— Mehdi Rahimi, head of the official news agency of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran (House of the Nation), claims in an interview with Al Mayadeen that Iran has received an invitation letter to join a joint defense agreement in Mecca among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Rahimi also praised what he described as the efforts by West Asian countries to create a regional security umbrella and added that Iran has long been seeking such an initiative.