Senior diplomatic delegations from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan travelled to Tehran on Monday to prevent renewed fighting between Iran, the US and Israel as bellicose rhetoric sharpened on all sides.
Security officials and diplomats gathered to discuss how Iran might persuade the Houthis in Yemen to end missile and drone attacks on infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis claimed to have closed Riyadh airport and inflicted heavy damage on the Saudi economy while fighting raged across Yemen.
The visiting officials and their Iranian counterparts also discussed Tehran’s possible inclusion in a new security pact involving Islamic countries. The Saudi defence minister, Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and the head of Turkey’s intelligence service, Ibrahim Kalin, met Iran’s top security officials to push for a deal between Tehran and Washington.
The three nations signed a defence agreement in Mecca in August. Some in Iran feared the pact was constructed to challenge Tehran, though the signatory countries insisted it is a mutual defence pact.
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said the meeting could pave the way for broader regional cooperation on security based on shared interest. Javad Zarif, a former foreign minister and long-term advocate of a regional security alliance, called for a comprehensive regional network based on non-aggression, mutual trust building and shared prosperity.
Zarif argued that regional security cannot be imported and must be created by the people of the region together. He published his message alongside verses from the Qur’an emphasising unity, seeking forgiveness and avoiding division.
The diplomatic push took place as the Pentagon briefed reporters on a major US military buildup ahead of possible assaults following midterm elections. Qatari mediators spent Sunday in Tehran seeking terms for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli media reports claimed the Israeli prime minister has pushed the military to provoke a war with Iran before elections on Tuesday. Donald Trump’s repeated calls for the Israeli prime minister to be re-elected have added to regional perceptions that the US and Israel are a source of insecurity.
Resistance to a security pact with Iran is strong across parts of the Middle East due to damage inflicted on regional economies by Tehran and its intermediaries. Iranian hardliners increasingly argue that national security lies in assembling a nuclear bomb and ending the fatwa against weapons of mass destruction.
Negotiating a security pact will take many months. Such an agreement may also fall short of Washington’s demands that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz before economic sanctions are lifted.
