ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces, Field Marshal Asim Munir, on Monday arrived in Tehran to attend key talks between Iran and the Makkah defense pact nations, officials said on Monday, amid heightened tensions in the Middle East.

The planned talks are the first high-level contact between Iran and members of the Makkah defense alliance, which includes Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, since Saudi Arabia came under escalating attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia.

Saudi Arabia will be represented by Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Turkiye by intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Reuters reported on Monday, citing Saudi and Iranian officials.

The talks come as attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have spiralled over recent weeks and rhetoric between Washington and Tehran has grown more heated. Under the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement signed ⁠in August, an ⁠armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all.

“Chief of Defense Forces, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has departed for Iran,” a source with knowledge of the matter told Arab News on Monday noon, without offering further details.

Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, earlier confirmed Iran’s talks with the three-nation bloc.

“This four-country meeting in Tehran can certainly be an effective and important step in shaping an indigenous regional security framework,” Kani said in an interview with state television.

He did not specify when the meeting would take place but said it was proposed during a visit by Pakistani army chief Asim Munir to Tehran last week.

War has engulfed the Middle East since February when the United States and Israel launched a wave of surprise attacks on Iran, while Washington and Tehran were in the midst of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.

“We should invest today’s meeting in laying the foundations for the ‘West Asia Security Network’ (WASL),” Javad Zarif, a former Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, said on X.

“WASL is an inclusive regional network based on non-aggression, building mutual trust, and shared prosperity.”

An April ceasefire brought an end to the initial phase of intense bombardment but the two sides have continued to vie for control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to travel.

Iran has claimed control over the strait and has regularly targeted vessels that attempt to cross without its authorization, while the United States has imposed a counter naval blockade on Iranian ports. The war has since spread across the region to include fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Ministers from the Makkah pact countries held an emergency meeting in Riyadh earlier this month and agreed to ensure the “rapid deployment” of military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia.