Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian shook hands with Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister, Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, in Tehran and urged ‘regional unity’ as officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan gathered for talks on 26 October 2026.
Khalid led the Saudi delegation, representing the country at the highest military level. Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff, attended after visiting Saudi Arabia and Iran separately in the preceding week. Turkey was represented by its intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin. Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s Secretary of Supreme National Security Council, attended alongside Pezeshkian and flanked him during the discussions.
The talks took place as fresh explosions rattled Riyadh overnight. Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis had claimed a new attack on the Saudi capital’s international airport on Sunday, hours before the delegation arrived in Tehran. Saudi Arabia has faced weeks of Houthi attacks, including a missile strike on Riyadh’s international airport that killed 13.
The US Department of State had issued an order on 21 October for nonemergency US government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia for their safety, citing the Houthi threat.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in August 2026. Iranian state television described the Tehran gathering as the first joint meeting of its kind between Iran and members of the newly formed Mecca Joint Defence Alliance. It was also the first joint visit to Tehran by the three countries since they formed their defence alliance in Mecca in August.
A Qatari delegation visited Tehran on Sunday, according to Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the 26 October meeting was part of efforts to de-escalate the current crisis between the parties. The talks aimed to stop the Middle East war from resuming.
Iranian authorities said before the meetings that they favoured ‘security originating from within the region’. The countries agreed to continue discussions to strengthen cooperation, including on regional peace and security.
The meetings came amid threats of new US strikes on Iran. On Friday, US President Donald Trump said Washington may do “another little Epic Fury”, referring to the US-Israeli campaign on Iran that began on 28 February.
Trump said he was left with a choice to ‘finish the job’ by launching major strikes on Iran’s civilian infrastructure.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that there had been talk of a new war, while Tehran’s policies remained unchanged.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was essential to stop any escalation in the Middle East. He said: “The risk to have the combination of an overwhelming military attack on Iran, and an overwhelming military attack by Iran on the countries of the Gulf, needs to be avoided at all costs.”
Egypt’s parliament approved President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s request to provide defensive military support for Saudi Arabia if requested.
Israeli elections were on Tuesday, while US midterms were the following week.
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