Pezeshkian says Iran is not at war with Saudi Arabia as Gulf tensions rise

Tehran draws a distinction

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on September 13 that Tehran was not at war with Saudi Arabia, distancing the Iranian state from the immediate dispute between Riyadh and Yemen’s Houthi movement. He described the Houthis as having their own grievances and called for governments across the region to cooperate in establishing peace and security. The remarks were reported by Al Jazeera from his appearance in New Delhi.

The intervention matters because Saudi Arabia has faced a renewed series of Houthi attacks while fighting in Yemen has moved closer to the Bab el-Mandeb shipping corridor. Pezeshkian’s formulation did not announce a treaty, ceasefire or change in Iran’s relationship with the Houthis. It did, however, publicly reject the idea that the latest escalation should be treated as a direct interstate war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Escalation raises the diplomatic cost

The European Union said on September 8 that recent Houthi attacks had struck civilian and economic infrastructure in southern Saudi Arabia and injured 73 civilians, including women and children. The EU characterised those attacks as a dangerous regional escalation and demanded an end to attacks inside and outside Yemen, including operations against commercial shipping. That official account establishes the security context in which Pezeshkian made his appeal.

The wider regional picture is more complicated than the Iranian president’s Saudi-focused message. In a separate September 4 statement, the European Commission condemned Iranian attacks against Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, as well as attacks on Saudi commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz. It urged all parties to avoid further escalation and protect civilians under international humanitarian law.

A signal, not a settlement

Pezeshkian’s remarks therefore amount to diplomatic positioning rather than a settlement of responsibility for recent attacks. They seek to preserve a channel with Riyadh while separating Iran’s bilateral relationship with the kingdom from Houthi military decisions. Saudi authorities and their partners will still judge that distinction against Iran’s material and political relationship with the Yemeni group, as well as Tehran’s own conduct elsewhere in the Gulf.

The next test is whether the statement is followed by direct Iranian-Saudi contacts or practical pressure for de-escalation in Yemen and around international waterways. Regional meetings on navigation may provide an opportunity, but no signed arrangement was announced with Pezeshkian’s remarks. Until military activity diminishes or governments publish concrete commitments, the declaration is best understood as an effort to contain the diplomatic fallout from a widening conflict.