ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday Iran’s ballistic missile program was not part of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between Tehran and Washington, warning that “spoilers” were trying to create confusion over the issue and derail the emerging peace process.
The memorandum, signed last week after months of conflict between Washington and Tehran, established a framework for a ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and negotiations toward a broader settlement of disputes. The first high-level talks held under the agreement in Switzerland last Sunday produced a roadmap toward a final deal within 60 days and established mechanisms to support its implementation.
“I would say with fullest command at my domain that this MoU does not mention about ballistic missiles,” Sharif said at a joint press stakeout with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during the latter’s visit to Islamabad, days after US and Iranian officials met in Bürgenstock under the framework of the Islamabad Memorandum.
“It was never on the table, it was never on the agenda and Iran side never wanted to even discuss about it.”
Sharif said there should be “no confusion” over the issue and warned that unnamed actors were seeking to undermine the diplomatic process.
“It must not be misconstrued, because there are spoilers all over the world to scuttle this peace deal,” he said.
The Pakistani premier also rejected what he described as double standards regarding missile capabilities.
“There cannot be double standards, two standards, that some countries can have ballistic missiles and Iran shouldn’t have,” he said.
“You cannot digest this kind of duplicity.”
Pezeshkian echoed Sharif’s position, saying Iran would not compromise on its missile program under any future agreement.
“I would like to say that if it was not for Iran’s missile capabilities, our country would have been plundered and destroyed and plowed by the US regime and the Zionist regime, like what the Israelis did in Gaza,” he said.
“We shall never compromise on our missile program and capabilities. And this shall never be part of any agreement between Iran and any other party.”
The text of the Islamabad Memorandum focuses on nuclear issues, including Iran’s commitment not to develop nuclear weapons, arrangements for enriched material and future negotiations on enrichment. The document does not contain any explicit reference to Iran’s ballistic missile program, which both Sharif and Pezeshkian said falls outside the scope of the agreement.
The Iranian president’s visit comes as Pakistan seeks to build on its role in mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran. Islamabad hosted the first direct high-level engagement between US and Iranian officials in April and helped facilitate a ceasefire that paved the way for the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum.
At talks held in Bürgenstock on Sunday, Pakistan and Qatar, who attended as mediators, announced that the parties had agreed on a roadmap toward reaching a final agreement within 60 days.
The mediators also said the sides had established a communication line to help safeguard commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and agreed to create a Lebanon-focused “de-confliction cell” aimed at supporting implementation of the accord.
