Prime Minister Imran Khan met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of 74th UNGA session in New York.
The meeting between PM Imran and President Rouhani comes after US President Donald Trump asked PM Imran to mediate between the United States and Iran.
A year ago, President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out from the nuclear deal, which had been negotiated by the Obama administration, and since then has increased sanctions on the Iran regime. As a reaction, Iran has warned the European powers still in the deal that it too would begin to back out of the agreement.
The tensions further increased after the destructive attacks of 14 September on Saudi oil facilities. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels said they had carried out the attacks, but both the US and its closest ally Saudi Arabia, Iran’s biggest regional rival said Iran was behind these strikes, that Tehran has strongly denied.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi while speaking to reporters in New York said PM Imran had made it clear to the US president that the region could not afford any war, as any military action would create drastic impacts.
“During the Saudi visit too, the prime minister had suggested an amicable solution to the US-Iran standoff,” Qureshi said.
Answering to the question, Qureshi said President Trump had expressed trust in Khan’s leadership. He said PM Khan had explained Pakistan’s clear, categorical and strong stance on Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Iran to President Trump.
“The prime minister talked on three issues. There was no ambiguity in it. It had no flexibility,” he mentioned.