Pakistan's Imran Khan to visit Iran, Saudi Arabia: Report
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will embark on an official visit to Iran and Saudi Arabia as part of Islamabad’s efforts to defuse increasing tensions in the Middle East, diplomatic sources say.
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Khan will on Saturday leave Islamabad for Tehran, where he is scheduled to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday. The prime minister will later in the day travel to Riyadh for meetings with the Saudi leadership.
Pakistan's leading English-language newspaper Dawn on Friday said Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal, speaking at a weekly media briefing on Thursday, confirmed Khan’s upcoming trip.
“The visits of the prime minister to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran are on the cards,” he said.
The newspaper also said during Khan’s last visit to Riyadh, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had asked him to help defuse tensions with Iran.
The announcement of the Pakistani prime minister's visit comes after The New York Times quoted officials of Iraq and Pakistan as saying that the Saudi crown prince had asked the leaders of those two countries in recent weeks to speak with their Iranian counterparts about de-escalation.
In reaction to the report, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday that Iran will be a companion of Saudi Arabia if the kingdom changes course and pursues regional issues at the negotiating table instead of “killing people.”
“Under the circumstances that the Saudis have developed an interest in talking with Iran, if they pursue regional issues at the negotiating table, not by killing people, they will certainly have the Islamic Republic along with them,” Zarif said.
On the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month, Khan held talks with President Rouhani, telling him Islamabad was ready to have full cooperation with Tehran to ease tensions in the region.
The Pakistani prime minister made his first-ever official visit to Iran in April and held talks with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and senior Iranian officials, including President Rouhani.
In the meeting with Khan, Ayatollah Khamenei said terrorist groups backed by enemies of Iran and Pakistan seek to cause tension in the bilateral relations, adding that ties must be bolstered against the enemies’ will.
“Terrorist groups, which sow insecurity along borders, are fed with the enemies’ money and weapons and one of the goals sought through anti-security measures along Iran's border with Pakistan is to contaminate the two countries’ relations,” the Leader stated.
