\u2022 Exploratory talks held during Iranian interior minister\u2019s recent Islamabad visit
\u2022 Dar meets Araghchi at SCO summit; Qatar calls for implementing Islamabad MoU
\u2022 Beijing concerned as Red Sea closure would compound Hormuz woes
\u2022 Trump says Iran getting serious about talks; warns China, Russia against \u2018getting involved\u2019 in conflict
\u2022 Says US will punish Iran for attacks on ships by Houthi rebels
\u2022 Four die as US continues strikes on Iran<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ISLAMABAD \/ DUBAI: Pakistan is said to be exploring a path towards a resumption of stalled US-Iran talks to end their nearly five-month-old war, following a push initiated by China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The development came as US missiles struck targets across Iran <\/a>on Friday after President Donald Trump vowed \u201cmajor military punishment\u201d for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint, the mouth of the Red Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Reuters<\/em>, exploratory discussions for the fresh push towards talks took place during a visit by Iran\u2019s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni to Islamabad this week<\/a>, his second within the last 10 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier this week, Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels had declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia<\/a>, which signed a mutual defence treaty<\/a> with Pakistan last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beijing, which has consistently backed Pakistan\u2019s mediation efforts, had dispatched its special envoy in March to lead a shuttle-diplomacy trip around the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China\u2019s interests are being harmed by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and disruptions to the Red Sea route would hit another key trade route Beijing relies on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement, China\u2019s foreign ministry said \u201cChina supports the mediation efforts made by Pakistan and other parties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It added that China will continue to \u201cplay an active role in restoring peace and tranquility in the Middle East Gulf region as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Separately, Qatar\u2019s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani called on all parties to commit to dialogue and to implement the terms of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This includes \u201censuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, to preserve regional security, safeguard the gains achieved, and enhance regional stability\u201d, the Qatari foreign ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheikh Mohammed made the remarks in Doha during a meeting with the new British foreign secretary, Ed Miliband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Implementing the memorandum was necessary to preserve regional security, safeguard the gains achieved and strengthen stability, Sheikh Mohammed said, reiterating Qatar\u2019s full support for efforts to defuse tensions and reach a comprehensive agreement securing lasting peace in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Serious about talks\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said Friday that he had not decided on whether to launch major strikes on Iran as Tehran was now getting \u201cvery serious\u201d in talks with Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLook, we\u2019re talking to them right now. I think they\u2019re getting more and more serious as the days go by, for maybe the obvious reason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier, in a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump said that he does not believe China or Russia are \u201cparticipating\u201d in the ongoing Iran conflict, but warned that if they did get inv\u00ado\u00adlved \u201cit would be very bad for them\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump also said that he would hold Iran accountable for any further attacks by Yemeni fighters, \u201cand major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iranian media cited the head of Iran\u2019s top joint military command as saying Iran would kill a member of the US forces for every Iranian killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Friday, US missiles struck a Revolutionary Guards Navy headquarters in the Ziba Kenar area of the Caspian Sea province of Gilan, according to a security official in Gilan. Provincial authorities said US projectiles had also struck the port city of Bandar Anzali, according to the ILNA<\/em> news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four people were killed and five injured in a US attack on the Iranian city of Ahvaz, the state broadcaster IRIB<\/em> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diplomatic contacts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Ara\u00adg\u00adhchi, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation\u2019s Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement, the Foreign Office said the two top diplomats reviewed the ongoing regional situation and bilateral ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDPM\/FM expressed deep concern over recent regional tensions and underscored the importance of dialogue, restraint, de-escalation by all sides, and sustained diplomatic engagement to achieve lasting peace and stability,\u201d the FO said in a post on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe emphasised the need to build on the understandings reached und\u00ader the Islamabad MoU of June 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe two sides agreed to maintain close coordination and regular consultations on issues of mutual interest and reaffirmed their commitment to working together for regional peace, stability and shared prosperity,\u201d the statement concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Separately, in his remarks at the SCO summit, Mr Dar said: \u201cPakistan firmly believes that dialogue, diplomacy and mutual respect provide the only sustainable way forward to resolve conflicts and achieve durable peace and security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that this principle led to Pakistan hosting talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad in April, \u201cenabling first high-level direct diplomatic contact between the two sides after 47 years\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Dar then urged the international community to seize the opportunity provided by the Islamabad MoU and US-Iran technical talks to push for lasting peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2022 Exploratory talks held during Iranian interior minister\u2019s recent Islamabad visit\u2022 Dar meets Araghchi at SCO summit; Qatar calls for implementing Islamabad MoU\u2022 Beijing concerned..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-25-094000.png",443,445,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-25-094000-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-25-094000-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-25-094000.png",443,445,false],"large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-25-094000.png",443,445,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-25-094000.png",443,445,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-25-094000.png",443,445,false]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"World<\/a>","tag_info":"World","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7467,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7466\/revisions\/7467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}