United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was pleased by the recent signing of a defence pact between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.

“Very happy to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Pakistan have recently, and finally, signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“It shows how the Middle East is coming together, and how Countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way,” he wrote, calling it a “BIG, BOLD, IMPORTANT FIRST STEP”.

Reacting to Trump’s remarks, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he “deeply appreciated” the “kind words of support” on the signing of the agreement.

“Together, with the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Turkiye, Pakistan will continue to play a constructive role in ensuring the defence of our own countries as well as the entire region,” he said.

In an apparent reference to last year’s brief military conflict with India, PM Shehbaz also took the opportunity to commend Trump for his “courageous and decisive leadership, which helped avert a nuclear catastrophe in South Asia and saved millions of lives”.

“Durable peace is the most essential prerequisite for a bright and prosperous future for our peoples,” he said.

The three-way agreement, signed on August 7, comes amid a US-Iran war that has extended violence to the region, including Houthi rebel attacks.

The joint defence agreement aims to strengthen collective deterrence and empowers its signatory states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all of them.

Turkiye’s defence ministry said last week that Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia will form political and military mechanisms under the pact, adding the alliance would also deepen defence industry cooperation.

Both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar have said the pact is defensive in nature, with the latter saying that it is also “open to any country in the region” willing to uphold its fundamental principles.

Shortly after the agreement was signed, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkiye expected Egypt to join the pact “in the next stage”, telling the Anadolu state news agency only “a few technical issues” stood in the way. However, Egypt has not commented on the agreement nor on the remarks by Fidan.

Later, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said he hoped more countries would join the defence agreement.

“Our vision for it is not limited to the three countries,” the Turkish leader told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat daily.

“Rather we aspire for it to grow, and perhaps appropriate conditions will emerge one day for all countries of the region to gather under its umbrella,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kuwait, Bahrain and Somalia are among the countries that have welcomed it. Iran’s comments also took a rather positive tone, stressing its stance of pursuing “security mechanisms based on cooperation between regional countries”.