Saudi Hosts Emergency Talks
Saudi Arabia convened an emergency meeting of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers in Riyadh on March 18 to coordinate a diplomatic response to the Iran‑Israel escalation — the session focused on non‑military ways to contain the crisis. Riyadh publicly rejected escalation with Iran and has been pushing coordinated diplomatic steps to prevent wider regional war. (arabnews.com) (el-balad.com)
Saudi air defences intercepted four ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh on March 18, the Saudi Defence Ministry reported hours before the consultative meeting began. (msn.com) The Saudi Press Agency published the formal government notice scheduling the consultative ministerial meeting for the evening of March 18 and stamped the release at 05:58 local time. (spa.gov.sa) On-the-ground participants confirmed by national media included Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and FM Ishaq Dar, Jordan’s Ayman Safadi and the UAE’s Minister of State Khalifa Al Marar. (english.ahram.org.eg) Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan conducted a series of preparatory phone calls with counterparts in Syria, Algeria, Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt and the UAE in the days before the Riyadh meeting, Saudi media reported. (arabnews.com) After the session Prince Faisal told reporters Riyadh “reserves the right” to military action if necessary and urged Iran to “review its misjudgements,” comments carried by Al Jazeera. (aljazeera.com) The meeting unfolded amid a spike in strikes that temporarily closed major Gulf cargo hubs and followed a day when Tehran launched nearly 100 drones at Saudi targets, an escalation Bloomberg and regional outlets said that has disrupted trade and prompted intensified diplomacy. (arabnews.com)
