AI Brief
- Iranian Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei after talks with officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan.
- Khamenei emphasised safeguarding Iran's interests and maintaining conditions for ending the war, including lifting the US blockade and oil sanctions.
- Discussions with the Mecca pact countries did not address Iran's nuclear program, which Iran insists is not military in nature.
IRANIAN Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei on Tuesday (October 27) 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 Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan.
State media said Khamenei had stressed the importance of pursuing Iran's interests and maintaining its conditions for ending the war.
Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan visited Tehran on Monday (October 26) hoping to help de-escalate the Middle East conflict, which began 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 Mecca mutual defense 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 neighboring 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 program at Monday's meeting with the Mecca 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 program 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 enrichment to end the war.
