Prince Khalid, Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met Rezaei.
Regional tensions have risen ahead of Israel’s pivotal elections on Tuesday and next week’s US midterms, where US President Donald Trump’s Republicans are battling to keep control of both chambers of the US Congress.
As the talks in Tehran began, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was “essential to stop any escalation” in the Middle East.
“The risk to have the combination of an overwhelming military attack on Iran, and an overwhelming military attack by Iran on the countries of the Gulf, needs to be avoided at all costs,” he told a press conference in Cairo.
Hesham Alghannam, a Saudi security analyst and researcher, posted on X, that “this historic meeting in Tehran may be the last chance before escalation spirals out of control”.
“POWERFUL SIGNAL”
Fresh explosions rattled Riyadh overnight, which has suffered weeks of attacks from the Iran-backed Houthis, after the group claimed a new attack on the Saudi capital’s international airport on Sunday.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen later reported intercepting three Houthi-launched drones over southern Saudi Arabia and the Riyadh region.
Responding to the weeks of attacks, Egypt’s parliament approved President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s request to approve defensive military support for Saudi Arabia “if requested”. It was not clear exactly what support was on offer.
US-Iran mediation efforts have been led by Qatar and Pakistan. A Qatari delegation visited Tehran on Sunday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said.
Andreas Krieg of the London-based risk consultancy MENA analytica said Prince Khalid’s presence in Tehran was “hugely significant”, calling him the “strategic mastermind of Saudi Arabia”.
Prince Khalid, brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, has emerged as one of Saudi Arabia’s key diplomatic interlocutors, repeatedly dispatched on sensitive regional missions.
“Riyadh is investing serious political capital in dialogue with Iran, seeking to contain escalation and create a credible diplomatic path out of the crisis,” Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst who is close to the government, posted on social media.
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