DOHA, Qatar — With fear rising across the Middle East that the United States and Israel will restart military strikes on Iran, high-ranking diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey met with Iranian leaders in Tehran on Monday in a new push to negotiate an end to the war.
The meeting was aimed at de-escalation, regional officials said, amid a flurry of news reports that President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are preparing to resume bombing Iran after the national election in Israel on Tuesday and the U.S. midterms a week later.
Israel’s election will serve as a referendum on Netanyahu, who has said in recent days that the Iranian regime must be toppled once and for all. While Netanyahu has been trailing in recent polls, he is likely to remain in office for weeks after the vote while officials try to form a government.
Trump has said that there will be no strikes before the Nov. 3 midterms, but he has hinted repeatedly that attacks could restart after the vote. In a recent memo, the top U.S. intelligence official, Jay Clayton, warned that Iran was in the “advanced stages” of plots to target U.S. officials abroad.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a statement after Monday’s meeting emphasizing “the necessity of strengthening unity and rapprochement among Islamic countries,” Iranian state media reported.
Pezeshkian said that Iran “is ready to move forward in deepening regional cooperation, resolving differences, utilizing the shared potential of Islamic nations, and supporting any understanding that would enhance unity, cohesion, security, and development in the region.”
Pezeshkian and Mohsen Rezae, head of Iran’s national security council, met with Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, the brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler; Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir; and Turkish Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalin.
Saudi Arabia, facing the fiercest attacks in years by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, recently formed a mutual defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey.
“This is a major effort,” said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi author and commentator who is familiar with government thinking in Riyadh. “The signal it sends is that Saudi Arabia doesn’t support escalation and is worried that Israel is going to drag Trump into another round.”
Monday’s meeting marked the highest-level gathering of regional security officials with Iran, following a flurry of other diplomatic efforts in recent weeks as the prospect of military escalation has appeared to grow.
Netanyahu, who faces fierce competition in Tuesday’s election, has said explicitly that he directed Israel’s security establishment that the Iranian regime poses an “existential threat” and must be overthrown.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, has drawn up plans in recent weeks for a possible surge of thousands of naval forces to the Middle East, The Washington Post and other news organizations have reported.
Monday’s meeting was an “eleventh-hour bid to tip the scales in Tehran toward compromise before the missiles start flying again,” said Ali Vaez, deputy program director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group.
“The visit comes against a deafening drumbeat of war, with threats escalating, positions hardening and the space for diplomacy shrinking by the day,” Vaez said. “The danger is that both sides are increasingly preparing for a war neither can win, neither can easily contain and neither knows how to end.”
The post Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan send envoys to Iran in push to end war appeared first on Washington Post.
