ISLAMABAD: As part of Pakistan’s efforts to help broker an end to the war in the Middle East, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will pay official visits to Iran and Turkey from July 3 to 6, sources in the PM Office said. Dawn on Monday.
The US military said it carried out new strikes on early Sunday on multiple targets in Iran, in response to a fresh Iranian attack on a ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran responded by launching strikes against US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait before both sides agreed to halt attacks.
Sources said that during his visit, the prime minister will meet the leadership of both Iran and Turkey and call on Tehran and Washington to exercise restraint, particularly following the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as part of the peace process.
The strikes underscored the fragility of the Pakistan-brokered interim peace deal aimed at ending a war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and rattled global energy markets.
Yesterday, Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said that “we should reach a new framework that includes all countries in the region and without the presence or interference of any country from outside the region”.
This echoed a proposal put forward by Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier this week, who called for a new “regional security structure” among regional countries.
Pezeshkian floated the concept during a visit to Pakistan, where he expressed gratitude to PM Shehbaz and Chief of Defense Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir for their efforts to bring about an end to the war.
