Tehran: We have not received an official invitation to join the Mecca Agreement.
Tehran: We have not received an official invitation to join the Mecca Agreement.
8-24-2026
Tehran denied receiving an invitation to join the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei confirmed at a press conference: “We have not received an official invitation, but proposals have been made to hold talks with these countries for the sake of collective security in the region.”
My statement came hours after statements by Mehdi Rahimi, head of the Iranian parliament’s “Khaneh Mellat” news agency, who said that “Iran has received an invitation to join the Mecca Agreement, and the matter is under review and evaluation in Tehran,” explaining that the agreement’s provisions are similar in content to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which stipulates that any military attack against one of the member states is considered a direct attack against all signatory states and requires collective defense.
Meanwhile, Baqaei stressed that Iran did not start the war with the United States, and that it will not allow the end of the war to be imposed on it according to the terms of the aggressor, stressing that Iranian officials have made it clear that they will not make any concessions, and that the Iranian president has repeatedly affirmed his firm position of not surrendering to Iran, in an escalation of the official tone towards Washington.
Baqaei added that there is no justification for any country to be concerned about Iran, unless its bases provide the aggressor with an opportunity to commit an act of aggression, stressing that Iran will not be lenient in defending its sovereignty, and that it has the right to target the source and origin of any act of aggression against the country, in a clear message to regional and international parties.
Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Baghaei considered the claims that the strait is open to be “psychological warfare,” warning that Iran will not stand idly by in responding to the American naval blockade, and that escalating the blockade to what Washington calls “economic warfare” will inevitably lead to dire consequences. This was in response to the threats of the American president to launch “the most crushing economic operation” against Iran, which Baghaei described as “a recipe for a terrible return to total traditional colonialism.”
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