Pakistan 'cautiously optimistic' about US-Iran talks, says Mecca pact open to new members

Pakistan’s military is “cautiously optimistic” about its mediation between Iran and the United States, its spokesman said on Friday in his first interview since a high-level delegation visited Tehran this week. Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief mediator in efforts to de-escalate the US-Israel war on Iran, has visited Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday with Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin. “Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course,” spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said when asked whether the trips were a positive sign. “The word that we would use is always cautiously optimistic.” Speaking in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan’s armed forces are headquartered, Chaudhry declined to say what was discussed or whether Washington had backed the trip. Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed a joint defence pact with Pakistan on 7 August, under which an attack on any signatory would be treated as an attack on all. Asked whether Iran could join, Chaudhry said the pact’s wording did not bar new members. Asked whether more Pakistani troops were being sent to Saudi Arabia under the agreement, he said that would depend on the situation and the decision of both countries’ political leadership.