ISLAMABAD: Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni will arrive in Islamabad today, Monday, with a high-level delegation for talks with Pakistani leaders, an interior ministry official said.
The visit comes as Pakistan seeks to keep alive diplomatic efforts between the United States and Iran despite renewed military escalation that has put a fragile peace process under severe strain.
Pakistan hosted direct talks between US and Iranian officials in April and maintained contacts with both sides behind the scenes before helping broker the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in June alongside Qatar. The agreement committed Washington and Tehran to halt hostilities and launch negotiations on broader disputes. It was followed by talks in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, where officials established a High-Level Committee and adopted a 60-day roadmap for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief and a dispute-resolution mechanism.
That process has since come under pressure following renewed fighting and competing accusations by Washington and Tehran that the other side violated the agreement. Pakistan has nevertheless maintained that diplomatic channels remain open and that it will continue efforts to facilitate dialogue.
“High-level Iranian delegation is arriving in Islamabad today for an official visit,” an official of the Interior Ministry told Arab News, declining to be named.
He said Momeni would meet Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and other Pakistani leaders.
The visit also highlights Pakistan’s increasingly delicate diplomatic position in the region. While Islamabad has sought to position itself as a mediator between Tehran and Washington, it also maintains a longstanding strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, including security cooperation under a mutual defense framework. Renewed attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement on Saudi Arabia have raised concerns of a broader regional conflict that could complicate Pakistan’s balancing act between Iran and Riyadh.
Pakistan has repeatedly called for restraint by all sides and said dialogue remains the only viable path to preventing a wider regional conflict.
Momeni’s visit also reflects growing bilateral engagement between Islamabad and Tehran. He and Naqvi have met several times in recent months to discuss border security, counterterrorism cooperation, immigration and cross-border trade, with both sides seeking closer coordination along their shared frontier.
