UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — The Mecca Pact and the rise of strategic hedging
Q1. With reference to the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, consider the following statements:
1. It was concluded in August 2026 at Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
2. Its members at present are Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
3. Pakistan was represented at the signing by its President, and Türkiye by its Prime Minister.
4. The text specifies the exact quantum and type of military assistance each member must furnish to a member under attack.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- It was concluded in August 2026 at Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
- Its members at present are Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
- Pakistan was represented at the signing by its President, and Türkiye by its Prime Minister.
- The text specifies the exact quantum and type of military assistance each member must furnish to a member under attack.
- A. 1 and 3 only
- B. 2, 3 and 4
- C. 1 and 2 only
- D. 1, 2 and 4
Q2. How many of the member states of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement are also members of the Gulf Cooperation Council?
- A. Only one
- B. Only two
- C. All three
- D. None
Q3. The central provision of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, described as mirroring NATO's collective defence principle, lays down which one of the following?
- A. An aggression against any member obliges the remaining members to place their armed forces under a single unified command headed by the host state
- B. Each member undertakes not to enter into any further defence arrangement with a power outside the grouping
- C. An armed attack against any one of the three would be regarded as an attack on all of them
- D. A member facing aggression may seek consultations, though no other member is bound to treat that aggression as directed at itself
Q4. In NATO — the model cited for the Mecca pact's core clause — which one of the following is headed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and located at Casteau in Belgium?
- A. Allied Command Transformation
- B. Allied Command Operations
- C. The Military Committee
- D. The North Atlantic Council
Q5. With reference to the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement of September 2025, consider the following statements:
1. It was signed at the Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.
2. It commits the two states to treat an attack on either country as an attack on both.
3. It furnishes a framework for expanded cooperation covering training, exercises and intelligence sharing.
4. Saudi officials presented it as a reaction to specific recent regional incidents rather than as the institutionalisation of a longstanding relationship.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- It was signed at the Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.
- It commits the two states to treat an attack on either country as an attack on both.
- It furnishes a framework for expanded cooperation covering training, exercises and intelligence sharing.
- Saudi officials presented it as a reaction to specific recent regional incidents rather than as the institutionalisation of a longstanding relationship.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 2, 3 and 4
- C. 1, 2 and 3
- D. 1 and 4 only
Q6. According to New Delhi's assessment, which one of the following was the principal proximate development that accelerated the conclusion of the Saudi Arabia-Pakistan defence pact?
- A. The Houthi drone attack on the Aramco refinery at Jazan in south-western Saudi Arabia
- B. The military action taken against Iran by the United States and Israel in February
- C. The attack launched on Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023
- D. The Israeli strikes on Qatar's capital Doha targeting Hamas leadership in September
Q7. In analyses of Gulf Arab states' external policy, the conduct characterised as 'hedging' is best understood as which one of the following?
- A. Formally renouncing prior security commitments to an external power before entering into any new regional grouping
- B. Spreading security and economic ties across rival great powers, since neither full alignment with one nor withdrawal from all is affordable
- C. Preserving armed neutrality by declining to host foreign military bases or to sign any defence agreement
- D. Tying defence procurement to one external supplier in exchange for that supplier's guaranteed security assurances
Q8. With reference to hedging behaviour attributed to Gulf Arab states, consider the following statements:
1. Saudi outreach to Iran and the United Arab Emirates' widening ties with China have been cited as expressions of this behaviour.
2. Oman and Qatar have been noted for pursuing diplomacy independent of the dominant external patron.
3. Hedging requires a state to align itself wholly with a single great power, partial alignment carrying no economic or technological costs whatsoever.
4. The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was declared to be aimed specifically at Iran and permanently closed to any additional members.
Which of the above is/are NOT correct?
- Saudi outreach to Iran and the United Arab Emirates' widening ties with China have been cited as expressions of this behaviour.
- Oman and Qatar have been noted for pursuing diplomacy independent of the dominant external patron.
- Hedging requires a state to align itself wholly with a single great power, partial alignment carrying no economic or technological costs whatsoever.
- The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was declared to be aimed specifically at Iran and permanently closed to any additional members.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 3 and 4 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 3 and 4
Q9. Consider the following statements about the regional backdrop against which the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was concluded:
1. The conflict involving Iran that erupted in late February 2026 followed military action against Iran by the United States and Israel, while the wider regional instability traces back to the Hamas attack on Israel of October 2023.
2. Yemen's civil war had largely stabilised after a truce in 2022, and the 2026 attacks on Saudi territory carry the risk of reigniting it.
3. Since that conflict began, Iran and its allies have confined their operations entirely to Israeli territory, leaving Gulf states and energy shipping untouched.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The conflict involving Iran that erupted in late February 2026 followed military action against Iran by the United States and Israel, while the wider regional instability traces back to the Hamas attack on Israel of October 2023.
- Yemen's civil war had largely stabilised after a truce in 2022, and the 2026 attacks on Saudi territory carry the risk of reigniting it.
- Since that conflict began, Iran and its allies have confined their operations entirely to Israeli territory, leaving Gulf states and energy shipping untouched.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q10. When the Houthis struck the Aramco refinery at Jazan, for approximately how long had the broader Iran-United States conflict been under way?
- A. About two months
- B. About eleven months
- C. About five months
- D. About eighteen months
Q11. Consider the following statements regarding India's official response to the Saudi Arabia-Pakistan defence pact:
1. The Ministry of External Affairs said it would study the implications of the development for national security as well as for regional and global stability.
2. The Ministry's spokesperson simultaneously described India's ties with Saudi Arabia as a wide-ranging strategic partnership that had deepened considerably in recent years.
3. Indian officials held that defence cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had begun only with this agreement, no Pakistani military personnel having been stationed in the Kingdom earlier.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The Ministry of External Affairs said it would study the implications of the development for national security as well as for regional and global stability.
- The Ministry's spokesperson simultaneously described India's ties with Saudi Arabia as a wide-ranging strategic partnership that had deepened considerably in recent years.
- Indian officials held that defence cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had begun only with this agreement, no Pakistani military personnel having been stationed in the Kingdom earlier.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 1 and 3 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q12. The Peninsula Shield Force, often invoked in comparisons with newer collective defence arrangements in West Asia, is best described as which one of the following?
- A. A standing rapid-reaction force of the Arab League, headquartered at Cairo since 1981
- B. The combined naval command of the Red Sea littoral states, established at Jeddah after 2011
- C. The joint military venture of the Gulf Cooperation Council, created in 1984 and based in Saudi Arabia
- D. A NATO partnership command for the Gulf region, headed by a Turkish officer at Doha