ISLAMABAD: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Pakistan on Sunday following completing a brief visit to Oman as Islamabad intensified diplomatic efforts to revive stalled talks between Washington and Tehran.
He is undertaking the trip against the backdrop of ongoing diplomatic efforts, notably by Pakistan, to bring Tehran and Washington to the table to talks aimed at ending the conflict that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
In Oman, Araghchi held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
The Iranian foreign minister is scheduled to depart for Moscow following his engagements in Pakistan.
Earlier, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that Araghchi would stop again in Islamabad before travelling to Russia.
According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, Araghchi is expected to meet Pakistani officials during his return visit to convey “Iran’s positions and views on the framework of any understanding to completely end the war”.
Araghchi had been in Islamabad only the day before, after which he travelled to Oman, while other Iranian envoys had headed back to Tehran “to consult and obtain the necessary instructions on issues related to ending the war”, according to ISNA news agency.
Before Saturday’s Iran-Pakistan meetings in Islamabad, the White House had announced that Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were planning to leave for Pakistan to engage in further negotiations.
But Trump later told Fox News he had scrapped the trip, saying there was no point “sitting around talking about nothing”.
He dismissed Tehran’s negotiating position, but added that it had revised its proposal within minutes of his decision.
“They gave us a paper that should have been better and — interestingly — immediately when I cancelled it, within 10 minutes, we got a new paper that was much better,” he told reporters, without elaborating.
Also read:Trump cancels envoys’ Islamabad trip, dealing blow to US-Iran peace efforts
