Iran security chief meets Supreme Leader after talks with Makkah pact countries

DUBAI: Iranian Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei on Tuesday met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, not seen in public since succeeding his slain father in March, a day after holding talks with representatives of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.

State media said Khamenei had stressed the importance of pursuing Iran’s interests and maintaining its conditions for ending the war.

Top officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye visited Tehran on Monday hoping to help de-escalate the Middle East conflict, begun when the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.

The talks were the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations — which signed the Makkah mutual defence pact in August — since the war pulled Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi movement into direct conflict.

Iran’s state media said on Tuesday that “safeguarding national and regional security by maintaining control over the Strait of Hormuz and strengthening bilateral relations with neighbouring countries” were among the topics Khamenei and Rezaei had discussed.

An Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that there would be no discussion of Iran’s nuclear programme at Monday’s meeting with the Makkah pact countries, and the issue would not be addressed until Tehran’s demands for ending the war were met. Iran rejects Western concerns that the programme is military in nature.

Iran’s conditions include an end to a US blockade of Iranian ports and US sanctions on Iranian oil exports. US Vice President JD Vance said three weeks ago that Iran must reduce nuclear enrichmentto end the war.