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Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chief Ibrahim Kalin held talks in Tehran on Monday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei, alongside Saudi and Pakistani officials, Turkish security sources said.
Kalin, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, and Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir discussed security problems in Palestine, Lebanon, the Strait of Hormuz, and Yemen, as well as U.S.-Iran negotiations, the sources told state-run Anadolu Agency (AA).
The talks emphasized regional ownership, collective resilience, joint deterrence and trust-building, according to the sources.
The meetings also highlighted the importance of strengthening regional cooperation, solidarity and collective security under the Mecca Defense Alliance formed in August by Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the sources said.
The Turkish intel chief's visit came amid escalating tensions from the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and Ankara's active mediation role in regional crises.
The four countries said they would "continue the dialogue," and officials described the meeting as the first in an expected series, though no date has been set for the next one.
"We concluded that security in West Asia must be endogenous and any foreign interference must be prevented," Rezaei told reporters after the meeting, according to Iran's official IRNA news agency.
"Senior officials of Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia believed the solution to the region’s problems lies in all four countries working together," he said.
"Regional cooperation should have started long ago, and the visit of senior officials of Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia showed that the Americans’ threats do not have much effect on the countries of the world," Rezaei said.
He said a "new and positive atmosphere" had formed in the talks. "The results of the Iranian nation’s resistance are becoming more tangible day by day," he added.
"It was emphasized that the Zionist regime must withdraw from southern Lebanon, southern Syria, Gaza and the West Bank of the Jordan River and stop its aggression," Rezaei said.
Rezaei said the parties chose not to issue a statement for now.
"This could be the beginning of operations beyond discursive and declaratory discussions," he said, adding, "Therefore, we preferred that no statement be issued for now; a single news item will be published on which we have unity, and we intend to move things forward in an executive and real way."
Iran expert Vali Nasr of Johns Hopkins called the meeting "a big PR win for Iran," with regional powers coming to Tehran "to ask for help on Yemen."
"And Iran likely laid out it terms for that help. It could yield results," he added.
"Inviting Iran to join Mecca Alliance as some had anticipated, did not happen. In fact, Iran is calling the meeting the Tehran Summit. It sounds like Iran is envisioning a different regional arrangement, one that Iran wants to define and play a central role in. And per Rezaie’s comments after the meeting, Iran’s vision which is clearly aimed at keeping U.S. out if the region does not easily square with the relations of the three Mecca Alliance partners with U.S.," the analyst noted.
Kalin's Tehran talks mark the first high-level meeting between Iran and all three Mecca pact members together.
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