A Saudi prince, a Pakistani field marshal and Turkey’s spy chief walked into Tehran on Monday, and for once the line is not the start of a joke. Khalid bin Salman came on behalf of the Saudi kingdom, Munir spoke for Islamabad, and Kalin, who runs Turkish espionage, represented Ankara. Together they met Iran’s leadership in what state television called the first joint meeting of its kind.
Why now? Fear, mostly. With votes looming in both countries, Washington and Jerusalem have sharpened their rhetoric, and many Iranians expect the eight-month war to resume. At the same time Yemen’s Houthis, armed and backed by Tehran, have kept up missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia. The Saudi side framed the visit as an effort to build channels that keep the guns quiet.
The visitors are not neutral bystanders. Since August, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey have been bound by the Mecca defence pact, which commits each to treat aggression against one partner as aggression against itself. That gives their message in Tehran real weight.
On the Iranian side the table was crowded: Pezeshkian, the president, sat in, as did top diplomat Araqchi and Rezaei, the security council chief, who later spoke of a “new and positive atmosphere”. The only concrete outcome was a joint pledge to keep talking about peace and security, with no date or venue set for a follow-up.
Pakistani officials hinted at more behind the scenes. Shipping through Hormuz was on the list, they said, along with Washington’s naval squeeze on Iran’s harbours and whether Tehran and the Americans might yet sit down together. Munir reportedly carried a proposal, cleared by Donald Trump, that would offer each side something, with the pact members and Qatar as possible guarantors.
Whether that idea survives contact with reality is unclear. By Tuesday, Tehran was again saying Washington was not serious about negotiating.
