Islamabad, Aug 12: Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has held talks with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran to follow up on the stalled US-Iran peace negotiations, according to media reports.
An interim peace agreement, which Pakistan signed as a guarantor, derailed last month as tensions escalated in West Asia with the US and Iran resuming military strikes. Islamabad is actively pushing to revive its mediation efforts to end the US-Iran conflict.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said at a press briefing in Islamabad on Wednesday that it was trying to resolve the conflict between the US and Iran with the help of other regional countries.
“Pakistan remains engaged alongside its brotherly states in sincere efforts to resolve the crisis,” said Andrabi, when asked about Naqvi’s Tehran visit. “Pakistan will continue to offset spoilers using direct and indirect channels and enable continuation of constructive dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues.”
Naqvi arrived in the Iranian capital on Tuesday for talks on bilateral ties and issues of mutual interest, according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA.
He was received at the airport by his Iranian counterpart, Eskandar Momeni, and later held talks with Araghchi.
In his meeting with the Iranian president, Naqvi described the relationship between the neighbours as “strong, long-standing and unbreakable” and conveyed Islamabad’s “serious determination and will” to pursue the comprehensive development of ties with Tehran, according to a diplomatic source.
President Pezeshkian noted that Iran-Pakistan relations would serve the two countries’ national interests as well as contribute to regional stability and security, the source added.
According to the Dawn newspaper, the principal objective of Naqvi’s visit was to follow up on the stalled Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in June by the US and Iran, aimed at opening a 60-day window for high-level talks aimed at restoring peace.
But the talks collapsed after tensions between the two sides escalated again in mid-July.
Pakistan’s efforts to revive the talks have so far failed to yield results, especially after Oman took the lead as a mediator to address the key sticking point, Strait of Hormuz, which is crucial for global energy supplies.
Iran has said it is close to reaching a separate deal with Oman to manage the Strait, which runs between the two countries.
The Strait of Hormuz, which witnessed partial relief for a brief period after the signing of the MoU in June, now remains blocked following the collapse of the US-Iran negotiations, as Iran and Oman negotiate a new arrangement for safe passage through the strait.
The reported progress in the Oman-Iran dialogue has created an opportunity for Islamabad to move towards reviving the broader process that had emerged from the June agreement, the diplomatic source said.
Andrabi on Wednesday said Naqvi’s Tehran visit provided the two countries the opportunity to discuss “bilateral relations, security-related matters, and regional development, with a particular focus on efforts to promote peace, stability, and constructive engagement amongst the parties in the region and regional developments”.
Pakistan recently invited Araghchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf to visit Islamabad at the “earliest possible opportunity”. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, however, said on Monday that the visit of the two Iranian leaders would take place “at an appropriate time”.
Naqvi’s Tehran visit assumes significance because it is being seen as an effort by Pakistan to keep the mediation channel active while Iranian leaders take their own time to decide on visiting Islamabad for further talks.
Meanwhile, Iran ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam called on Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on Wednesday and briefed him on “progress under various bilateral institutional mechanisms aimed at strengthening cooperation across diverse areas,” Dar’s office said in a post.
Dar, who is also Pakistan’s foreign minister, “reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to further deepening engagement with Iran in key priority areas”, it said.
The two sides also exchanged views on “the evolving regional situation” and Dar underscored that “dialogue and diplomacy remain the only effective means of addressing outstanding issues and achieving lasting peace, stability and prosperity in the region,” it added.
