Iranian interior minister meets PM Shehbaz in Islamabad

Iran’s interior minister, Eskandar Momeni, held a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the PM House in Islamabad on Tuesday. According to an X post by the PM’s Office (PMO), the meeting between the two has commenced. The statement did not have any more details about the meeting. Momeni arrived in Pakistan on an official visit on Monday night and was received by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Islamabad. He is accompanied by a high-level delegation. State-run Pakistan TV reported that he would also meet Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir during the visit. Earlier reports had suggested that Momeni was likely to engage with Pakistani officials who previously mediated a now-collapsed interim ceasefire between the US and Iran. Prior to his meeting with PM Shehbaz, a parade was held by police in Momeni’s honour in Islamabad, a post on the interior ministry’s X account said. He was accompanied by Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry on the occasion. Chaudhry also accompanied Momeni to the Pakistan Monument in Islamabad, where the Federal Constabulary contingent presented a guard of honour to the visiting dignitary. Momeni’s visit comes as mediator Pakistan continues its diplomatic efforts to rescue the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last month between the US and Iran, intending to end the war between the two sides that began with US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February. But hostilities resumed soon, with the US carrying out strikes in Iran for the 10th consecutive day late on Monday, following which Iran targeted US radar and air defence installations in the Gulf on Tuesday. After US President Donald Trump’s remarks earlier this month that the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran was “over”, his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian also said on Monday that they were fighting a “full-scale war”. Tehran has blamed Washington for breaching the MoU. Despite the latest attacks, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has said diplomatic exchanges with the US via mediators are ongoing. Meanwhile, as its truce with the US collapsed, Tehran reimposed its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington hit back by again blockading Iran’s ports. Yemen’s Houthi rebels entered the fray on Monday, announcing an immediate maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia, opening a new front in the conflict. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree declared the embargo effective immediately, framing it as retaliation on an “eye-for-an-eye” basis against Saudi Arabia. Saudi’s foreign ministry condemned the Houthi maritime blockade and reasserted Riyadh’s backing for Yemen’s Aden-based government. $10bn trade target Islamabad has assumed an increasingly prominent diplomatic role in the US-Iran crisis, hosting talks, relaying messages between the parties and helping broker a temporary understanding earlier this year. Beyond diplomacy, Pakistan and Iran have sought to deepen economic cooperation through higher bilateral trade, greater connectivity between Pakistani ports and Iran, and renewed discussion of the long-delayed Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. After his arrival in Islamabad on Monday night, Momeni spoke to the media in Persian. An English translation of his conversation, carried by Iran’s Mehr news agency, stated that he highlighted the need for Pakistan and Iran to expand cross-border transport capacity to meet a $10 billion trade target. He said that both countries aim to more than triple annual bilateral trade from $3bn to $10bn and that the visit was aimed at “developing relations and following up on agreements reached during President Masoud Pezeshkian’s trip to Pakistan about one month ago”. The report further quoted Momeni as saying that “achieving the $10bn target would require an average of around 2,000 trucks or containers crossing between the two countries daily while currently only about 20 per cent of that capacity is being used”. “Creating the necessary conditions on both sides of the border will be a main focus of discussions on this trip,” he said, adding that regional developments would also be on the agenda. Pakistan and Iran share a 900-kilometre border and maintain close historical, cultural and religious links, although their relationship has periodically been tested by cross-border militant activity and regional security challenges.