Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that Islamabad is ready to host talks between the US and Iran to settle the conflict in the Middle East.
In a post on X, PM Shehbaz said Pakistan welcomes and fully supports ongoing efforts to pursue dialogue to end the war in the Middle East.
“Subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict,” he said.
Subsequently, the US president shared PM Shehbaz’s statement on his Truth Social platform.
The development comes a day after Trump said the US and Iran had held “very good and productive” conversations about a “complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East”.
He said talks had begun on Sunday and continued into Monday, with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner involved.
On Monday, the Financial Times reported that Pakistan is positioning itself as the lead mediator trying to broker an end to the US and Israeli war against Iran.
Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir spoke with US President Donald Trump on Sunday, Reuters quoted the newspaper that cited two people briefed on the call.
It also reported that senior Pakistani officials were back-channelling communications between Tehran, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
The White House also confirmed Trump’s call with Field Marshal Asim Munir.
When asked about a possible visit by Witkoff and Kushner to Islamabad, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said: “These are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the US will not negotiate through the press. This is a fluid situation, and speculation about meetings should not be deemed as final until they are formally announced by the White House.”
Over the past 48 hours, Pakistan, in close coordination with Turkey and Egypt, has played a pivotal role in back-channel diplomacy, relaying messages between the US and Iran to prevent further conflict and maintain stability in the region.
Meanwhile, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi has maintained that Islamabad is “already ready to host talks” between Iran and the United States.
The spokesperson told the US broadcast CNN on Monday night “If both sides agree, Pakistan is always ready to host talks.”
Separately, in a conversation with a local news outlet on Tuesday, the Foreign Office Spokesperson said Islamabad remained firmly committed to resolving the conflict through dialogue and engagement, in line with its longstanding foreign policy principles.
“Pakistan, consistent with its longstanding policy, remains committed to the resolution of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East/Persian Gulf through diplomatic means and engagements,” he was quoted by the daily as saying.
Meanwhile, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called on parties to seize all opportunities to start peace talks as soon as possible in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, according to a statement from Wang’s ministry.
Talking is always better than fighting, Wang told Araghchi, adding that “all hotspot issues should be resolved through dialogue and negotiation, not by using force”.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has entered its fourth week, began with the US and Israel launching attacks on Iran on February 28. The strikes also resulted in the assassination of then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Separately, Iran has named a former Revolutionary Guards commander and senior figure in the hardline political faction on Tuesday to replace the head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Larijani, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes last week.
Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr was appointed as Larijani’s successor as secretary of the SNSC, the Iranian president’s deputy of communications posted on X on Tuesday.
Zolqadr is a former Revolutionary Guards commander who has in the past held senior security positions such as deputy for security at the interior ministry, deputy at the armed forces’ general staff and advisor to the judiciary chief for crime prevention.
He headed the electoral headquarters of the Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces. Since 2022, he has served as secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, an assembly that resolves differences between parliament and the Guardian Council of Shi’ite clerics and jurists who can veto legislation and supervise elections.
The spokesman of Iran’s top military command says the country’s armed forces will fight “until complete victory,” according to Al Jazeera.
The comments by Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, carried by state television, said, “Iran’s powerful armed forces are proud, victorious and steadfast in defending Iran’s integrity, and this path will continue until complete victory”.
The general did not say what “complete victory” would look like, but the Qatari news organisation added that it appeared likely that Iran’s military was trying to warn against offering concessions in any possible negotiations with the US, Al Jazeera reported.
However, the war is still raging despite Trump’s talk of dialogue and mediation efforts by different countries.
Israeli first responders said three people were injured during Iranian missile fire targeting the south of the country on Tuesday.
The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services said medical teams were evacuating to hospital a man of about 40 who was in moderate condition with limb injuries.
It said teams were also evacuating a 26-year-old woman and a roughly two-month-old infant in mild condition.
Israel´s Kan 11 public broadcaster and Channel 12 both reported that the injured were members of the Bedouin community.
Israeli police said forces were working to locate interceptor debris in the Negev area.
Lebanese state media said on Tuesday that an air strike hit a Christian town north of Beirut, an area that had not yet been targeted in the expanding war between Israel and Hezbollah.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the town of Sahel Alma. Witnesses in the area told Reuters they heard several blasts and saw white smoke emanating from the town.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in the war that the US and Israel launched on February 28 against Iran, which has upended markets, driven up fuel costs, accelerated global inflation fears and convulsed the Western defence alliance.