Defense pact trio pushes for Mideast peace

KARACHI/CAIRO — Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday in a bid to de-escalate the Middle East conflict, as Yemen's Houthis launched new attacks on Saudi Arabia, and Egypt approved defense support for the Gulf kingdom.

The talks were the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations — which signed the Mecca mutual defense pact in August — since a conflict that began with the US and Israeli strikes on Iran also spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Saudi Arabia said the visit was intended to open negotiating channels to "prevent the return of military escalation".

At the conclusion of the meeting, the four states agreed to continue talks with a view to strengthening cooperation in peace and security, state media reported.

Pakistan and Qatar have led mediation efforts in the conflict.

Earlier efforts helped produce an interim peace agreement in June, but fighting between Iran and the US soon resumed. Conflict erupted between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, opening a new front.

The wider fighting has restricted shipping through the energy choke point of the Strait of Hormuz, pushed up global oil and gas prices, left Gulf states facing missile and drone attacks, and caused a new humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei said the visit by the trio had shown that "American threats have little impact on countries around the world".

He said the discussions were "very good" and spoke of a "new and positive atmosphere" in the region.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei had earlier said the meeting could be a first step toward establishing regional security mechanisms.

Speaking at a separate meeting with senior officials from the countries on Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran supports any understanding that leads to unity, solidarity, security and development in the region.

A senior Pakistani security official said the focus was on building a regional nonaggression network. The agenda also included US-Iran talks, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Hormuz and a US blockade of Iranian ports, they said.

The Mecca pact states and Qatar could act as guarantors if it was accepted, the official said.

Military support

The Egyptian parliament, which said it was considering joining the Mecca pact, on Monday authorized the Egyptian military to help defend Saudi Arabia, a major financial and political partner for Cairo.

A Houthi official said on Tuesday that the Egyptian parliament's decision to authorize military support for Saudi Arabia "was a declaration of war".

Fighting around the besieged capital of Yemen's Taiz Province has intensified, with the Houthis on Tuesday accusing Yemeni government forces of an attack on a gas station that killed at least 2 people.

The group also said on Tuesday it had launched an attack on Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura oil refinery, the biggest in the kingdom.

Meanwhile in Israel, people were voting on Tuesday in a tense national election widely seen as a test for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership.

Israelis vote for parties, which then form alliances to create a majority coalition. No single party has ever won a 61-seat majority in the 120-member parliament.

AGENCIES-XINHUA