ISLAMABAD – Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan have signed a mutual defense pact that regards any attack on either nation as an attack on both in the wake of Israel's strike on Qatar .

Saudi Arabia long has had close economic, religious and security ties to Pakistan, including reportedly providing funding for Islamabad's nuclear weapons program as it developed. Analysts — and Pakistani diplomats in at least one case — have suggested over the years that the kingdom could be included under Islamabad's nuclear umbrella, particularly as tensions have risen over Iran's atomic program .

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But the timing of the pact appeared to be a signal to Israel, long suspected to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed state, which has conducted a sprawling military offensive

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