ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi on Sunday discussed developments relating to the US-Iran conflict in the Middle East during a phone call, the Pakistani foreign office said, as both sides halted attacks against each other after nearly two weeks of fighting.
The United States paused its attacks on Iran for a second straight day Sunday and Tehran said it had done so too as efforts continued to bring the countries back to negotiations on an interim ceasefire deal largely undermined by recent exchanges of fire.
The US targeted Iranian coastal areas and infrastructure in the nearly two-week escalation sparked by Iran’s firing at ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, with US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz telling Fox News President Donald Trump is “giving talks some space.”
The foreign minister of Pakistan, which emerged as a key intermediary between the US and Iran, received a phone call from IAEA chief Grossi on Sunday, during which they underscored the importance of continued diplomacy and constructive engagement in advancing regional and international peace and stability.
“Director General Grossi expressed hope that the parties would sustain dialogue and engagement following the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, with a view to achieving a peaceful and durable outcome,” the Pakistani foreign office said.
Pakistan facilitated contacts between senior US and Iranian officials that paved the way for last month’s interim peace agreement, called the Islamabad MoU, that included a 60-day ceasefire, reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and a timetable for a final deal on the war and Iran’s nuclear program.
The 60-day period that began when the interim deal was signed by both countries in mid-June is now well into its second half, and major issues that were meant to be negotiated -– notably Iran’s nuclear program at the heart of tensions -– remain set aside as mediators try to keep both sides talking.
A regional official involved in mediation efforts told AP diplomacy was underway and that a pause in US and Iranian strikes was a “positive signal that helps their efforts to de-escalate.”
The official said both countries want to return to the interim ceasefire deal and that a compromise being negotiated centers on having Iran run vessel transit through the Strait of Hormuz with fewer restrictions on ships. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Concerns continued about shipping on the strait and now on another crucial waterway in the region, the Bab Al-Mandeb strait to the Red Sea. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last week threatened a blockade of Saudi shipping there.
Global energy supplies and the economy remain in the balance as gasoline prices have risen again.
Iran on Sunday said it continued to speak with Oman about managing the safe passage of ships on the Strait of Hormuz, which passes between the countries. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said talks had made progress and continued.
Baghaei also said the strait’s status remained unchanged. Tehran has asserted that the interim deal with the US allows it to manage shipping on the waterway for now, and it has objected to US efforts to support a route through the strait that passes close to Oman instead. The strait was considered an international waterway before the war.
The US military on Saturday said its recently reimposed naval blockade against Iran continued, with a dozen commercial ships redirected, two disabled and two boarded. US forces “remain highly vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready,” it added.
With additional input from AP.
