Saudi Arabia Turkey and Pakistan just sat down with Iran

Three countries just agreed to sit down with Iran.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are sending top officials to Tehran today.

And here's why that's a big deal. These three countries signed a defence pact together. An attack on one is treated as an attack on all of them.

So who's going? Saudi Arabia is sending Prince Khalid bin Salman, its Defence Minister. Pakistan is sending Field Marshal Asim Munir, its army chief. Turkey is sending the head of its intelligence service.

Reuters broke this one this morning, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Saudi Arabia's government media office didn't respond. Pakistan's military media wing didn't respond either.

Now here's the context that makes this meeting matter.

This alliance is called the Mecca Pact. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed it about eleven weeks ago, on 7 August, at Al-Safa Palace in Mecca. Mohammed bin Salman signed for Saudi Arabia. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed for Turkey. Shehbaz Sharif signed for Pakistan.

The pact's first article says the three countries will use all necessary means to defend each other's territory, sovereignty and borders. A Turkish official told Reuters at the time it was defensive, not aimed at anyone in particular.

So what does this alliance actually bring? A major oil exporter. Turkey's large army. And Pakistan, the only nuclear-armed country in the Muslim world. Its headquarters sits in Riyadh, run by Lieutenant-General Nauman Mahmood, who is retired from active service.

And they've already been leaning on it hard.

Three weeks ago, on 5 October, ministers from all three countries met in Riyadh and agreed to speed up sending troops and equipment into Saudi Arabia. Within days, Houthi missiles and drones hit Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport more than once. They also hit Abha, Yanbu and Shaybah.

Lieutenant-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Pakistan's military spokesperson, said the security of Mecca and Medina is non-negotiable. He said the pact's collective deterrence is coming into play.

Turkey's parliament started ratifying the pact about a week ago, and that process is still going on. Pakistan approved it the same week.

But here's the thing. Pakistan already talks to Iran.

Asim Munir was in Tehran six days ago, on 20 October. That was his fifth visit since Pakistan brokered the ceasefire between Iran and the United States back in April. So Pakistan showing up isn't new.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey sitting down with Tehran as part of this bloc is.

And Iran has been reaching out too. Fifteen days ago, Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister, told Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, that Tehran was ready to help start a dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. That came from Iran's own state news agency, IRNA.

Now the bigger picture. The United States and Israel have been fighting Iran for eight months, since February. And the fight between Saudi Arabia and Iran's allies, the Houthis, has turned into one of the most unstable parts of that war.

A day before today's meeting, Saudi Arabia shot down another wave of Houthi missiles and drones.

So think about what's actually happening here. A pact built to protect Saudi Arabia from exactly this kind of attack is about to sit across the table from the country whose allies are carrying it out.

Neither Saudi Arabia nor Pakistan has confirmed the meeting in public. What gets discussed, whether there's a joint statement afterwards, and what Iran wants out of it — nobody knows yet.

The meeting is expected to happen today. So far, nobody has reported what came out of it.