Delegations meet in Iran with Middle East on edge over potential for renewed fighting

High-level delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey were in Tehran on Monday for meetings with Iranian authorities to try to avert renewed fighting between Iran and Israel and the United States, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said. The talks come as many in Iran are anxious about a possible return to all-out war. Israeli and American leaders have been sharpening their threats ahead of elections in both countries, while Iranian leaders have remained defiant.

Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Ibrahim Kalin, the head of Turkey’s intelligence service, were to meet with Iran’s top security officials and negotiators to push for a deal between Tehran and Washington. The war in Yemen and strikes by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia were also topics of the talks, according to two regional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in the Iranian capital that the agenda for the meeting was not set, but the talks would “undoubtedly address the most pressing threats to regional security.” Saudi Arabia said in a statement that the delegations hoped to find “ways to de-escalate tensions, enhance regional security and promote its stability.” Qatari mediators also traveled to Tehran on Sunday, working in coordination with the U.S., as part of efforts to de-escalate regional tensions, according to a regional official speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

Pakistan and Qatar helped broker an agreement in June aimed at having Iran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, ending a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and opening negotiations on a broader settlement addressing Iran’s nuclear program. The deal unraveled quickly, however, as both sides renewed attacks. With worries about renewed fighting ahead of Israel’s election on Tuesday and the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the U.S., Baghaei on the weekend said Tehran had not closed the window of diplomacy and that messages were being passed to the U.S. via intermediaries.

With negotiations long stalled, he said that the U.S. appears to be persisting in unilateral demands and that President Donald Trump and U.S. officials repeatedly use the phrase “complete surrender,” which Baghaei said no Iranian accepts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meantime, repeated his warning on Sunday that Iran or its proxies could attack ahead of the close elections to disrupt the vote, citing intelligence. “The (military) is ready both to defend and to strike,” he said in a video statement, adding: “You will suffer disproportionate blows far greater than you can imagine.”

Israel’s Channel 12 reported Sunday night that Netanyahu and his military chief of staff clashed over an instruction by Netanyahu to carry out an “action” that the army believes could quickly trigger a resumption of the conflict with Iran. Netanyahu’s office later described the report as “fake news.” In a post on X, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that reports about “rifts between the political leadership and the IDF concerning Iran are completely baseless and false.”

“I state unequivocally that there has been no intention by Israel of initiating an attack on Iran before the elections in Israel,” Katz said. “We made it clear that should Iran attack Israel, we would respond with great force.” In Tehran, when asked whether Iran was planning attacks, Baghaei on Monday only said that “the Israeli regime is highly skilled at carrying out false-flag operations.” “The Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent right to self-defense to protect Iran’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence,” he said.

Yemen has become a widening front in the Iran war that began in February, with the Houthis increasingly launching attacks on Saudi Arabia because it supports Yemen’s internationally recognized government battling the rebels. The conflict has intensified since forces from the internationally recognized government and Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport in July, shattering a 2022 ceasefire deal that largely stopped the fighting in the country’s civil war.

Early Monday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the rebel group had fired ballistic missiles at military gatherings and weapons depots belonging to Saudi-backed government forces in Aden and Lahj provinces. He claimed the attacks destroyed military equipment and caused casualties but did not provide evidence. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claims. Meantime, residents in Houthi-held Sanaa and on the Red Sea coast reported a series of explosions.

Houthi media said airstrikes targeted a solar power system and a water well in Sanaa, but offered no proof. In the port city of Mokha, recently seized by the Houthis, residents said rockets hit several buildings including a hospital. Houthi-run al-Masirah channel also reported strikes in Saada, in northern Yemen, and in southwestern Taiz province, where the rebels and Saudi-backed government forces have been fighting for weeks. The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition said an operation in Houthi-controlled territory destroyed five tunnels used for storing ballistic missiles, four ballistic missile launchers and another missile storage.