Pakistan says its army is “cautiously optimistic” about mediation between Iran and the United States as regional countries seek to revive a ceasefire in the eight-month-old war.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, spokesperson for Pakistan’s military, suggested on Friday that there were positive signs in attempts to de-escalate the conflict. His comments to the Reuters news agency were the first since a high-level delegation visited Tehran this week.
Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief mediator, has been to Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday alongside Saudi and Turkish officials.
“Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course,” Chaudhry said when asked whether the trips were a positive sign.
“The word that we would use is always cautiously optimistic,” added Chaudhry, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations.
The spokesperson, however, also warned that there are parties seeking to obstruct mediation between the US and Iran.
There are still “powerful spoilers and detractors”, who believe conflict serves them, he added without naming the parties.
Speaking in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan’s armed forces are headquartered, Chaudhry declined to say what was discussed in Tehran or whether the US had backed the trip.
His comments on Friday came as Qatari mediators arrived in Tehran in another apparent bid to negotiate a revival of the June ceasefire that collapsed months later.
Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin joined Pakistan’s Munir in Tehran on Monday.
Their two countries signed a joint defence pact with Pakistan on August 7, saying an attack on any signatory will be treated as an attack on all.
The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement has taken on added significance as the Iran war has redrawn regional alliances and raised fears of a broader Middle East conflict.
While the three signatories say the agreement is aimed at collective deterrence and regional security, analysts see its evolution as closely tied to efforts by regional powers to manage the fallout from the Iran-US confrontation.
After Monday’s talks, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said regional security should be ensured by regional countries without foreign intervention.
The wording of the pact does not bar new members, Chaudhry said on Friday when asked whether Iran could join.
“Anyone who has a shared vision of collective deterrence and regional peace, why not? Everyone is most welcome,” he said, adding that it was for the political leadership of the three principal parties to decide.
Asked whether more Pakistani troops were being sent to Saudi Arabia under the agreement, Chaudhry said that would depend on the situation and the decision of both countries’ political leadership.
He said Pakistan was committed to defending Saudi Arabia and the holy sites of Mecca and Medina. “We are not part of the Yemeni conflict, which is an intra-Yemen conflict,” he added.
Fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group has been reignited by the Iran conflict, stoking fears of a wider war.
