Claim and fact: Mohsen Rezaei and the claim that US threats have no effect

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Islamic Republic's Supreme National Security Council, said after Monday's meeting in Tehran on 26 October with delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye that US threats have little effect on the world's countries, and spoke of a new and positive atmosphere in the region. State media also presented the meeting as the start of a regional security framework.

The facts of that same day show a different picture. Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin took part in the Tehran meeting. A Pakistani official told Reuters that the plan Asim Munir presented to the Islamic Republic has Donald Trump's approval for pursuing diplomacy, and that if it is accepted, the Mecca Pact countries and Qatar will act as its guarantors.

The US threat and Iran's economy

The US naval blockade of Iran's ports remains in place. The firm Kpler said earlier that the Islamic Republic's floating oil stocks had fallen to zero and that revenue from seaborne oil sales would be cut off until mid-December. Donald Trump also said on Friday, 23 October, that the United States might attack the Islamic Republic again, and on Monday night called the ceasefire a waste of time.

The Houthi attack the same night

The Houthis, backed by the Islamic Republic, claimed on Monday to have attacked Riyadh airport and Saudi oil pumping stations. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted three ballistic missiles fired towards the Eastern Province and four drones early on Tuesday, 27 October. The final statement of the Tehran meeting announced no agreement to stop the Houthi attacks. At the same time, Egypt's parliament authorised the country's army to take part in defending Saudi Arabia.

DIAR's verdict

The trip of three military and security delegations to Tehran, with a plan backed by the White House, is the result of the very pressure that Mohsen Rezaei calls ineffective. The claim of a positive atmosphere also does not square with the missiles that the Islamic Republic's proxies fired at Saudi Arabia that same night. DIAR's verdict: misleading.

Three delegations came to Tehran with a plan approved by Donald Trump, while Mohsen Rezaei called the US threat ineffective.