Senior officials from the four countries, including Assistant Foreign Minister for Political Planning Nazih El-Nagary, followed two earlier rounds of talks between foreign ministers in Riyadh in late March and then in Islamabad in early April.
A third ministerial meeting is expected in Islamabad or Antalya on Saturday or Sunday, according to diplomats. While the official agenda focused on “security and stability” and reaffirming principles of sovereignty and non-interference, participants say the real significance lies in the format itself, and what it may become.
“This grouping is still in formation, but there is clear recognition of the need for it,” a diplomat familiar with the discussions said, emphasizing that “this mechanism is gradually evolving.”
What is emerging is not an alliance in the traditional sense, but something more carefully calibrated.
“Some want to give a more structured format to this bloc, but without creating an institutional character or alliance,” one diplomat said.
That caution reflects political sensitivities shared by the participants. “They do not want it to appear as if it is directed against specific countries, and they do not want to provoke the Americans,” the same source added.
Despite its current nature, there are signs that the grouping could expand over time. “This regional formation could become a nucleus that might widen to include other countries,” said a source who attended the Islamabad meeting. “But it would have to preserve the interests of the four states, primarily security interests, but also economic ones.”
Any such expansion is possible, but conditional.
The same source suggested that an engagement with Iran itself is not entirely off the table under certain conditions. “It could also open up to Iran if it commits to safeguarding the interests of the four countries.”
The ongoing regional conflict has sharpened the urgency behind these discussions. Three meetings involving the foreign ministers of the four regional powers in less than a month, combined with parallel discussions at the senior officials' level, point to the current momentum.
In an interview earlier this month with Ahram Online, Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tamim Khallaf stressed that “important deliberations are already underway with our partners regarding post-war security arrangements in the region,” in reference to this new quadrilateral format.
“These countries are four geopolitical powerhouses, and it’s crucial that we work collectively to enhance our strategic alignment, given the unprecedented multi-faceted challenges our region faces,” Khallaf explained.
The grouping, he suggested, is not just dealing with the crisis at hand. While much of the discussions have focused on “how best to address the ongoing military escalation in the region and how to respond to the fallout from the war,” with extensive discussions on “topics related to the post-war regional."
According to participants, Pakistani officials used the Islamabad meeting also to brief their counterparts from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey on the latest round of negotiations between Iran and the United States, which ended without a breakthrough at the end of last week.
While the talks did not produce a deal, Pakistani officials conveyed a more nuanced assessment. “According to the Pakistanis, there was relative understanding and some progress between the two sides, but they were exhausted,” a source present at the meeting said, referring to more than 20 hours of discussions that were sometimes “tense."
Subsequent diplomatic contacts have continued indirectly, with messages exchanged through Pakistani, Egyptian, and Turkish channels even after the delegations left Islamabad.
Expectations of an immediate resumption of negotiations remain limited. “Talk of a new US-Iran meeting in Islamabad this week is not on the table,” the source added. “But it could happen next week, possibly to extend the ceasefire.”
The temporary ceasefire, which began on 8 April and is due to expire on 21 April, remains a key concern for regional actors seeking to avoid further escalation.
Beyond Iran, the meeting also addressed Israel’s ongoing deadly strikes and killings in Lebanon.
Taken together, the quadrilateral talks reflect a growing recognition among regional powers that existing security arrangements are no longer sufficient to manage overlapping crises.
“One of the key drivers is the war on Iran,” one of the sources said. “It made countries realize that no single state can handle these crises alone.”
For some participants, the escalation has also prompted a reassessment of reliance on external partners. “Saudi Arabia realized, in a way, that it cannot rely solely on US protection,” a source familiar with the discussions said. “When Iran responded by targeting US assets in Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, it became clear that the primary US focus was on protecting Israel, not the region.”
This perception could shape a gradual shift towards greater regional coordination, even among countries that remain closely aligned with Washington.
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