Saudi Arabia hosts Arab, Islamic officials as US war pushes region to the brink

Diplomats are expected to coordinate responses to escalating regional tensions and growing disruption to energy markets 

News Desk - The Cradle 

Saudi Arabia is hosting a consultative meeting of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers in Riyadh on 18 March to discuss regional security coordination as the US-Israeli war on Iran destabilizes West Asia. 

The Saudi Foreign Ministry says the summit has the aim of “further consultation and coordination on ways to support the security and stability of the region.”

The gathering will bring together senior diplomats from several states across West Asia and beyond to coordinate political responses to the ongoing war and its broader regional impact.

According to a Turkish diplomatic source cited in the reporting, representatives from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Syria, Turkiye, and the UAE are expected to attend the meeting in the Saudi capital.

The consultations come as the US-Israeli war on Iran enters its third week, with little sign of de-escalation and growing disruption to regional security and global energy markets.

Turkiye, which borders Iran and is a member of NATO, had attempted to mediate between Tehran and Washington before the war began, according to the Turkish diplomatic source.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is expected to use the Riyadh meeting to stress the need for diplomacy and warn that continued fighting risks long-term damage to relations between regional states.

Ankara has criticized the US and Israeli strikes on Iran as violations of international law, while also condemning Iranian attacks on Gulf states as unacceptable.

Earlier, Iran’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alireza Enayati, called for a “serious review” of relations between Tehran and Gulf Arab states as the war reshapes regional dynamics.

He argued that decades of instability stem from “an exclusionary approach [within the region] and an excessive reliance on external powers,” urging stronger cooperation between the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Iraq, and Iran.

Enayati also rejected accusations that Tehran was behind recent strikes on Saudi oil facilities, saying “Iran is not the party responsible for these attacks, and if Iran had carried them out, it would have announced it.”