The Tehran opening

HELD amid the threat of a renewed US-Israeli attack on Iran and escalating conflict in the Arabian Peninsula, the meeting between Iranian leaders and members of the Makkah Defence Alliance was deeply significant — though it remained unclear whether the talks had produced any major breakthrough. The quadrilateral meeting reportedly discussed “regional cooperation, the US-Israeli aggression against Iran and its consequences”, among other topics. It was the first high-level contact between Iran and all of the alliance’s members since Saudi Arabia was drawn deeper into its conflict with the Houthis. The gathering came days after a brief visit to Tehran by Pakistan’s army chief, during which he reportedly proposed the meeting — a suggestion Iranian leaders responded to positively.

That visit was essentially a part of Pakistan’s mediatory efforts to restart the stalled peace talks between America and Iran, and a response to the latest flare-up in the region. Since the collapse of a brief ceasefire reached in April, the United States has imposed an economic blockade on Iran in an attempt to force it to capitulate. It has not. Iran has kept control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to flow. The diplomatic efforts of Pakistan and Qatar have so far failed to break the stalemate. The main stumbling block to resuming peace talks has been President Trump’s insistence that Iran give up its enriched uranium stockpile. Iran has refused, insisting that the US must end its naval blockade and start negotiations on the seven points that overlap with the Islamabad memorandum of understanding. Iranian leaders have repeatedly declared that “not a single particle of enriched nuclear material” would leave Iran. Regional…