Iraq’s prime minister assures Saudi crown prince Iraqi territory will not be used for attacks

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, and assured him that Iraq would not allow its territory to be used for attacks on Saudi Arabia or other countries in the region, according to Al Jazeera’s account of a statement from al-Zaidi’s office. The visit came after a drone strike on a Saudi oil pipeline that Riyadh said originated in Iraq.

Al Jazeera described the trip as al-Zaidi’s first visit to Saudi Arabia since he took office in May. The National reported that the Saudi Press Agency published footage and photographs of the meeting. Neither report supplied an exact time for the leaders’ talks.

What al-Zaidi told Mohammed bin Salman

Al Jazeera attributed the assurance to the Iraqi News Agency, which cited a statement from the prime minister’s office. The office described Iraq’s position as a commitment not to allow its territory to be used as a launching point for actions that threaten Saudi Arabia or other regional countries. According to Al Jazeera, the statement also referred to good neighbourliness and respect for sovereignty. The account gave no details of an agreement or enforcement measure arising from the meeting.

The Iraqi prime minister’s office said the two sides discussed recent regional developments and coordination to strengthen regional security and stability, The National reported. That account identifies the subject of the talks but gives no further detail about any decisions the leaders reached. The reported assurance is the clearest public indication of Iraq’s position from the visit.

Why the East-West pipeline strike matters

Al Jazeera put the pipeline’s maximum capacity at seven million barrels a day. It reported that Saudi Arabia said the drone attack originated in Iraq and that an Iraqi investigation concluded the strikes had been launched from Iraqi territory. Those accounts address the reported launch location; the available reporting does not independently establish who launched the drones. Al-Zaidi’s pledge therefore speaks directly to the use of Iraqi territory, while responsibility for the attack remains a separate question.

Riyadh visit amid wider regional fighting

The National reported that al-Zaidi was the first foreign leader to visit Riyadh since a deadly Houthi attack on the city’s airport. According to its account, the airport had been attacked four times, and a Saturday attack killed 13 people. The same report said authorities had closed King Khalid International Airport until 17 October and that airlines had cancelled flights to Saudi Arabia. It said al-Zaidi’s means of travel was unknown.

The National traced the current fighting to a longer Saudi involvement in Yemen. Saudi Arabia intervened in the civil war in 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government after the Houthis seized Sanaa, it reported. A UN-brokered truce in 2022 sustained a fragile peace until this year, when, according to The National, Saudi Arabia resumed its military campaign after Houthi gains along the Red Sea coast toward the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

The fighting is also affecting civilians far from the leaders’ meeting. The National reported that the Red Cross said on Wednesday that hospitals across Yemen were struggling with a sharp rise in war casualties as fighting intensified on multiple fronts. It also reported the World Food Programme’s warning that it and its partners could not reach more than 600,000 people in Taiz who depend on aid, including more than 200,000 women and children, after Houthi fighters encircled the government-held city earlier in October.