-war-reshapes-regional-tensions

There have been calls again for an ‘Arab NATO’:

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

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.

As the tweet at the beginning of this post shows, the idea of an Arab NATO is not a new one.

ZeroHedge posted the following earlier this year:

The Nascent ‘Islamic NATO’ Might Soon Set Its Sights On Somaliland

January 18, 2026

The Somali Defense Minister’s request for Saudi Arabia to replicate its South Yemeni campaign in Somaliland coupled with reports about those two’s and Egypt’s impending alliance that would thus de facto include their Eritrean ally strongly suggest that something big might soon be afoot.

Reports have recently circulated about three separate but complementary military pacts in which Saudi Arabia might soon participate, which could form the core of an “Islamic NATO”.

Bloomberg got the ball rolling by reporting that Turkiye wants to join September’s “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement” between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, who’s still influential, then proposed including Egypt and presumably his own country too.

Bloomberg reported right after that Saudi Arabia is finalizing a military pact with Turkish-allied Somalia and Egypt for curtailing the UAE’s influence in Africa, the concept of which was analyzed here regarding how those three, Pakistan, and Turkiye could jointly advance this goal. On that note, it’s relevant to add that Pakistan clinched its own security pact with Somalia over the summer and then its top military official visited Egypt to discuss regional security, thus signaling Pakistan’s growing role in Africa.

The members of this emerging Saudi-centric coalition all oppose Somaliland’s 1991 redeclaration of independence, which was recently recognized by Israel. Somaliland also has close ties with the UAE and Ethiopia, and all three of its top partners are close with one another too. Ethiopia’s MoU with Somaliland on 1 January 2024 for recognizing its redeclaration of independence in exchange for access to the sea was exploited by its historic Egyptian rival to assemble a containment coalition with Somalia and Eritrea.

Although this nascent “Islamic NATO” might first aim to defeat the allegedly UAE-backed “Rapid Support Forces” in Sudan, they’re much more heavily armed and battle-hardened than the Somaliland Armed Forces, the latter of which might be perceived as so-called “low-hanging fruit”.

Moreover, South Yemen’s “Southern Transitional Council” was just steamrolled by Saudi air support and local Yemeni forces, which might have emboldened Riyadh and its partners to consider replicating that campaign in Somaliland.

It would take time to position Saudi (and possibly Egyptian, Pakistani, and/or Turkish) warplanes in the region (likely based in reoccupied South Yemen if this comes to pass) and for its emerging coalition to train the Somali National Army so this probably won’t happen anytime soon. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nascent-islamic-nato-might-soon-set-its-sights-somaliland

Last Fall, the German news agency, Deutsche Welle, posted the following related to an ‘Islamic NATO’:

Is the Middle East about to get an ‘Islamic NATO’?

25 September 2025

There was very little the Gulf state of Qatar could have done against the ballistic missiles Israel fired at it around two weeks ago. …

“The Israeli strike … shakes Gulf assumptions about their ties to the US and will bring them closer together,” Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, wrote shortly after the attack. “These oil monarchies are too much alike … such a direct strike on their sovereignty and perceived safety is anathema to them all.”

As a result, “Gulf rulers are pressing ahead with the pursuit of greater strategic autonomy and are increasingly determined to hedge against the risks of depending on the US,” Sanam Vakil, director of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program, confirmed in an op-ed in UK newspaper, The Guardian, this month.

All of this is why, over the past week or so, there’s been growing talk of the formation of an “Islamic NATO,” a defense alliance of Islamic and Arab states that could work similarly to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.

At an emergency summit organized by the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation last week, Egyptian officials suggested a NATO-style, joint task force for Arab nations. In a speech at the summit, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani also called for a collective approach to regional security. And the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — said they would activate a provision in a joint defense agreement, first signed in 2000, that said an attack on one member state was an attack on all.

The phrasing is similar to that used in Article 5 of the NATO pact. …

Saudi Arabia announced it was entering into a “strategic mutual defense agreement” with Pakistan. The two countries declared “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.” …

What the world may see instead of an “Islamic NATO” is the so-called “6+2 format,” explains Cinzia Bianco, an expert on the Gulf states at the European Council on Foreign Relations, or ECFR. The phrase, “6+2,” refers to the six GCC states and Turkey and Egypt. https://www.dw.com/en/is-the-middle-east-about-to-get-an-islamic-nato/a-74111424

As far as the idea of a military alliance in the region not being a new one, notice something from back in 2018:

Plans for an ‘Arab NATO’ gathering momentum

November 14, 2018

With Arab nations’ militaries working more closely together than ever before and the political situation ripe, speculation abounds that we will witness the birth of the so-called “Arab NATO” this month.

The idea for such a security alliance was conceived by the Obama administration. …

Now, because of the second Qatar crisis, the plan to accelerate an Arab solution for a regional military alliance is a key project being pushed for by US National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Importantly, the proposed Arab NATO, tentatively known as the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), is fully supported by senior Gulf officials. At the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate on Sunday, UAE Minister of State Anwar Gargash said: “The UAE, along with Arab states, is increasingly playing a role to address security challenges in the region. We are pushing alongside the US to form a strategic alliance to counter these issues.” Bolton’s meeting with the UAE security leadership on Monday was related to moving toward a greater cohesion on the Arab NATO issue.

An Arab military alliance, and how it begins to coalesce, is going to have to take the lessons of Yemen to heart in terms of its operations and operational capacity. …

Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s naval, air and ground units are conducting ongoing war games in western Egypt, with delegations from Morocco and Lebanon participating as observers. These military exercises, named “Arab Shield 1,” are significant as never before have these six Arab states conducted joint military exercises. It’s an important start that only occurred after Pompeo met with fellow foreign ministers to discuss the launch of the alliance. http://www.arabnews.com/node/1404891

Both Democratic and Republic Administrations in the USA have supported the idea. And yes, according to Bible prophecy a military alliance of nations including Egypt will occur (cf. Daniel 11:40-43; Ezekiel 30:2-8). The leader of this coming alliance is called the King of the South in the Bible:

40 At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. (Daniel 11:40-42).

1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:

“‘Wail and say, “Alas for that day!” 3 For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near- a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. 4 A sword will come against Egypt, and anguish will come upon Cush. When the slain fall in Egypt, her wealth will be carried away and her foundations torn down.

5 Cush and Put, Lydia and all Arabia, Libya and the people of the covenant land will fall by the sword along with Egypt.

6 “‘This is what the LORD says:

“‘The allies of Egypt will fall and her proud strength will fail. From Migdol to Aswan they will fall by the sword within her, declares the Sovereign LORD. 7 “‘They will be desolate among desolate lands, and their cities will lie among ruined cities. 8 Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I set fire to Egypt and all her helpers are crushed.

9 “‘On that day messengers will go out from me in ships to frighten Cush out of her complacency. Anguish will take hold of them on the day of Egypt’s doom, for it is sure to come (Ezekiel 30:1-9, NIV).

With the fact that many Arab states have been attacked by Iran, the idea of a joint Arab military confederation is now being more seriously considered.

Of course, as the biblical prophecies in Daniel 11 and Ezekiel 30 show, such an alliance will not end well for many of the participants.

Notice part of number 19 in my list of 26 items to prophetically watch in 2026:

19. Steps Towards the Formation of the King of the South Will Occur

The formation of the King of the South is something to look for.

Psalm 83 prophesies a confederacy:

3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

5 For they have consulted together with one consent;
They form a confederacy against You:
6 The tents of Edam and the Ishmaelites;
Moab and the Hagrites;
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also has joined with them;
They have helped the children of Lot. (Psalm 83:3-8)

Most of the peoples listed above are currently in the Middle East and North Africa, with the exception of Assyria–which is mainly in Europe.

Notice that a deal in alluded to in Daniel 11 and will be broken:

15 … the king of the North … 25 … the king of the South … 27 Both these kings’ hearts shall be bent on evil, and they shall speak lies at the same table; but it shall not prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time. (Daniel 11:15,25,27)

So, these powers will make lying deals.

They will then turn on each other:

40 “At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. (Daniel 11:40-43)

US and European politicians have called for a confederation or coalition of nations in the Middle East and North Africa …

Now there already is an alliance in the area. But the Bible tells of a coming confederacy that will be more unified.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and others have taken steps that will help the ultimate formation of the King of the South (see Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman pushing King of the South? and watch Mystery Babylon USA, Mecca, or Rome?).

In 2025, some have advocated for an expansion of the so-called Abraham Accords to include essentially a confederation of the Islamic nations of the Middle East and North Africa, but excluding Iran, to be a political and military alliance. This is a consistent with territories that the prophesied King of the South is to be over.

That Accord is helping get various Islamic nations to cooperate closer together.

Economic, religious, food price inflation and shortages, as well as and other problems will be factors in the rise of that leader.

While the confederacy is not expected be fully formed in 2026 (though that could happen), watch for events that will point in its direction. I expect one not too many years after a major regional conflict at least involving Iran, Syria, and Israel.

Talks about an Arab NATO in 2026 are consistent with that. And, of course, in 2026 we have already seen major regional conflict involving Iran, Syria, and Israel.