Saudi Arabia and Syria signed a cooperation agreement between the two countries’ defense ministries on Wednesday, Saudi state ​news agency SPA reported, as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group continues ‌its missile and drone attacks on the kingdom.

The agreement was signed during a visit by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to Riyadh, where he met ​Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It was their ​second meeting in Saudi Arabia in less than a ⁠month, according to Reuters.

No details were provided on what the agreement entails. Reuters ​reported last month that Syria was carefully weighing providing military assistance to ​Saudi Arabia amid the kingdom’s escalating war against the Houthis in Yemen.

A Syrian diplomat said at the time that any request for military cooperation or ​exchange of expertise “would take place exclusively through official channels and ​within the framework of the bilateral agreements governing relations between our two brotherly ‌countries.”

Saudi ⁠Arabia has been requesting assistance far and wide, from the US to Europe and the Middle East, for both defensive and offensive support in a renewed war against the Houthis.

The two countries ​also signed several ​other agreements during ⁠Sharaa’s visit to Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has been providing financial assistance to Syria and played ​a key role in re-establishing Damascus’ ties with ​world ⁠powers after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

The Saudi Fund for Development signed six agreements with Syria’s Finance Ministry on Wednesday for the ⁠provision of ​concessional development loans worth over $403 million ​to support development and service sectors in Syria, the Syrian ministry said.

Contacts between Iran and the United States to end their eight-month war are continuing, Tehran said on Monday, after days of Iranian talks with Qatari mediators ended with altered proposals but no breakthrough.

“Consultations through mediators ​are very intensive. We have presented our conditions and proposals and everything depends on the political rationality of Washington,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in ‌comments carried by state media outlet IRNA.

Amid fears the conflict could reignite after Tuesday’s midterm elections in the United States, China and Russia both spoke out on Monday against the possibility of renewed military action in a war that has hit the global economy.

While oil prices fell nearly 4% on Monday on hopes that the latest round of mediation could lead to a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Iranian ​sources said they believed a new US attack was still more likely than a deal.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the plan Iran had submitted in September to ​end the war remained the focus of discussions, but he confirmed comments attributed to Araqchi on Saturday that the proposal could be shortened.

“The basis ⁠of dialogue and talks between Iran and the US via mediators is still Iran’s seven-step proposal, which is now condensed, making it possible to implement it within two days,” he said.

US President ​Donald Trump rejected the seven-step proposal in September.

The plan would call for the US to end its blockade on Iranian ports, Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz waterway, a US waiver ​on Iranian oil sales, the cancellation of new sanctions on Iran and then talks on other issues.

Baghaei reiterated that condensing the plan would not change Iran’s underlying stance that a return to talks on the country’s nuclear programme could only happen after it verified that all its conditions were met.

Asked whether the possibility of transferring Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile to another country was raised in the talks, and whether Iran might agree to that, ​he said no.

An official briefed on the talks said Iran’s negotiators had left on Sunday but not because of any problems in the talks, and added that a draft proposal was ​being circulated without elaborating.

Qatari mediators traveled to Tehran on Monday night for talks with Araqchi on a version of the draft US-Iran deal that has been under negotiation for the past eight days, an official briefed ‌on the ⁠talks said.

On Monday, Trump said Iran wants to make a deal to end the war and that such an agreement “could happen.” He did not immediately provide details.

The war, which the US and Israel launched suddenly on February 28, has led to Iran’s closure of the key Strait of Hormuz waterway, the US blockade on Iranian ports, repeated bouts of Iranian drone and missile fire on Gulf states and renewed conflict in Yemen.

Trump has repeatedly said there would be no new attack on Iran before Tuesday’s midterm elections. Iran has said it will respond to any resumed ​attack aggressively with plans to strike targets both ​within and outside the Middle East.

China’s Foreign ⁠Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that all parties to the conflict should focus on political solutions rather than resorting to arms again, after a meeting with senior Iranian security official Ali Bagheri Kani in Beijing.

China, a major customer for Gulf energy products, is engaging more actively in ​Middle East diplomacy this week, hosting Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, whose country flanks the southern side of the Strait of Hormuz.

Wang ​also met Saudi Arabia’s national ⁠security advisor Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban in Beijing on Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry said, adding that all sides should work to safeguard regional energy and shipping lane security.

In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said reports of new military action against Iran were a cause for extreme concern and called for increased diplomatic efforts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei on Monday, Iranian ⁠state media ​reported.

Underscoring the risks to global energy supply, a Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker was struck in the Gulf by ​unidentified objects on Friday, its operator Nakilat said on Sunday.

While attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf and Red Sea have been common during the conflict, attacks on LNG carriers have been rare, with the last reported incident with a ​Qatari tanker happening in early July.