International

Iran Says It Has Received No Official Invitation to Join Mecca Defense Pact

24 August 2026 21:08 PM

NEWS DESK

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has clarified that the country has not received any formal invitation to join the “Mecca Defense Pact,” despite reports that Tehran had been invited to participate in the regional security alliance.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday that while some proposals and discussions regarding the pact had been presented to Iran, no official invitation had been received.

Baghaei’s remarks directly contradicted an earlier claim by Mehdi Rahimi, head of Iran’s parliamentary news agency, who had told Al Mayadeen that Iran had received an invitation to join the pact and was currently reviewing the proposal.

Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan announced on August 7 that they had signed the “Mecca Defense Pact.” Representatives of the three countries said the alliance was aimed at strengthening their collective security and was not intended as a hostile move against Iran.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, also said recently that Islamabad would have no objection if influential regional powers such as Iran or Egypt wished to join the security alliance as part of efforts to establish lasting peace in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the possibility of Iran joining the pact has raised concerns among policymakers in Israel and the United States. In an analysis published by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Ksenia Svetlova, a researcher at the Mitvim Institute, said Iran’s inclusion could fundamentally alter the alliance’s strategic dynamics.

According to Svetlova, Iran’s participation in such a regional security framework could significantly undermine US influence and standing in the Middle East—an outcome that neither Washington nor Tel Aviv would be willing to accept.

Iran Mecca Defense Pact