By Andrew Mills, Ariba Shahid and Menna AlaaElDin
KARACHI/CAIRO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey 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 defence support for the Gulf kingdom.
The talks were the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations — which signed the Mecca mutual defence pact in August — since a war that began with
US and Israeli strikes on Iran also spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said the visit was intended to open negotiating channels to "prevent the return of military escalation".
Saudi Arabia was represented by Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; Pakistan by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir; and Turkey by intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Saudi and Iranian officials said.
Iranian state media published pictures of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, attending the meeting.
Pakistan and Qatar have led mediation efforts in the war. Qatari mediators were in Tehran on Sunday, an official told Reuters.
Earlier efforts helped produce an interim peace agreement in June but fighting between Iran and the United States soon resumed. Conflict then flared between the Iran-aligned Houthis and US ally Saudi Arabia, opening a new front.
US AND IRAN THREATEN NEW ATTACKS
The wider fighting has restricted shipping through the energy chokepoint 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.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have sharpened in recent days. President Donald Trump said on Friday the US may carry out another military operation against Iran. Iranian security officials have told Reuters that Tehran has drawn up detailed plans to attack Gulf undersea cables if the United States and Israel attack again.
The war, which earlier in the year also reignited fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia, has eroded Trump's approval ratings ahead of the midterm elections that decide control of Congress.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday's discussions 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 when Munir visited Tehran last week, could be a first step towards establishing regional security mechanisms. A senior Pakistani security official said the focus of Monday's meeting was to build a regional non-aggression network. The agenda also included US-Iran talks, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Hormuz and a US blockade of Iranian ports, the official said.
An Iranian official said there would be no discussion of Iran's nuclear programme at Monday's meeting and the issue would not be addressed until Tehran's demands for ending the war were met. Those conditions include ending a US blockade of Iranian ports and lifting sanctions on Iranian oil exports. US Vice President JD Vance has said Iran must reduce nuclear enrichment to end the war.
Pakistan's military media office and Turkey's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
PARLIAMENT APPROVES EGYPTIAN DEFENCE SUPPORT FOR SAUDIS
Saudi Arabia has intensified strikes against the Houthis since they captured strategic areas along Yemen's Red Sea coast last month, advancing against Saudi-backed government forces. The Houthis have hit Saudi airports, ports and oil installations.
On Monday, the Houthis said they had attacked pumping stations on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline as well as Riyadh airport, which said it had resumed operations at two terminals a day earlier. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the Houthi attacks.
The parliament in Egypt, which is not a signatory to the Mecca pact, on Monday authorised the Egyptian military to help defend Saudi Arabia, a major financial and political partner for Cairo.
The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement says signatories shall use "all necessary means" to eliminate threats to one another's territorial integrity, sovereignty or internationally recognised borders, according to a text seen by Reuters.
The pact's members held an emergency meeting in Riyadh this month and agreed to ensure the "rapid deployment" of military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia.
Efforts by Turkey’s parliament to ratify the agreement began last week and are still under way, while Pakistan approved the pact last week.
(Reporting by Andrew Mills and Ariba Shahid; Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Parisa Hafezi and Asif Shahzad; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Saad Sayeed and Kevin Liffey)
