Envoys From Mecca Defense Pact Visit Tehran as Fears of New Strikes Grow

Three regional powers sent senior envoys to Tehran this Monday, delivering a joint diplomatic message at a time of growing concern that the United States and Israel could launch new attacks on Iran after the US midterm election on November 3.

Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials. The three represent the Mecca defense pact, a military alliance of Islamabad, Riyadh and Ankara that was formally established this summer.

Saudi Arabia said the trip was meant to open negotiating channels and "prevent the return of military escalation." Few details about the agenda have emerged. A senior Pakistani official told Reuters the talks covered a regional non-aggression network, US-Iran talks, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Hormuz and the US naval blockade. Another official said Munir offered a proposal that would give something to both Washington and Tehran, with the three Mecca states and Qatar acting as mediators. According to that source, President Donald Trump had earlier allowed Munir to pursue diplomacy.

Iran praised the "very positive atmosphere" of the discussions, though no breakthroughs were officially announced. Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state television: "I feel that a new atmosphere is emerging in the region." He argued that West Asian countries should build regional security themselves, without outside intervention. Rezaei reportedly met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei a day later, and state media said Khamenei called for protecting Iran's interests and keeping Tehran's conditions for ending both the war and the present state of "neither war nor peace."

Pezeshkian also traveled to Moscow for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Tehran has presented these contacts as proof that Washington cannot isolate Iran diplomatically.

The joint visit can also be read as a show of unity by the new alliance, as Saudi Arabia grows more concerned about attacks on its infrastructure by the Iran-allied Houthis. Under the pact, an attack on one member counts as an attack on all. On the same day, Egypt's parliament agreed to provide military help to Riyadh and take "all necessary measures" to help Saudi Arabia defend itself. London-based analyst Babak Dorbeiki, a former official at Iran's Strategic Research Center, told DW that the simultaneous presence of the three envoys signaled that the countries act as a bloc.

Dorbeiki said the pact is designed mainly for deterrence rather than offensive war, and that its members do not necessarily want to fight Iran. He sees the bloc's message as pointing two ways: it can mediate, but continued escalation could change that stance. Saudi Arabia, he said, faces costs from both the present situation and a war with Iran, so it prefers a diplomatic solution. Pakistan has spent months mediating between Washington and Tehran and would be distracted from its concerns involving India by a direct conflict. Turkey, a NATO member, is unlikely to give Iran direct military backing against the US, and sending its intelligence chief rather than a foreign or defense minister suggests caution.

Ali Asghar Shafieian, a media adviser to Pezeshkian, rejected the idea that the envoys delivered an ultimatum. "You cannot conclude from this meeting alone that it was an ultimatum before an attack," he told DW. He said Iran, like the US and Israel, can prepare for further conflict while still negotiating, and that an agreement remains possible if Iran's political standing and what it calls its national dignity are respected.

Dorbeiki argues that Iran is following a familiar strategy of prolonging talks while avoiding concrete commitments. Tehran has not publicly offered the guarantees on Houthi attacks that Riyadh wants, and he believes Iran may seek concessions, such as an end to US military pressure, in exchange for influence over those attacks. For now, the only clear result of the Tehran meeting is that the talks will continue.