Defence and security officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye travelled to Tehran on Monday for talks with Iran's leadership on regional security, according to Al Jazeera. The three countries are the signatories of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, and their visit comes as the United States weighs fresh military action against Iran and Yemen's Houthi movement keeps up attacks on Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, Pakistani military chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Al Jazeera reports. Further discussions were expected with Iran's security chief, Mohsen Rezaei. Al Jazeera describes the meetings as among the most prominent diplomatic exchanges hosted in the Iranian capital in recent months.
Why it matters
The visit lands at a moment of intense diplomatic activity aimed at preventing another round of open conflict between Washington and Tehran. A wider war would carry direct risks for the Gulf states, and the Mecca pact members appear to be using their collective weight to push for a negotiated path before fighting resumes.
Ali Vaez, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that the delegation's arrival amounts to a late attempt to strengthen the hand of those on both sides who favour compromise before hostilities restart. He cautioned, however, that the visitors need a workable proposal capable of closing the gap between Washington and Tehran, or they risk running out of time with nothing concrete to show for the effort.
Yemen offensive and the limits of the pact
The Tehran agenda is expected to cover the sustained missile and drone campaign by the Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, against Saudi Arabia. Riyadh backs Yemen's internationally recognised government in that conflict.
Ayesha Siddiqa, a senior research fellow in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, told Al Jazeera that the Mecca agreement's members have few military options against the Houthis. She said Riyadh is pressing harder for a stronger response, and that its expectations of its partners have risen as the Yemeni attacks have continued. Even so, she argued that Turkiye and Pakistan cannot realistically send ground forces into Yemen despite the collective security arrangement.
Siddiqa also linked the current diplomatic push to General Munir's recent trips to Saudi Arabia and Iran, and noted that the talks coincide with Pakistan tightening restrictions on overland border trade with Iran while the US maintains its blockade.
Competing demands between Washington and Tehran
US President Donald Trump is reported to be weighing new strikes as a way to break the diplomatic impasse. Iran has said it will not sign any peace deal with Washington unless its conditions are met.
According to Al Jazeera, the United States and its regional partners want shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to flow freely again, without obstruction or attack. Washington also seeks constraints on Iran's nuclear programme and access for international inspectors to examine Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Israel has stated its aim of toppling the Islamic Republic.
Tehran's demands include an end to the US naval blockade of its southern ports, which has stopped crude oil exports and disrupted most of its trade, and a return to a memorandum of understanding the two sides reached in June. Washington has rejected that, and Trump has said his remaining option is to "finish the job" through large-scale strikes on Iranian civilian infrastructure. Al Jazeera notes that such action could prompt Iran to retaliate against neighbouring states, as it did earlier in the war by hitting US bases in Arab countries and regional infrastructure.
Separately, the US State Department issued an order on 21 October directing non-emergency government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia, citing safety concerns tied to the Houthi threat.
Analysts split on the likely outcome
Iranian officials said ahead of the meetings that they favour security that originates within the region. Umer Karim, a researcher on Saudi foreign policy and its effects on regional security, told Al Jazeera that the Tehran talks are unlikely to lower the chances of a renewed Iran-US war, which he said would probably deepen regional instability. In his view, the discussions are chiefly about safeguarding Saudi Arabia and represent an effort by Turkiye and Pakistan to press Iran toward a compromise.
Karim added that Iran's strategic thinking has not shifted and that the parties at the table lack the leverage to change it, so he expects limited results.
Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, said she was cautiously hopeful about the immediate meeting but less optimistic about a durable breakthrough. She told Al Jazeera that Iran has strong reasons to steer clear of another major confrontation and that limited understandings, especially on Yemen, may be possible. She also noted that the Houthis make their own decisions and that Iran's hold over them is not complete, while the unresolved core disputes between Tehran and Washington make it harder to head off fresh US or Israeli strikes.
Watch whether the Mecca pact delegation leaves Tehran with any concrete formula on Yemen or on the US-Iran standoff, and whether Washington signals a decision on military action in the coming days.
