Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan made a joint visit to Iran on Monday amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, seeking to ease regional tensions and prevent a renewed escalation of war. Tehran described the talks as “very good”.
AFP reported that this was the three countries’ first joint high-level delegation to Tehran since they formed a defence alliance in the Saudi holy city of Mecca in August this year.
In a statement issued on Monday (26 October), Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the visit aimed to encourage the parties to the current crisis to ease tensions. The delegation included Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin.
The representatives of the three countries held separate meetings with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei.
Iranian state media reported that the parties agreed to continue consultations, but no specific agreement was announced at the talks.
Rezaei described the talks as “very good”, saying he sensed a new mood emerging in the region and that the discussions had been positive.
He said the participants agreed that regional security should be maintained by countries in the region themselves and that foreign interference must be prevented. The talks also focused on Israel’s military presence in southern Lebanon, southern Syria, Gaza and the West Bank.
The diplomatic effort comes as the US, Israel and Iran have issued successive warnings of a possible resumption of military action. Israel holds a general election on Tuesday (27 October), while the US will also hold midterm elections next week, with regional tensions rising.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all parties to avoid escalation in remarks in Cairo on Monday. He warned that a large-scale military attack on Iran, and large-scale Iranian retaliation against Gulf states, must be prevented at all costs.
Saudi security analyst Ghanem said the Tehran talks could be the last chance to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.
