Imran Khan visits Iran to ‘facilitate’ talks with Saudi Arabia, US

TEHRAN:Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Iran on Sunday on a mission to act as a “facilitator” between Tehran and Riyadh and try to defuse rising tensions in the Gulf.

Khan landed in Tehran around midday and met with President Hassan Rouhani at the presidential palace. He was also scheduled to hold talks with Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before travelling to Riyadh on Tuesday.

“The reason for this trip is that we do not want a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran,” Khan told reporters as he stood alongside Rouhani.

Pakistan has strong relations with Saudi Arabia, with more than 2.5 million of its nationals living and working in the kingdom, but it also maintains good relations with Iran, representing Tehran’s consular interests in the US. This is Khan’s second visit this year to Iran, which shares a border of about 1,000 km with Pakistan.

Emphasising that the visits to Tehran and Riyadh were Pakistan’s “initiative”, Khan said he was also approached by US President Donald Trump to “facilitate some sort of dialogue between Iran and the US”.

Iran and US have been at loggerheads since the latter withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May last year and reimposed sanctions on the Tehran.

Rouhani said the US must return to the deal and lift sanctions before talks can take place. “Any goodwill gesture and good words will be reciprocated with a goodwill gesture,” he said.