ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir will visit Tehran on Monday for talks on regional peace, Iranian state media reported on Sunday, citing foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei.
The development comes after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran. He has also urged cooperation with Washington by China, which buys more than 80 percent of Iran’s shipped oil, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler. Beijing has urged diplomacy.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Baqaei said on Saturday the imminent US announcement of new economic sanctions was an “assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state of the United Nations.”
Pakistan, which helped broker an interim US-Iran peace deal in June, has been engaged with the leaderships of the US and Iran in efforts to broker peace between the two countries since their conflict broke out in February this year.
“Munir’s visit is taking place in line with Pakistan’s ongoing good offices to contribute to the reinforcement of peace and stability in the region,” the state-run IRNA News agency quoted Baqaei as telling reporters on Sunday.
“Munir would meet and hold talks with senior Iranian officials during his visit.”
After nearly six months of war since the US and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on February 28, the sides are not firing at each other but also showing no sign of pursuing peace talks.
Oil shipments are at a virtual standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran threatening to strike any unauthorized oil tankers that try to transit the vital waterway, and Iran’s economy is already under immense pressure from sanctions.
The two sides signed the interim deal, known as Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), on June 18 that set a 60-day period, extendable by mutual consent, within which Iran and the US were expected to reach a final deal limiting Tehran’s nuclear program and lifting US sanctions.
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also held talks with Munir on the latest regional developments and efforts to advance “political and diplomatic solutions,” IRNA reported.
Islamabad has repeatedly called for diplomacy to resolve the conflict and said last week it was making “all-out efforts” through direct and indirect channels to bring Washington and Tehran back to the negotiating table.
