It hasn’t lasted 24 hours in Pakistan. The Foreign Minister of Iran, Abbas Araqchí, left Islamabad this Saturday after holding a long day of meetings with senior Pakistani military and civilian authorities without waiting for the arrival of the United States government envoyswho had initially announced their trip to the capital of Pakistan for this Saturday.
As Pakistani diplomatic sources have informed EFE, Araqchí, who from the beginning had indicated that his trip did not include any meeting with US representatives, He has left the country with his delegation heading to Oman, the next stop on his tour that will also take him to Russia..
The minister arrived in Islamabad on Friday night, after an announcement that raised many expectations about the resumption of peace negotiations, which were expected to be held last Wednesday but which were stalled due to Tehran’s refusal to dialogue with the United States if the embargo against Iranian ports and commercial shipping imposed by Washington was not first lifted.
In fact, the government of President Donald Trump announced that same day that his representatives in these negotiations, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, would travel to Islamabad today, although there is still no news of their departure for the Pakistani capital.
A visit with meetings, although not with the US
During his stay, Aragchi met with the head of the Pakistan Defense Forces and main mediator between the US and Iran, Asim Munir, as well as with the Pakistani Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, and the Foreign Minister, Muhammad Ishaq Dar, as well as other representatives of the Pakistani military and security establishment.
Araqchi has conveyed Iran’s fundamental positions regarding the latest events related to the truce and the definitive end of the conflict.
Several Pakistani media have reported at the end of the meetings that, among other things, the Iranians expressed their “total reservation” regarding the US demands and that what What they request is “the lifting of the blockade and the stopping of American attacks.”.
Furthermore, as they had already reported before arriving in Islamabad, the Iranians said that “There will not be a direct meeting with the American delegation“.
The US argued the day before that its envoys were going to travel to Islamabad after having received an Iranian request to resume face-to-face negotiations and after having identified “some progress” on the part of Tehran.
The Iranian authorities categorically denied this American assessment and maintained from the beginning that this meeting was not going to take place.
Araqchí’s presence in Islamabad is in any case progress in the context of the peace negotiations, originally scheduled for last Wednesday but which were put on hold due to Iran’s refusal to travel there if the US did not first end its naval blockade.
