Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan held talks with Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday 26 October 2026, aimed at easing Middle East tensions. The delegations included Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin. On the Iranian side were President Masoud Pezeshkian and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Major General Mohsen Rezaei, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also attending.

What was agreed

The four countries agreed to continue talks with a view to strengthening cooperation in peace and security, according to Iranian state media. No peace agreement or ceasefire was announced. The talks were linked to mediation efforts by Pakistan and Qatar to avert renewed escalation between the US and Iran. An Iranian official told Reuters the nuclear programme was not discussed, and that Tehran wants the US naval blockade and oil-export sanctions addressed first.

The defence pact behind the table

The three visiting countries are members of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed in August 2026, under which an armed attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. That pact gives the Tehran meeting a weight beyond routine diplomacy: the countries talking to Iran are formally bound to one another's defence.

Sources: The Business Standard; Press TV, 26–27 October 2026.