Iran, Pakistan vow to expand relations

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – Pakistan’s newly-appointed foreign minister on his first official visit to Tehran on Tuesday held wide-ranging talks with his Iranian counterpart to discuss bilateral and regional issues.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s two-day visit to Iran is the first by a top-ranked Pakistani official since the formation of a new government in Islamabad in April.

Following their delegation-level talks, Zardari and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian reaffirmed their commitment to expand bilateral ties. The talks dwelt on a range of issues, including export of gas and electricity, religious tourism, and border markets, Amir-Abdollahian said.

Zardari, for his part, said Islamabad seeks ways to enhance relations with Tehran, underlining areas of cooperation such as border management, religious tourism and cultural cooperation.

The two sides also discussed regional issues, including Afghanistan, Ukraine, Palestine, while emphasizing that Iran is “opposed to war” in Ukraine and offers to mediate between Moscow and Kiev to resolve the simmering crisis.

The stalled nuclear deal talks and the recent vote against Iran at the UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors meeting also figured in their discussions, Iran’s foreign minister told reporters.

Last week, the UN nuclear watchdog adopted a resolution against Iran, drafted by the US and three European countries, calling on Tehran to step up its cooperation with the agency.

Pakistan was one of the three countries, apart from India and Libya, to abstain from the vote, while Russia and China voted against it.

In response, Iran switched off IAEA cameras operating beyond safeguards agreement at its nuclear sites and fed gas into advanced IR-6 centrifuges, fueling fresh tensions.