Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni met senior Pakistani officials on Tuesday as regional mediators intensified efforts to revive the collapsed ceasefire agreement between Tehran and Washington, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
The visit comes amid the country’s increased diplomatic efforts to restore negotiations between Iran and the US, although it remains unclear whether a new framework can be agreed upon at all to halt the escalating war.
According to two Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were held behind closed doors, Momeni met Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir in Islamabad. He was also scheduled to hold talks later on Tuesday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Pakistan, which has been one of the primary mediators between Washington and Tehran helped broker last month’s interim agreement and following the deal’s collapse has been working to persuade both sides to resume negotiations over unresolved issues contained in June’s memorandum of understanding, which has effectively unravelled following a sharp escalation in fighting over the past week.
Pakistani authorities did not immediately release details of Tuesday’s meetings.
The diplomatic discussions took place even as Iran continued its attacks against Gulf Arab states allied with the US. Although US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said that Washington remained willing to negotiate with Tehran, he stressed that “it has to be real.”
However, President Donald Trump has been far more aggressive in his rhetoric and vowed vengeance after three US service members were killed over the weekend.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump warned that “every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!”, signalling that the US would continue to respond militarily even as efforts towards a diplomatic breakthrough remain ongoing.
