ISLAMABAD: Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir departed on an official visit to Iran on Friday, security sources said.
The CDF will discuss US-Iran talks, peace in the region and other important issues during the visit, the sources said. He will also meet with senior Iranian officials.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented about CDF Munir’s visit to Tehran, saying that the US was in “constant communication with him [and] the highest levels of our government are constantly talking to him”.
He also praised Pakistan for doing an “admirable job” trying to mediate a peace deal between Washington and Tehran.
“The primary interlocutor on this has been Pakistan and continues to be and they’ve done a, you know, I think an admirable job. And that’s what we continue to work through,” Fox News quoted Rubio as saying.
“Obviously, other countries … may have their own situation going on. We talk to all of them. But I would just say that the primary country we’ve been working with on all of this is Pakistan, and that remains the case,” he told reporters in Sweden.
Meanwhile, earlier today, Tasnim News Agency reported that Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held a meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to review proposals for resolving disputes, while on an official visit to Tehran.
The visit comes amid ongoing Pakistani efforts to mediate between the US and Iran, after plans for a second round of negotiations in Islamabad fell through.
The first round of historic direct US-Iran talks was held in Islamabad on April 11 and 12, following a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire on April 8. It had ended without an agreement, but also without a breakdown.
US President Donald Trump later called off a planned visit of US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner to travel to Islamabad for a second round of talks with Iran. However, he extended the ceasefire indefinitely “upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif”.
Pakistan has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to break the deadlock, sending the interior minister to Tehran on Wednesday for the second time in less than a week to resuscitate negotiations. He had previously met Iran’s president, parliament speaker and foreign minister over the weekend.
