Mecca country officials to hold joint meeting in Tehran; discuss regional security

The officials expected to attend are Saudi defence minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan's army chief general Asim Munir, and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency reported (Photo: Reuters).

Senior Saudi, Pakistani and Turkish officials will visit Tehran on Monday for a joint meeting with Iranian officials, the first planned talk since the re-escalated Houthi conflict.The officials expected to attend are Saudi defence minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan's army chief general Asim Munir, and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency reported.Deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Bagheri Kani, said Munir had informed secretary Mohsen Rezaei that senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan had decided to travel to Tehran and hold a joint meeting, Mehr reported.Bagheri said the four countries could use the meeting to advance regional security by drawing on what he described as Iran's successful experience in building national security during the third imposed war (US-Iran conflict).The planned talks would be the first high-level contact between Iran and all members of the three-nation bloc since Saudi Arabia has come under escalating attacks from Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, Reuters reported.

On Monday, the Houthis said they had attacked Saudi Arabia's East-West crude oil pumping stations and Riyadh airport, Reuters reported. There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia of the Houthi claim.The rebel group has been launching ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi airports, ports and oil installations, making the kingdom a pressure point in the wider conflict.Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it had destroyed two ballistic missile launchers in Sanaa, including one it said had been used to fire a missile towards Riyadh that was intercepted.In a statement on X, the coalition claimed it had destroyed five tunnels used to store ballistic missiles and four ballistic missile launch platforms. It also said it had struck a missile depot and targeted Houthi supply routes between areas under the group's control.The coalition added that the operation targeted Houthi fortifications, gatherings of its members and military equipment along front lines inside Yemen.