ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephone conversation with the Foreign Minister of Iran, Seyed Abbas Araghchi.
Both sides discussed bilateral ties reaffirming their resolve to deepen cooperation, Radio Pakistan reported.
During the conversation, regional and global developments of mutual interest were also discussed.
Last week, eight Pakistani nationals were killed in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province.
Pakistan strongly condemned the killing of its nationals in Iran.
In a statement, the Foreign Office Spokesperson said, “We hope for the Iranian side’s full cooperation in investigating the matter and in timely repatriation of victims’ remains.”
Mediation efforts
During today’s conversation, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister also expressed the hope that mediation efforts between the US and Iran will lead to peace, security and development.
On Saturday, Iran and the United States have agreed to hold another round of talks next week over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The second round of US-Iran talks was held in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long dispute.
Iranian officials described the talks as indirect, like those last weekend in Muscat, Oman, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi shuttling between them in different rooms.
The second round of the talks was held after a week of the first round of indirect talks in Muscat that both sides described as constructive.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff interacted briefly at the end of the first round, but officials from the two countries have not held direct negotiations since 2015 under former US President Barack Obama.
Araqchi, in a meeting with his Italian counterpart ahead of the talks, said Iran had always been committed to diplomacy and called on “all parties involved in the talks to seize the opportunity to reach a reasonable and logical nuclear deal”.
