Iran hosted senior security and defence officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye in Tehran on Monday for rare four-way talks aimed at strengthening regional cooperation amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
The meeting, held on 26 October, brought together Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council; Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman; Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir; and İbrahim Kalın, head of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation.
In a statement issued after the talks, the Iranian government said the four countries had agreed to continue discussions on strengthening cooperation, particularly in regional peace and security.
Before the meeting, the officials met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also attended the discussions.
“Iran, with firm conviction and serious determination, is ready to take steps toward deepening regional cooperation, resolving differences, and making use of the shared capacities of Islamic countries, and will support any understanding that leads to stronger unity, cohesion, security, and development in the region,” Pezeshkian said.
The president also reaffirmed Tehran’s position on its nuclear programme, saying Iran was “not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons” and, as a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), “seeks to continue its nuclear activities within the framework of its international rights and obligations.”
“On this basis, Iran reserves its right to benefit from peaceful nuclear activities and expects these rights to be respected within the framework of international regulations,” he said, according to the Iranian President’s Office.
The talks come as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye seek closer defence cooperation under a trilateral agreement known as the Mecca Pact, signed in August amid growing regional insecurity.
Tehran has expressed interest in joining the agreement, arguing that it emerged from concerns among the three countries over Israel’s regional policies.
Iran has also offered to facilitate dialogue amid escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis. The confrontation has involved intensified Saudi air operations in Houthi-held areas and missile and drone attacks by the Houthis against targets in Saudi Arabia, including airports and energy facilities.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei welcomed the four-way talks, saying the proposal had emerged during Munir’s visit to Tehran last week.
“From our perspective, the fact that regional countries are seeking to establish - or at least reflect on - mechanisms for regional security based on their own interests and considerations is a welcome development,” Baghaei said.
He described the meeting as a potential step towards what Tehran calls “endogenous security” - an approach based on regional countries taking responsibility for their own security rather than relying on outside powers.
Baghaei said the talks could “lay the groundwork of endogenous security”, a principle Iran has promoted for decades by “emphasising that regional security can only be ensured by relying on the will and security considerations of the countries of the region.”
As the first meeting of its kind, he said, the discussions would cover a broad range of issues affecting regional stability.
Baghaei added that the talks would focus on key regional security challenges, including Israel’s policies in the Middle East, developments in the Palestinian territories and tensions surrounding Lebanon.
At his weekly news briefing on Monday, Baghaei also said the talks would have to address the wider regional consequences of U.S. military action against Iran.
He said the meeting “cannot take place without taking into account the implications of the United States’ military aggression against Iran for the security of the entire region”.
“This issue, too, is one of the important matters that must be addressed within this framework.”
Baghaei also confirmed a recent visit to Tehran by a Qatari delegation. He said discussions covered bilateral relations and regional developments, including Doha’s mediation efforts to ease tensions between Iran and the U.S.
Ali Bagheri, Deputy Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the gathering formed part of Tehran’s efforts to advance a regional security framework built around cooperation among Middle Eastern countries.
“Iran’s model of defence, based on domestic capabilities, has become a successful model for ensuring national security,” he said, referring to the conflicts involving Iran, Israel and the U.S. in 2025 and 2026.
Bagheri said Tehran’s strategy was to strengthen regional security through cooperation among neighbouring countries while limiting foreign interference, particularly from the U.S. and Israel.
“All three countries represented at the meeting, together with Iran, could draw on the Islamic Republic’s successful experience in establishing national security to take effective steps toward creating endogenous security,” Iran’s state news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
“It could be achieved within the framework of Iran’s effective approach to regional security-building, with the participation of regional actors,” Bagheri added.
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