Pakistan hopes US, Iran will engage constructively in peace talks
- Dar reiterates Islamabad’s desire to continue facilitating the parties
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday expressed the hope that Iran and the United States would engage constructively for resolution of the Middle East crisis.
The DPM Dar reiterated Pakistan’s desire to continue facilitating the parties towards reaching lasting and durable solution to the conflict, the Foreign Office (FO) stated.
The deputy prime minister expressed this desire as a high-powered US delegation led by US Vice President J.D. Vance along with President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner arrived in Islamabad to participate in Islamabad Talks.
The US delegation was received by DPM Dar, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, and Minister for Interior Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi upon arrival.
Welcoming the US Vice President, the DPM/FM commended US commitment to achieving lasting regional and global peace and stability.
Earlier, senior Iranian leaders also arrived in Islamabad on Friday for negotiations to end their six-week-old war, although Tehran wanted assurance for commitments on Lebanon and sanctions as well.
The Iranian delegation is led by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
These will be the highest-level U.S.-Iran talks since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the first official face-to-face negotiations between the two sides since 2015, when the two sides reached a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Trump scrapped the nuclear deal in 2018 during his first term in office. That same year, Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war six weeks ago, banned further direct talks between U.S. and Iranian officials.
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