Shafaqna Pakistan: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has stressed the importance of continued consultations between Tehran and Islamabad for promoting regional peace and security, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday.
His remarks came amid renewed hostilities between Iran and the United States in the Middle East. Iran said on Wednesday that it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers, marking the largest reported wave of retaliatory attacks on shipping by the two sides since the six-month-old conflict began.
Pakistan, which has played a key mediating role between Washington and Tehran, led diplomatic efforts with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye to end the conflict that erupted on February 28. The initiative resulted in an interim peace agreement in June, but the understanding broke down soon afterwards as both sides resumed hostilities.
On Wednesday, FM Araghchi met Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan Dr Reza Amiri Moghadam, who presented a report on the latest status of bilateral relations and the embassy’s plans and actions to further strengthen and develop relations between the two neighboring countries, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
“Dr Araqchi also appreciated the constructive role of the Pakistani leadership in facilitating the path of diplomacy and considered the continuation of consultations between the two countries essential to ensure mutual benefits and help ensure regional security and stability,” the news agency reported.
Iranian forces have restricted traffic through Hormuz, a vital energy conduit, since the start of the war with the United States on February 28. The US has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.
The renewed attacks have sent the price of oil surging, with benchmark Brent crude futures breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July. At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing.
In recent weeks Washington had boasted of increasing success guiding tankers through the strait, which carried a fifth of oil supplies before the war. But any such gradual reopening appears to have been set back by a resumption of fighting this month.
Source: Dunya News
