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…