RAWALPINDI (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan is “cautiously optimistic” about its mediation between Iran and the United States, the military’s spokesman said on Friday, pointing to Field Marshal Asim Munir’s two visits to Tehran this month as a sign of progress.
“Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course,” Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in his first interview with reuters since a high-level delegation visited Tehran on Monday. “The word that we would use is always cautiously optimistic.”
He warned that there were still “powerful spoilers and detractors” who believed conflict served their interests, without naming them, and declined to say what was discussed in Tehran or whether Washington had backed the trip. Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin joined the Field Marshal for Monday’s talks, the first high-level contact between Iran and all members of the Makkah Defence Alliance.
Asked whether Iran could join the pact, under which an armed attack on one member is treated as an attack on all, Lt Gen Chaudhry said its wording did not bar new members. “Anyone who has a shared vision of collective deterrence and regional peace, why not? Everyone is most welcome,” he said, adding that the decision rested with the political leadership of the three principal parties.
He said Pakistan remained committed to defending Saudi Arabia and the holy sites of Makkah and Madinah, and that any further troop deployments to the kingdom would depend on the situation and the decisions of both governments. “We are not part of the Yemeni conflict, which is an intra-Yemen conflict,” he said.
On Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where an emergency and governor’s rule are in force, the DG ISPR said counter-terrorism would continue to rely on intelligence-based operations rather than large military campaigns. “The tempo of the freedom of action of those IBOs will further increase,” he said.
