Saudi Arabia’s renewed push for nuclear capability-couched as a civilian energy initiative in collaboration with the US-is reshaping the strategic landscape of the Middle East. Though the proposed U.S.-Saudi 123 agreement remains stalled, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s repeated insistence on pursuing enrichment rights, combined with his warning that “if Iran gets a bomb, we will too,” signals far more than a utility program. It signals intent.
This presents a complex dilemma for Pakistan.
For decades, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have maintained a partnership that goes beyond economics or religion. Their alliance is one of mutual strategic utility. Riyadh has always supported Pakistan during financial crises, and historically contributed to its nuclear program in the 1980s with the implicit understanding of a future “nuclear umbrella.” While both sides deny any formal defense arrangement, such speculation continues to surface, especially as Riyadh inches closer to a latent nuclear threshold.
But the world of 2025 is different. Nuclear opacity is no longer strategic. Any perception of Islamabad facilitating Saudi ambitions (whether through knowledge-sharing or passive silence) could provoke severe diplomatic fallout, particularly with Iran, with whom Pakistan shares a long and occasionally fragile border. Further, Pakistan’s credibility as a responsible nuclear power, which is already under severe scrutiny, could erode irreparably.
Pakistan must not allow itself to be caught in a proxy nuclear calculus between Riyadh and Tehran. Instead, it should step into a more constructive role as a stabilizing intermediary.
There is diplomatic capital to be gained here. Islamabad can position itself as a bridge-builder between Riyadh and Tehran, advocating for regional non-proliferation principles rooted in Pakistan’s own restraint post-1998. It can offer Riyadh enhanced conventional defense cooperation including troop deployments and intelligence-sharing while drawing a clear red line on nuclear transfer. Simultaneously, it can reaffirm commitments to Iran that its territory will not be used to encircle or provoke.
Further, Pakistan should actively engage international forums, alongside China and the U.S., to support enforceable safeguards in any Saudi civilian program. In a region already crowded with ambiguity and mistrust, clarity from Islamabad can elevate its status as a responsible, stabilizing power.
The Middle East may be edging toward a nuclear pivot. Pakistan can either be remembered as complicit or as the state that helped pull the region back from the brink. *