Top officials from Makkah Pact countries ?Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are to meet Iran's leaders in Tehran on Monday in their first high-level contact since the kingdom became a pressure point in ?the wider Iran conflict.  Saudi Arabia will be represented by Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Turkey by intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Saudi and Iranian officials said. 

Attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have spiralled in recent weeks and rhetoric between Washington and Tehran has grown more heated. Both countries have also drawn up plans to restart the wider war, possibly after the US midterm elections on November ?3.  Monday's planned talks will be the first high-level contact between Iran and all members of the three-nation bloc since Saudi Arabia was drawn deeper into the conflict. Under the Makkah ?Joint Defence Agreement signed in August, an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei ?said on Monday discussions on regional security would include "Israel’s expansionist policies, developments in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, and the repercussions of US and Israeli military action against Iran."  Baghaei said the meeting, ?proposed during a visit by Munir to Tehran last week, could be a first step towards establishing regional security mechanisms based on the interests of countries in the region.  Qatari mediators met Iranian officials ?in Tehran on Sunday in a push to de-escalate regional tensions, Reuters reported.

Qatar has, for months, played a mediating role between Tehran and Washington.  A senior Iranian official said the meeting was initiated by Pakistan, during Munir's visit to Tehran, as he met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials. During the visit, Iranian officials told him there would be no talks with Washington until Tehran's demands were met, according to Iranian media.  Earlier ?mediation efforts involving both Pakistan and Qatar helped produce an interim peace agreement in June, but the deal quickly unravelled as fighting between Iran and the United States resumed weeks later. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)