Pakistan - Iran News / Discussion

[ghazi52]

The invitations came roughly 36 hours after US President Donald Trump announced he had canceled imminent strikes against Iran. Trump said allies had urged him to hold off because a deal appeared imminent.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Trump and persuaded him to call off the planned military action. Trump had also named UAE and Qatar as among the countries that had asked him to cancel the planned strikes.

Iran has been holding talks with Oman about the future of the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian authorities say they are close to an agreement but have not indicated whether the waterway would reopen or remain closed.

Pakistan has been relatively quiet on the mediation front compared with earlier efforts that produced the Islamabad MoU. It has, however, remained engaged through back channels with Iran and, together with Qatar, proposed a ceasefire plan during a nearly 13-day period of escalation.

 

[ghazi52]

Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday insisted that Pakistan is the main mediator with US. Spokesman Esmail Baqaei said: “The mediator in the discussions related to Iran and the US is Pakistan, and Qatar also helps in cases where necessary. To say that we have added a new mediator to the existing mediators is not, in the strict sense of the word, the case.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump accused Iran’s leadership of being “unbelievably duplicitous” after Tehran denied that any negotiations were underway with the US. The exchange renewed threats from Trump, who warned Iran faced “decapitation” and said he would keep up military pressure until there was a “deal, or total surrender”.

“I think we’re going to maybe get something, but I want to give them every last chance before decapitation,” Trump said, reiterating his threat to launch a major attack on Iran.

The war of words follows a familiar pattern in the five-month conflict between Washington and Tehran.