Iran and Iraq are among the Islamic nations calling for the formation of a unified Muslim military coalition that can take on enemies, including Israel. The ‘Islamic NATO’ should share a defensive, if necessary, offensive doctrine, they opined.
The open call to form the Islamic coalition came as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathered for an emergency summit in Qatar on Monday, in the wake of Israel’s attack on Qatar.
Iran was at the forefront of the campaign for the ‘Islamic NATO’ while Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani was very vocal about the need to establish the Islamic military alliance. Sudani pinned the need for the Islamic NATO on Israel’s actions. “There is no reason Muslim nations cannot form a joint security force to defend themselves,” he told Al Jazeera channel. He added that the Islamic world holds “numerous levers” that could be used to deter Israel, warning that the Israeli “aggression will not stop at Qatar.”
Mohsen Rezaei, a former chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was among the Shia leaders who called the military coalition the only solution. He warned that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iraq could face future Israeli attacks if the OIC fails to act decisively.
Jalal Razavi-Mehr, a Shia cleric who heads the Assembly of Seminary Students’ Representatives in Qom, called for the creation of a joint Islamic army. “This army should be composed of the defensive and military forces of Islamic countries, operating under a single command, with a shared defensive and, if necessary, offensive doctrine,” he said.
#Iran's President Pezeshkian held a meeting with #Pakistan PM Sharif on the sidelines of the #OIC summit in Doha. pic.twitter.com/V4Yxifulcm
— Iran's Today (@Iran) September 15, 2025
Egypt also expressed support for the concept while it was discussed at the OIC meeting on Monday, stating that the objective of the alliance will be that any attack on a Muslim nation will be retaliated against by the joint coalition. While Egypt wants a Cairo-based “Arab Nato”, Pakistan wants a joint task force to “monitor the Israeli designs in the region”.
Geopolitical analysts believe the campaign gained strength with Arab nations’ eroding confidence in Washington and its role as security guarantor.
“Some Arab governments appear to be losing patience,” Hussein Ibish, a senior scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told South China Morning Post. “They [Arab countries] really feel they have no choice,” Ibish said, adding that if the US were to start making clear the terms on which it would be providing closer security coordination, then they would not feel the need to go forward with this uncharacteristic and uncomfortable effort at military integration”.
He added that the call for Islamic NATO was a clarion call for the US to get re-engaged with the Arab world, and if not, “Washington will find that it comes at a huge cost to US influence,” he said.
“The US may not like what ultimately emerges, but if they don’t move to stop it now, they won’t be able to later on,” he said.
