Iran hosts Makkah Pact trio for rare talks

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Iran on Monday agreed to continue a new four-way dialogue on regional peace and security, following an unprecedented meeting in Tehran, involving the top military, defence and intelligence officials of the three Makkah pact countries.

A brief readout called it a joint statement issued by the Iranian side after the meeting, said the four countries had agreed to continue dialogue aimed at strengthening cooperation among the regional states, including on peace and security.

The statement did not announce any new security agreement, ceasefire or specific understanding on Yemen or the wider Iran-US confrontation. However, the decision to maintain the four-way channel carries considerable significance, bringing Iran into direct consultations with the three countries that signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in August.

Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, who is believed to have proposed the idea of Tehran meeting, Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin travelled to the Iranian capital for the meeting with senior Iranian officials.

The talks were hosted by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Major General Mohsen Rezaei. The visiting officials also met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The gathering came at a particularly sensitive moment for the region with tensions, involving Iran, the United States and Israel, continuing to cast a shadow over regional security, while Saudi Arabia is simultaneously facing the threat posed by Houthi attacks from Yemen.

There have also been threats of renewed US strikes on Iran, although President Trump has publicly ruled out he was making such plans.

The meeting also followed intensified diplomatic efforts by Pakistan and Qatar to keep channels open and prevent another round of military escalation involving Iran.

In a separate statement after the Tehran meeting, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said the visit was part of efforts by the countries party to the Makkah agreement to de-escalate tensions, encourage dialogue and diplomatic solutions and support the mediation efforts being undertaken by Pakistan and Qatar.

Riyadh said it hoped the parties concerned would respond positively and practically to the outcome of the Tehran meeting and the mediation efforts. The statement also stressed the importance of opening negotiating channels aimed at preventing a return to military escalation and paving the way for an agreement that could end the crisis.

This language is significant because Riyadh has in recent weeks been dealing with the security implications of the Houthi conflict, while maintaining its broader diplomatic engagement with Tehran.

The Iranian side, meanwhile, sought to portray the meeting as part of a longer-term effort to develop a regional security architecture without dependence on outside powers. Iranian officials described the four-way meeting as a step towards an “indigenous” regional security arrangement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the meeting was an opportunity to discuss regional developments and ways of strengthening cooperation among the four countries.

The Iranian Presidency’s detailed account of President Pezeshkian’s meeting with the visiting officials showed that Tehran sought to place the talks within a broader debate about regional security. Pezeshkian called for greater unity among Muslim countries and argued that regional states should strengthen coordination in confronting threats to the region.

He also stressed the need to resolve differences through dialogue and said regional agreements should produce practical results rather than remain limited to diplomatic documents.

Iranian officials also raised the issues of Palestine and Lebanon and what Tehran considers Israel’s destabilising policies in the region. The public statements, however, did not disclose details of any specific agreement on these issues.

The most tangible outcome was therefore the decision to continue the quadrilateral dialogue. The joint statement did not refer specifically to the Houthis, Yemen or the military dimension of the Makkah agreement. Instead, the participants opted for a broad formulation centred on continued dialogue and regional peace and security.

The Tehran meeting represents another significant step for Pakistan in its increasingly prominent diplomatic role in the region. Islamabad has sought to maintain close strategic ties with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye while simultaneously keeping its relationship with neighbouring Iran intact.

Pakistan has also been attempting to facilitate dialogue over the Iran-US confrontation, working alongside Qatar.

It was also notable that the Saudi and Turkish officials travelled to Tehran alongside Pakistan’s top military official, rather than engaging Iran through separate bilateral channels. The format effectively brought Iran into direct contact with three countries that have established a new collective defence framework among themselves.

The Makkah agreement commits Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye to closer defence cooperation and provides for collective action in the event of an attack on one of the participating countries.

The decision by the three countries to simultaneously deepen their security coordination with each other and open a dialogue with Iran illustrates the increasingly complex diplomatic landscape of the Middle East.

The Tehran meeting also followed Field Marshal Munir’s recent visit to Iran, underlining the Pakistani military leadership’s expanding role in managing the sensitive relationship between the two neighbours.

Monday’s meeting could therefore prove more important for what comes next than for what was announced immediately afterwards. The four countries have now established a direct political and security channel.

The test will be whether subsequent meetings can move beyond broad declarations on regional peace and security and produce concrete understandings on the conflicts that are driving instability across the region.