Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is set to visit Pakistan from Monday to Wednesday, in a diplomatic move that signifies the first such visit following a brief surge in tensions between the two neighboring countries in January.
President Asif Ali Zardari (L) © Mena Today
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is set to visit Pakistan from Monday to Wednesday, in a diplomatic move that signifies the first such visit following a brief surge in tensions between the two neighboring countries in January.
This visit, as announced by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is seen as a step towards mending the frayed ties after a hostile start to the year.
President Raisi, accompanied by his foreign minister and a delegation of businessmen, is scheduled to meet Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
His itinerary also includes stops in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan's major eastern and southern cities, respectively. The visit aims to foster diplomatic and economic ties, culminating with Raisi's departure to Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
Relations between Tehran and Islamabad soured dramatically when Iran conducted a missile and drone attack against a "terrorist" group on Pakistani soil on January 16.
Pakistan retaliated two days later by targeting "terrorist hideouts" in Iran. These confrontations in the Baluchistan region, which straddles the border of the two countries, resulted in the deaths of 11 people, primarily women and children, according to authorities.
After a brief period of discord, both countries announced a normalization of relations. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, during a visit to Islamabad, emphasized that Iran and Pakistan would not let terrorism jeopardize their relationship.
The two nations have frequently accused each other of allowing rebel groups to operate from their territories to launch attacks.
The two countries have also been in talks for years regarding a gas pipeline project. Initiated with great fanfare in March 2013, the $7.5 billion project stalled due to Pakistan's financial constraints, preventing it from constructing its portion of the pipeline.
In February, Islamabad authorized the commencement of work on an initial 80 km section of the pipeline to avoid paying billions of dollars in delay penalties to Tehran. However, the United States reiterated its opposition to the project in March.
The Strait of Hormuz is "under Iran's control and management", the head of Iran's Basij paramilitary unit, Hossein Taeb, said on Thursday, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
U.S. President Donald Trump accused Iran of being "devious negotiators" in an interview released late on Monday and described some of his current options in the war — "just bop along" and let Tehran fail economically or hit them "really, really hard."
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