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U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said Thursday that Egypt is not part of the Mecca agreement because it already has a treaty with Israel and a security agreement with Greece, offering a U.S. explanation for Cairo’s absence from the new Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan defense pact.
“Egypt is out of mecca agreement, why? Because it already has a treaty with Israel, and it already has a security agreement with Greece,” Barrack said at the inaugural Middle East and Gulf edition of CNN’s Global Perspectives in Doha. He compared the way such commitments are tested to Article 5 of NATO, saying violations “take time” before the mission becomes clear.
Cairo has not publicly given a reason for staying out. Barrack’s comments were among the more direct remarks from a U.S. figure on a pact that Washington did not sign.
Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement on Aug. 7, 2026, in Mecca. Its core clause states that an armed attack on any one of the three is an attack on all, wording comparable to Article 5, the collective defense clause of NATO’s founding treaty. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said the three would consult to decide how to respond to an attack on a member, and the signatories describe the pact as open to others.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in mid-August that Egypt’s accession was “possible,” and Fidan has said the door remains open. Cairo, however, has stayed outside the pact.
Egypt has moved closer to Saudi Arabia on its own terms. Its House of Representatives voted Monday to authorize President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to take necessary measures to support Saudi Arabia. Sisi has said any support would defend Saudi territory and “does not include an attack on Yemen.”
Barrack framed the broader shift as a positive one. The United States, he said, cannot solve everything, and the region taking responsibility for itself through new alignments is “absolutely the answer.” He said it “takes time,” “takes patience” and “takes accountability.”
He acknowledged the cost, saying “everybody’s going through pain,” but argued the end result would not be more war. He described that as the president’s program and said the president “will get there.”
On Iran, Barrack said there is no imminent nuclear threat and that the region will figure out how to handle the Straits. He said the adversary has been the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, not the Iranian people.
Barrack rejected the notion that Israel is pursuing a “greater Israel,” calling it an illusion promoted by Israel’s political enemies. “The path is not a greater Israel,” he said.
He said Israel had a right to readjust conditions along its borders after the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, but that “that takes time.” He added that he expects a realignment in Israel regardless of the outcome of its election.
The subheading says “US rejects,” but your material only has Barrack saying it. If you’d rather not attribute it to the U.S. as a whole, “Barrack rejects the idea of greater Israel” is the safer wording.
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