- Field Marshal’s two Tehran visits this month signal “some positivity”: DG.
- Says “powerful spoilers and detractors” still want conflict to continue.
- Saudi and Turkish officials joined Field Marshal in Tehran on Monday.
Pakistan’s military is “cautiously optimistic” about its mediation efforts between Iran and the United States, its spokesman said on Friday in his first interview since a high-level delegation visited Tehran earlier this week.
Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, who is leading Pakistan’s efforts to de-escalate the eight-month-old Iran war, has visited Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday alongside Saudi and Turkish officials.
“Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course,” spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said when asked whether the visits were a positive sign.
“The word that we would use is always cautiously optimistic,” added Lt Gen Chaudhry, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
He said there were still “powerful spoilers and detractors” who believed the conflict served their interests, without naming them.
Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin accompanied Munir to Tehran on Monday.
After the talks, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said regional security should be ensured by countries in the region without foreign intervention.
The latest diplomatic efforts come as Pakistan seeks to facilitate an end to the conflict between Iran and the US, which has also involved Israel and triggered wider regional tensions.
