Iran

 'Islamic NATO': Why is there renewed debate about the Arab-Muslim military alliance?

Amid reports that the US is increasing its military presence in preparation for a possible attack on Iran,the issue of forming an Arab-Islamic political and military alliance has come back into the spotlight.

The idea of ​​a Muslim alliance was first proposed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in September 2024. At the time, he called for Muslim countries to unite against the ‘growing threat of expansion’ posed by Israel.

In September 2025,the Pakistani defense minister also spoke about establishing an ‘Islamic NATO’.

The idea of ​​forming an ‘Islamic NATO’ has gained momentum since the signing of a security agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on September 17 last year.

Following Erdogan’s recent visits to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the ‘Islamic NATO’ proposal is being discussed again in Arab media. There is speculation that a grand alliance could be formed that would include key Arab and Muslim countries.

However,a Saudi official was quoted as saying that there is currently no plan to form a Saudi-led ‘Islamic NATO’ that would include Turkey and Pakistan.

Which countries could be included?

Arab media reports have suggested that the potential alliance could include Turkey, Egypt,Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Indonesia.

According to a report by the London-based Rai al-Youm news website on February 5, “Erdogan’s trips to Riyadh and Cairo come against the backdrop of plans to form a ‘political and military Islamic alliance centered on three countries.’ This could later be expanded to include nuclear-armed Pakistan and Indonesia,which has a large Muslim population.”

"This alliance will not be easy to advance in the face of."

Turkish analyst Ali Bakar said, "Israel will not allow this alliance to take shape in practice because its allied lobbies in the United States have already started working to prevent it."

Kadi Kanil, a researcher at the Center for Arab-Eurasian Studies, explained possible future scenarios for such an alliance. "It is more likely that there will be a convergence that adapts to changes," he said.

He also noted that the bloc is unlikely to become a large institutional allianc