Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan — the signatories of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement — travelled to Tehran on October 26 for the first high-level contact between Iran and all three countries since the pact was signed in August.

Saudi Arabia was represented by Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan by Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Turkey by intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin.

They met President Masoud Pezeshkian and Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, who chaired the talks.

The meeting is the first major test of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed in August by Erdogan, Mohammed bin Salman and Shehbaz Sharif, which states that an armed attack on any signatory is an attack on all three.

Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia — including a strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on October 10 that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300 — forced the alliance to choose between escalation and engagement.

Analyst Mohamed Fahmy described the visit to Iran International as an exercise in "coercive diplomacy" that "may be the last chance before a collective imminent military action."

The four countries agreed to continue discussions on regional peace and security, though no agreement to halt the Houthi attacks was announced.

A joint statement confirmed the parties would maintain dialogue and consultations on peace, security and stability, without announcing specific security agreements or new joint mechanisms, according to reporting carried by The New Arab.

Pakistani officials told Reuters, as cited by Al Jazeera and India Today, that Munir presented Iran with a proposed solution offering something to both Washington and Tehran, with the pact's members and Qatar as possible guarantors.

The diplomacy unfolds against a volatile backdrop. CENTCOM chief Adm.

Brad Cooper visited the Strait of Hormuz as US forces marked helping Gulf states ship 1.5 billion barrels of oil through the waterway since summer, with more than 3,000 commercial vessels transiting under CENTCOM support.

Iran has demanded ships seek permission to pass; the US imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports on April 13.

Inside Iran, parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf called for a nationwide 10 percent cut in gas consumption as winter shortages worsen from war damage, with First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref warning of a daily shortfall of 100 million to 250 million cubic meters, according to RFE/RL's live blog.

Egypt's parliament on Monday authorised President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to take measures to support and defend Saudi Arabia and its holy sites against external attacks, and Cairo has signalled it may join the Mecca pact, India Today reports.

Iranian President Pezeshkian is set to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow on October 27 at a gas-exporting countries meeting, Iranian media reported via the Tasnim agency.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards also struck the Kurdish opposition group Komala in northern Iraq, while Netanyahu warned Tehran and its proxies could try to disrupt Israel's October 27 elections.

Trump, meanwhile, has said the US may strike Iran again, and Iran's security chief Rezaei dismissed this, saying the visit showed "American threats have little impact on countries around the world."

The key open question is whether Tehran will restrain the Houthis.

Analyst Dr. Shahram Kholdi told Iran International the Mecca Pact has "effectively been a paper tiger," and warned that even securing Iranian cooperation may not deliver a lasting settlement, as the Houthis could demand political guarantees amounting to the effective partition of Yemen.

Iran International could not verify a reported $1 billion Saudi payment to the Houthis through Iran as part of a ceasefire arrangement.

Hardline commentator Hossein Shariatmadari, writing in Kayhan, dismissed the summit as a mirage, arguing the three visiting countries were too close to Washington to mediate credibly.

Kholdi expects, at best, a temporary reduction in hostilities that could unravel through miscalculation, with the risk of a confrontation extending well beyond Yemen.