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.
Iran and the United States will hold a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran's atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump's threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. was for now unwilling to support such a move, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
In a defiant speech on Friday evening, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, insisted that the group “will not allow anyone to disarm it,” rejecting growing internal calls for the Lebanese state to reclaim exclusive control over the country’s weapons.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.