Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday called for “regional unity” at a meeting in Tehran with representatives of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, which recently signed the Makkah defence pact.
“I hope that the presence of representatives of important and influential Islamic countries at this meeting will help further consolidate regional unity and cohesion,” Pezeshkian said, according to a statement shared on the presidential website, urging Islamic countries to “stand together and adopt a coordinated position”.
At the start of the meeting, Iran’s state broadcaster reported the meeting was bringing together Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye to discuss “regional cooperation, the US-Israeli aggression against Iran and its consequences”, among other topics.
Iran’s IRIB state broadcaster earlier shared a video of the meeting, saying the quadrilateral meeting on “regional security and stability” had begun. The video showed Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi sitting with Iran’s president, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and security chief Mohsen Rezaei.
Earlier in the day, Inter-Services Public Relations had confirmed that CDF Munir was visiting Tehran, but did not share any further details.
State-run PressTV also shared pictures of the meeting.
Earlier, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted the deputy secretary of Iran’s top security body, Ali Bagheri Kani, as saying that the visit was part of efforts to implement the idea of endogenous security in West Asia.
Kani also told state TV that among the visiting dignitaries would be Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, said during a media briefing that the meeting with officials from the three countries would cover “most pressing issues threatening our region”, which included Israel’s expansionist policies, developments in Palestine and Lebanon.
He added that the topic of “top priority on the agenda would be consequences of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran and its ramifications for the entire region”.
IRNA further quoted him as saying that this meeting could be a prelude to further steps towards shaping “endogenous security — an issue that we have been insisting on for decades”.
“We emphasise that regional security will not be ensured except by relying on the … security considerations of the countries of the region,” he said, adding that events of the last two years, especially the past eight months, had shown that sustainable and reliable security would only be made possible by “building trust and cooperation among the countries in the region”.
Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly also confirmed the visit in a post on X. Krimly described the visit as “part of the continued efforts by the Makkah Defence Alliance members for de-escalation between parties involved in the ongoing crisis, and promoting dialogue and diplomatic solutions, in support of the mediation efforts carried out by Qatar and Pakistan”.
“The visit underscore the pivotal role of Makkah Defence Alliance members in reinforcing regional security and stability, and working with all countries in the region to achieve that goal,” he added.
The visit comes as attacks by Houthis have spiralled over recent weeks and rhetoric between Washington and Tehran has grown more heated.
Monday’s planned talks would be the first high-level contact between Iran and all members of the Makkah Defence Alliance since Saudi Arabia was drawn deeper into the conflict. Under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, signed in August, an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
CDF Munir had visited Iran last week as well. During the visit, Iranian leaders had conveyed that the US must take the first steps to rebuild trust, and that the acceptance of Tehran’s seven-point proposal could provide a starting point for renewed negotiations.
According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, Baqaei said during the media briefing that the suggestion for the meeting was made during CDF Munir’s visit to Tehran last week. Tehran reviewed the proposal “favourably … and it is scheduled to be held today”, he added.
War has engulfed the Middle East since late February when the US and Israel launched a wave of surprise attacks on Iran, just as Washington and Tehran were in the middle of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme.
An April ceasefire brought an end to the initial phase of intense bombardment but the two sides have continued to vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to travel.
Iran claims control over the strait and regularly targets vessels that attempt to cross without its authorisation, while the United States has imposed a naval counter-blockade on Iranian ports.
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.
The war has since spread across the region to include fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen.
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