Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey are due to meet Iranian leaders in Tehran today for talks on regional security and efforts to ease tensions.
Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin will meet Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei.
Saudi deputy minister for public diplomacy Rayed Krimly said on X that the meeting was part of efforts to reduce tensions, promote dialogue and diplomatic solutions, and support mediation by Qatar and Pakistan.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told the ministry's weekly press briefing that the talks would address regional security, including Israel's military activity, developments in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, and the implications of US military action against Iran for the wider region.
The initiative was proposed by Munir during a visit to Tehran last week, Ali Bagheri-Kani, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state television.
Iran has long maintained that regional countries should provide and guarantee their own security, Bagheri-Kani said. He said the four-country meeting could be an important step towards regional stability and help pave the way for "a secure region, with peace".
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in August, under which an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all three.
The three countries held an emergency meeting in Riyadh on 5 October in response to security threats facing Saudi Arabia. They agreed to implement their collective defence commitments and prepare forces and capabilities for rapid deployment in the kingdom, according to a joint statement published by the Turkish and Pakistani foreign ministries.
The Tehran talks follow weeks of missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted further Houthi missiles on 25 October.
