The point is that this goes way beyond Iran. the group brings together not only an Arab Moslem country, but two non-Arab ones, each of which is of global strategic importance. These nations bring together a diverse set of parameters. Turkey controls one of the most important marine choke-points in the world (Bosporus, Dardanelles), Saudi Arabia has a controlling interest in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf and Pakistan counterbalances the rising power of India.

At one point, there was a growing unofficial axis of Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia who worked towards common geopolitical and economic interests. In the same fashion that a handful of terrorists changed the course of the world on 9/11/2001, a small group of terrorists changed the course of the world on October 7, 2023. In both cases, it was not the actual damage done by the terrorists, no matter how heinous that was, but the response by the victim country which tore the geopolitical and social fabric in unpredictable ways. Israel and Turkey have been butting heads for years over their competing interests in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. The new alliance indicates the shift in Saudi balance and the apparent pulling back of the Arabian Peninsula countries from an assumption that the presence of US forces is more beneficial than dangerous.

A mutual defense treaty, such as NATO provides yet another challenge, not only to Iran, but also to Israel and potentially to interests that the US has taken for granted for generations.

Jeff