Mecca pact countries to hold security talks with Iranian officials in Tehran

TEHRAN

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (L), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C), and Pakistani PM Shahbaz Sharif (R) pose in Mecca following the signing of a trilateral defense agreement. (AA File Photo)

Senior officials from the Mecca pact countries, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, will hold talks on regional security with Iranian officials on Oct. 26 in Tehran, Iranian and Saudi authorities have announced.

Türkiye’s intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın will travel to the Iranian capital for the meeting.

“As agreed, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief General Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin will participate in this meeting,” said Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

In an interview with state television, Kani said the meeting will also include Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei.

The visiting delegation will also meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to Saudi Arabian officials.

The meeting follows eight months of war in the Middle East and recent U.S. and Israeli threats of renewed attacks against Iran.

Saudi Arabia and the government it backs in Yemen have come under sustained attack in recent weeks from the Houthis as a years-long truce broke down in the summer, shifting the focus of the wider U.S.-Iran.

Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a joint defense agreement on Aug. 7. Under the agreement, a threat to the territorial integrity, sovereignty or internationally recognized borders of any signatory would require the parties to use all necessary means to eliminate the threat or danger.

The talks will mark the first high-level contact between Iran and the three-country bloc since Saudi Arabia became more deeply involved in the conflict.

“The Tehran meeting could serve as a starting point for shaping regional security,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei sai during a press briefing on Oct. 26.

Baghaei added that countries in the region were seeking to establish regional security mechanisms to safeguard their own security and promote peace.

Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Dr Rayed Krimly confirmed that the kingdom’s defense minister was heading a delegation to Tehran on Oct. 26.

“The visit comes as part of the continued efforts by the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement countries for de-escalation between parties involved in the ongoing crisis,” Krimly said in a post on X.

It is aimed at “promoting dialogue and diplomatic solutions, in support of the mediation efforts carried out by the State of Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” he added.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis remain stalled, especially since the collapse of a June deal which laid out a pathway to a permanent settlement.