Saudi Arabia's defence minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Turkey's intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın converged on Tehran Monday for what amounts to the most consequential multilateral security conversation in the Middle East in years. The delegation represents the three signatories of an August defence agreement signed in Mecca, and their presence in Tehran signals that the pact's ambitions extend beyond its original membership — potentially drawing Iran into a new Islamic-world security architecture. The meeting carried two distinct agendas that may be pulling against each other. The visiting delegations wanted Iran to lean on the Houthis in Yemen, whose missile and drone attacks on Saudi infrastructure have escalated to the point of closing Riyadh airport and inflicting heavy economic damage. But Iran's foreign ministry has long advocated for a regional security framework in which Tehran — not Washington — anchors Gulf stability. Reconciling these two positions requires Iran to simultaneously restrain its most effective proxy lever while being rewarded with the institutional legitimacy it has sought for decades. The backdrop makes the timing feel both urgent and possibly too late. The Pentagon has been briefing on a major US military buildup for a possible post-midterm assault. Qatari mediators spent Sunday in Tehran seeking terms for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pressuring his military to provoke a war with Iran before Tuesday's Israeli elections. Trump's public calls for Netanyahu's re-election add a layer of external electoral pressure that reduces the space for quiet diplomacy. Iran's domestic politics complicate the picture further. Hardliners increasingly argue that security lies in assembling a nuclear weapon, breaking the longstanding fatwa against possessing weapons of mass destruction. Former foreign minister Javad Zarif, representing the diplomatic wing, published a call for "a comprehensive regional network based on non-aggression, mutual trust building, and shared prosperity" alongside Quranic verses emphasising unity over division. The internal Iranian debate between the bomb faction and the pact faction is the real variable this meeting cannot resolve. The Gulf states face their own contradictions. No Gulf state openly supported the US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late 2024 or February 2025, but some cooperated covertly. Iran has responded by attacking US bases and energy infrastructure in the Gulf. The question of whether US military bases represent reassurance or liability has been reopened in capitals from Muscat to Doha, and this meeting is a direct expression of that ambivalence. Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei framed the meeting as a foundation for "broader regional cooperation on security based on shared interest," noting that events of the past two years demonstrate that "sustainable and reliable security in our region will only be possible by building trust and cooperation among the countries of the region." The language is familiar from years of Iranian proposals, but the presence of the Saudi defence minister gives it a different weight. The structural problem remains: any security pact will take months to negotiate, while Washington's demand that Iran reopen Hormuz before sanctions are lifted operates on a timeline measured in weeks. The gap between the pace of diplomacy and the pace of military escalation is the central fragility in this entire arrangement.
