Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei met Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei on Tuesday, according to state media, in his first reported meeting since succeeding his father, who was killed in March.

The meeting came a day after Rezaei held talks with representatives from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, whose senior officials visited Tehran on Monday in an effort to de-escalate the Middle East conflict.

State media said Khamenei stressed the importance of pursuing Iran’s national interests and maintaining its conditions for ending the war.

Khamenei has not been seen in public since taking over as supreme leader. His father was killed in February, when the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran.

The talks in Tehran marked the first high-level contact between Iran and the three countries since the war drew Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi movement into direct conflict. The three countries signed the Mecca mutual defence pact in August.

Iranian state media said Khamenei and Rezaei discussed safeguarding national and regional security by maintaining control over the Strait of Hormuz and strengthening bilateral ties with neighbouring countries.

An Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Iran’s nuclear programme would not be discussed at the meeting with representatives of the three countries. Tehran would not address the issue until its demands for ending the war were met, the official said.

Iran has rejected Western concerns that its nuclear programme is intended for military purposes. Its conditions for ending the war include an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports and the lifting of US sanctions on its oil exports.

US Vice President JD Vance said three weeks ago that Iran must reduce its nuclear enrichment to end the war.