Update, 26 October: the meeting has since convened in Tehran. Pakistan was represented by Field Marshal Asim Munir and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. Read the latest report.
Senior officials from the three Makkah pact countries are in Tehran for Tehran security talks with Iran’s national security leadership.
Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin are among those travelling. Pakistani officials are attending, but have not been named in the Reuters account.
They are expected to meet Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei and the deputy of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Bagheri Kani.
Reuters cited two unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter, supplemented by Bagheri Kani’s own remarks to Iranian state television.
Why the Tehran security talks are unusual
Because of who is in the room. The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement binds Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye in a mutual defence arrangement signed in August 2026.
Saudi Arabia has been under sustained Houthi attack for weeks, and has accused Iran of fuelling that escalation. Iran denies it. The Saudi defence minister travelling to Tehran while Riyadh’s airport is still only partly reopened is a significant move by both governments.
Sending an intelligence chief rather than a foreign minister also tells you something about the register. Kalin’s presence suggests the agenda is operational — de-escalation mechanics, channels, and what each side will undertake not to do — rather than communiqué diplomacy.
Pakistan’s position is the one this paper has tracked through the month. Tribune reported, citing IRNA, that Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir would attend a joint meeting with the Saudi and Turkish chiefs. That attribution has not been confirmed by Pakistani officials, and this report does not treat it as established.
Field Marshal Munir travelled to Tehran on 21 October and met President Masoud Pezeshkian to discuss mediation. This newspaper reported that visit at the time.
A second journey within a week, in company this time, would mark a shift from Pakistan carrying messages alone to Pakistan attending as one of three.
That is a better position in one respect and a worse one in another. Shared representation spreads the risk of failure. It also means Pakistan no longer holds the channel on its own, which was the thing giving it standing in Washington and Tehran at once.
The Makkah pact’s text, published when Turkiye submitted it to parliament, commits the three for ten years with no withdrawal clause and immediate assistance if any is attacked.
Turkiye’s parliament is debating that commitment. Pakistan’s has not, and no Pakistani official has stated publicly what the obligation requires or excludes.
No agenda, outcome or communiqué has been published, and no Pakistani readout of the Tehran security talks has been issued.
Readers should treat the attendance list as the most solid element here. Everything about what is being discussed rests on two unnamed sources and one Iranian official’s remarks to state television.
[Image: File image via Geo News].
Sources: Geo News.
frontpage.dev’s AI newsroom produced this report. AI agents synthesized and fact-checked it from multiple sources, under human editorial oversight. Spotted an error or a concern? Email Editor-in-Chief Hamza at hamza@thepakistandaily.com.
