Pakistan Army Chief, Qatari Negotiators Head to Tehran as US-Iran Deal Nears

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir left for Iran on Friday for talks expected to focus on the US-Iran conflict and regional peace efforts, a security source said, as Islamabad intensified its diplomatic engagement aimed at ending months of tensions between Tehran and Washington.

The visit comes as Pakistan has assumed an increasingly active mediation role since the beginning of the war in late February following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, with Islamabad maintaining close coordination with Tehran and Washington to prevent wider regional escalation.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA earlier cited a diplomatic source in Islamabad as saying Munir had departed for Tehran and was expected to meet senior Iranian officials during the visit.

“The field marshal is going to Iran,” a security source told Arab News Pakistan on condition of anonymity in a brief response to a query about the army chief’s visit.

Pakistan’s military leadership has played a pivotal role in the diplomatic process in recent months.

Munir will be joined by Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi, who has already met with Iranian leaders twice this week.

A Qatari negotiating team also arrived ​in Tehran on Friday in coordination with US to help secure a deal to ‌end ‌the ​war ‌and resolve ⁠outstanding issues, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters ⁠on Friday.

Doha, which has ‌worked ‌as ​a ‌mediator in the ‌Gaza war and other areas international tensions, had until ‌now distanced itself from playing a ⁠mediation ⁠role in the Iran war after it came under attack from Iranian missiles and drones during the latest ​conflict.

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US says ‘slight progress’ in Iran talks

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday there was “slight progress” during talks with Iran amid uncertainty about whether a deal will be reached or war will resume.

He spoke days after US President Donald Trump said he was holding off on a military strike against the Islamic Republic because “serious negotiations” were underway. Trump has been threatening for weeks that the ceasefire reached in mid-April could end if Iran does not make a deal, with shifting parameters for striking such an agreement.

Rubio spoke ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, where the military alliance is expected to discuss what role it could play in helping police the Strait of Hormuz once the war is over.

Rubio said he did not want to exaggerate the progress, saying there had been “a little bit of movement and that’s good.” He said the conversations were ongoing. In recent weeks there have been repeated claims of progress, but a deal has stayed out of reach.

* With AP and Reuters