Iran and Mecca defence pact countries agree to further talks amid US war threats
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkiye and Pakistan have agreed to continue talks for regional “peace and security” as the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it had intercepted another barrage of missiles and drones fired by the Houthis at the kingdom.
The talks in Tehran on Monday were the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations – which signed the Mecca mutual defence pact in August – since a war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran also spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
In a joint statement issued late on Monday, the four countries “agreed to continue the dialogue to strengthen cooperation amongst the four regional countries, including for peace and security in the region,” according to Iranian state media.
Hours later, early on Tuesday, Colonel Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the coalition, said that three ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis and aimed at Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province had been intercepted, causing no casualties. Four drones headed towards the kingdom’s south were also shot down, he said.
The coalition said it had downed three more drones over Riyadh and southern Saudi Arabia on Monday evening.
There was no immediate comment from the Houthis.
Saudi Arabia said the visit to Tehran was meant to open negotiating channels to “prevent the return of military escalation”. The kingdom sent its defence minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, a younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Pakistan sent its army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Turkey sent its intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin.
Iranian state media published pictures of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, attending the meetings.
A senior Pakistani security official told the Reuters news agency that the talks focused on building a regional non-aggression network. The official said the agenda also covered negotiations between the US and Iran, the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Hormuz and the US blockade of Iranian ports.
Another Pakistani official told Reuters that Field Marshal Munir, with US President Donald Trump’s blessing to pursue diplomacy, had presented Iran with a proposal that would offer something to both Washington and Tehran. The agency said the official did not give details.
The states in the Mecca pact, along with Qatar, could act as guarantors if the proposal was accepted, the official said.
Rezaei, the Iranian security chief, meanwhile said the visit showed that “American threats have little impact on countries around the world”. He also spoke of a “new and positive atmosphere” in the region.
Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, had said earlier that the meeting, proposed when Field Marshal Munir visited Tehran last week, could be a first step towards regional security arrangements.
The talks came as tensions between Washington and Tehran have sharpened recently, with Trump saying on Friday the US may strike Iran again.
Mediation led by Pakistan and Qatar had produced an interim peace agreement in June, but fighting between Iran and the US soon resumed. Conflict then flared between the Iran-aligned Houthis and Saudi Arabia, opening a new front and deepening the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
The Houthis seized strategic areas along Yemen’s Red Sea coast from Saudi-backed government forces in a lightning offensive last month, prompting a counteroffensive. Saudi Arabia has since intensified its strikes on the group.
The Houthis have also struck Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities. An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 300, the deadliest attack on the kingdom in more than a decade.
Earlier on Monday, the Houthis claimed another attack on the Riyadh airport as well as crude oil pumping stations in the west and east of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition said the missiles were intercepted and destroyed.
It also said it launched retaliatory attacks, destroying five tunnels used to store ballistic missiles, four missile launchers and a missile depot.
The wider war has also restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and driven up oil and petrol prices.
Egypt, a major financial and political partner of Saudi Arabia, has also moved closer to the fight. Its Parliament on Monday authorised the military to help defend the kingdom.
