Saudi defence pact countries push for peace in Tehran as Houthis launch more attacks

Saudi defence pact countries push for peace in Tehran as Houthis launch more attacks

By Andrew Mills, Ariba Shahid and Menna AlaaElDin

KARACHI/CAIRO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday in a bid to de-escalate the Middle East conflict, as Yemen's Houthis launched new attacks on Saudi Arabia and Egypt approved defence support for the Gulf kingdom.

The talks were the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations — which signed the Mecca mutual defence pact in August — since a war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran also spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Saudi Arabia said the visit was intended to open negotiating channels to "prevent the return of military escalation".

It was represented by Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; Pakistan by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir; and Turkey by intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Saudi and Iranian officials said.

Iranian state media published pictures of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, attending the meetings. At the conclusion, the four states agreed to continue talks with a view to strengthening cooperation in peace and security, state media reported.

Pakistan and Qatar have led mediation efforts in the war.

Earlier efforts helped produce an interim peace agreement in June, but fighting between Iran and the US soon resumed. Conflict then flared between the Iran-aligned Houthis and US ally Saudi Arabia, opening a new front.

US AND IRAN THREATEN NEW ATTACKS

The wider fighting has restricted shipping through the energy chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, pushed up global oil and gas prices, left Gulf states facing missile and drone attacks, and caused a new humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have sharpened recently, with President Donald Trump saying on Friday the US may strike Iran again. Iranian security officials told Reuters Tehran had drawn up detailed plans to attack Gulf undersea cables if the US and Israel attack again.

The war, which earlier in the year also reignited fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia, has eroded Trump's approval ratings ahead of the US midterm elections that decide control of Congress.

Iranian security chief Rezaei said the visit by the three countries had shown that "American threats have little impact on countries around the world". He spoke of a "new and positive atmosphere" in the region.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei had earlier said the meeting, proposed when Munir visited Tehran last week, could be a first step towards establishing regional security mechanisms.

A senior Pakistani security official said the focus was on building a regional non-aggression network. The agenda also included US-Iran talks, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Hormuz and a US blockade of Iranian ports, they said.

Another Pakistani official said Munir, with a go-ahead from Trump to try diplomacy, had presented Iran with a solution to the conflict that would offer something to both the US and Iran, without giving details.

The Mecca pact states and Qatar could act as guarantors if it was accepted, the official added.

An Iranian official had earlier said there would be no discussion of Iran's nuclear programme at Monday's meeting, and the issue would not be addressed until Tehran's demands for ending the war were met.

Those conditions include ending a US blockade of Iranian ports and lifting sanctions on Iranian oil exports. US Vice President JD Vance has said Iran must reduce nuclear enrichment to end the war.

Pakistan's military media office and Turkey's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

PARLIAMENT APPROVES EGYPTIAN DEFENCE SUPPORT FOR SAUDIS

Saudi Arabia has intensified strikes against the Houthis since they captured strategic areas along Yemen's Red Sea coast last month, advancing against Saudi-backed government forces. The Houthis have hit Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities.

On Monday, the Houthis said they had attacked pumping stations on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline as well as Riyadh airport, which said it had resumed operations at two terminals a day earlier. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the Houthi attacks.

Parliament in Egypt, which has said it is considering joining the Mecca pact, on Monday authorised the Egyptian military to help defend Saudi Arabia, a major financial and political partner for Cairo.

The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement says signatories shall use "all necessary means" to eliminate threats to one another's territorial integrity, sovereignty or internationally recognised borders, according to a text seen by Reuters.

The pact's members held an emergency meeting in Riyadh this month and agreed to ensure the "rapid deployment" of military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia.

Efforts by Turkey’s parliament to ratify the agreement began last week and are still under way, while Pakistan approved the pact last week.

(Reporting by Andrew Mills and Ariba Shahid; Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Parisa Hafezi, Asif Shahzad and Mubasher Hussain Bukhari; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Nia Williams and Jan Harvey)