Riyadh floats Middle East non-aggression pact with Tehran - FT
Saudi Arabia has discussed a potential non-aggression pact between Middle East states and Iran as part of talks on managing regional tensions after the US-Israeli war ends, the Financial Times reported, citing diplomats.
Riyadh was considering a model similar to the 1970s Helsinki process that eased Cold War tensions in Europe, the report said citing two western diplomats.
An Arab diplomat cited by FT said that a non-aggression pact modelled along the lines of the Helsinki process would be welcomed by most Arab and Muslim states, as well as by Iran.
“It all depends who is in it — in the current climate you are not going to be able to get Iran and Israel . . . without Israel it could be counter-productive because after Iran, they are seen as the biggest source of conflict,” the report quoted the Arab diplomat as saying. “Iran is not going anywhere and this is why the Saudis are pushing it.”
The report said many European capitals and EU institutions support the Saudi idea and see it as the best way to avoid future conflict and provide Tehran guarantees that it would not be attacked again.
The FT also cited two diplomats as saying there were doubts about whether the UAE would join any such arrangement.
The idea of expanding the defense pact was first mooted before the war, the report added citing a Pakistani official.
US President Donald Trump "only understands the language of missiles and military power, not diplomacy," Iranian MP Qasem Ravanbakhsh said.
Ravanbakhsh added that Iran’s foreign ministry must follow the 10 conditions set by the Supreme National Security Council and approved by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in negotiations with the United States.
He said any retreat from those conditions "would embolden the enemy and intensify its demands."
A senior adviser to the United Arab Emirates president said on Thursday the UAE remained committed to a political and negotiated path in dealing with regional tensions involving Iran.
"We did not seek this war, and we worked sincerely to avoid it," Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said in a post on X as the world followed US President Donald Trump's visit to China.
Gargash said relations between Arab states and Iran in the Persian Gulf could not be built on confrontation and conflict, while stressing that the UAE would defend its sovereignty "with strength, efficiency and steadfastness."
He said the UAE's priority remained political solutions, which he described as the path to peace, stability and prosperity.
Iraq has approached the International Monetary Fund about securing financial assistance as a result of the war involving Iran, a source close to the IMF told Reuters on Thursday.
Initial talks took place last month during the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, with discussions continuing over how much funding Iraq may need and how any loan could be structured, the source said.
Iraq has been hit hard by disruptions linked to the war that began on Feb. 28, with most of its oil exports curtailed by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global crude shipments.
More Iranians are moving back in with family or taking on roommates after losing jobs and struggling to keep up with rising rents in major cities, according to messages sent to Iran International.
“I worked at a petrochemical company and got fired. Since we can no longer afford rent, my wife, two children and I have moved back into my parents’ house,” one citizen told Iran International.
Another, a woman supporting her household alone, said she was forced to share her home after losing her job at a restaurant.
“I am the head of my household and after losing my job at a restaurant, I had no choice but to get a roommate to reduce rent and living costs while raising my teenage child,” she told Iran International.
Shargh newspaper reported on Thursday that more tenants in Tehran and other large cities are turning to shared housing, returning to parents’ homes or leaving the capital altogether as rent and living costs climb.
The newspaper cited residents who said they were searching for roommates for the first time after years of living independently, while others described plans to move back with family members or relocate to smaller cities after losing income.
A 45-year-old woman who had lived alone in central Tehran for two decades told Shargh she was considering taking in roommates because she could no longer afford rent on her own.
“More than two decades passed living alone and now I have to change my standards,” she told the newspaper. “Paying 400 million rials ($220) in rent in Tehran’s Bahar neighborhood is impossible for me.”
Another resident said he and his brother were looking for a third housemate after his workplace suspended operations and stopped paying salaries.
File photo: Iranians move household belongings as soaring rents and economic pressure force many families to move back in with parents or relatives.
Reverse migration from Tehran
Shargh said some residents were preparing to leave Tehran entirely after years in the capital, describing what it called a wave of reverse migration driven by economic hardship and shrinking work opportunities.
One editor told the newspaper she was returning to her hometown Kashan in her mid-40s after more than two decades in Tehran because rising costs and declining work in publishing left her unable to continue living independently.
“I thought I would return to Kashan after retirement, not in middle age because I can no longer survive economically in Tehran,” she told Shargh.
The report also pointed to signs of tighter housing supply, citing online property listings and real estate agents who said available rental units had declined while demand increased, particularly after displacement linked to the conflict with Israel.
Erosion of independence
Sociologist Abdolvahab Shahlibar told Shargh that shared housing in Iran is increasingly a financial necessity rather than a lifestyle choice.
“Efforts to improve quality of life have in many cases been replaced by efforts to preserve basic survival,” Shahlibar told the newspaper, warning that being forced to return to parents’ homes or abandon independent living could reshape social relationships and personal identity.
