Mecca alliance visits Tehran in push to end Israeli-US war and build regional security

Mecca alliance visits Tehran in push to end Israeli-US war and build regional security

Members of the Mecca Defence Alliance – Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan – arrived in Tehran on Monday for talks as regional powers seek to end the Israeli-US war on Iran and build a security framework independent of Washington.

The talks come as the conflict continues to threaten the region and the global economy, amid mounting fears of renewed Israeli-US attacks.

Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met senior Iranian officials led by Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Confirming the meeting on X, Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly said the alliance was working towards de-escalation and supporting mediation by Qatar and Pakistan.

“The visit underscores the pivotal role of Mecca Joint Defence Agreement countries in reinforcing regional security and stability and working with all countries in the region to achieve that goal,” he wrote.

Ali Salehian, director of the Center for Intellectual Diplomacy at the Governance and Policy Think Tank in Tehran, welcomed the meeting, telling Middle East Eye: “I think it's significant.

“What really matters is how all the major regional actors, excluding the Zionist regime, are trying to work with other partners to build an autonomous and independent regional order based on regional powers rather than external ones,” said Salehian.

Since the US and Israel began their war on Iran on 28 February, regional countries have increasingly questioned a US security umbrella that has failed to protect them while emboldening Israel to attack and destabilise its neighbours.

Israel has also been on a rampage across the region since the start of the Gaza genocide in October 2023. It has attacked Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Yemen and sought to destabilise Somalia and Sudan alongside the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The decline of the US, including the malfunction of its security guarantee, which actually does not work, puts these regional countries not under a security umbrella, but makes them targets for retaliatory strikes by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Salehian.

Expectations of a breakthrough are low

Regional governments also fear that renewed US-Israeli attacks would leave Gulf countries and the global economy bearing the brunt of another war.

Higher inflation and energy prices have already cost households worldwide hundreds of billions of dollars. In the US alone, Brown University’s Iran war energy cost tracker puts the additional energy bill at $144bn.

'The main motivation for the visit [by the Mecca alliance] to Iran is a sincere effort by countries in the region to make clear that they would not participate in a potential attack on Iran'

- Gokhan Cinkara

The Mecca alliance is also seeking to reassure Tehran and the wider region that its defence pact does not target Iran.

Gokhan Cinkara, director of the Center for Global and Regional Studies at Necmettin Erbakan University in Turkey, told MEE: “The main motivation for the visit [by the Mecca alliance] to Iran is a sincere effort by countries in the region to make clear that they would not participate in a potential attack on Iran.”

Cinkara nevertheless cautioned against expecting an immediate breakthrough.

“I don’t think the countries of the Mecca Alliance will pursue an alliance or joint agreement with Iran. The Mecca Alliance is essentially seeking to create an alternative regional security framework to the Iran and Israel axes,” Cinkara said.

Regional countries also see Washington’s treatment of Ukraine as a warning about relying on US support or following it into war, only to be abandoned.

“Ukraine is an important example that pushes all the actors in the region, the indigenous partners, to work with each other and reach a kind of joint understanding about their threats and how to counter them,” said Salehian.

The region pursues its own interests

The Tehran meeting also signals to Israel and the US that, whatever their differences with Iran and its regional ambitions, the alliance’s members do not want to plunge the region into further war.

Over the weekend, the Israeli press, which operates under military censorship, reported an alleged confrontation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and army chief Eyal Zamir over a proposed attack on Iran ahead of Israel’s elections.

Zamir reportedly opposed launching attacks before the vote.

Against this backdrop, Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, described the Tehran meeting as carrying a message beyond the talks themselves.

Following Washington and Israel’s war of choice, regional countries were “increasingly pursuing their own interests, developing independent security arrangements, and maintaining channels of communication with Tehran”, he wrote on X.

“Their priorities do not necessarily align with those of Washington, and certainly not with those of the Israeli government,” he said.

Iranian diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif also welcomed Monday’s meeting as an opportunity to lay the foundations for a West Asia Security Network.

“The security of our region cannot be imported, but rather built by its peoples together,” Zarif said.

For Saudi Arabia, the talks also offer a chance to appeal directly to Iran to help mediate an end to renewed fighting with the Houthis in Yemen. Riyadh wants to avoid opening another front with Tehran.

The UAE, a junior partner in the US-Israeli effort to shape the region, has remained quiet about the Tehran meeting.

“We know that they actually, unfortunately, try to help and facilitate different forms of aid to the Zionist regime [Israel],” said Salehian.

“They are actually helping and providing different intelligence, security and military services for the Israelis. Therefore, when you choose to behave this way, it will have a kind of response from the region.

“Where would this leave the UAE? I think it really depends on UAE officials and decision-makers and how or where they want to put themselves in these relations.”