Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had a message for the country’s neighbours asking them to not let the United States and Israel “run” the ongoing war from their if they want “development” and “peace”.
Iran’s message comes as the war has been going on for over a month now and several countries of the region, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and more got caught up in the war. As the United States is using its military bases in Gulf countries to launch attacks in Iran, Tehran is also launching strikes in these countries in retaliation.
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“I have said many times that Iran doesn’t carry out preemptive attacks, but we will retaliate strongly if our infrastructure or economic centers are targeted,” Pezeshkian wrote in a post on X.
“To the countries of the region: If you want development and security, don’t let our enemies run the war from your lands,” he added.
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‘Trust needed to hold negotiations’
Earlier in the day, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Pezeshkian told him that trust is necessary to hold talks over the ongoing war between Iran and the US, reported news agency Reuters.
Sharif’s office also said that Pezeshkian hailed Islamabad’s peace efforts to end the war in West Asia.
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Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator between the United States and Iran to hold discussions to end hostilities in the region. On Sunday and Monday, foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey will meet in Pakistan to hold discussions over the war which keeps dragging on.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said that the foreign ministers of the aforementioned countries will hold “in-depth discussions on a range of issues, including efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region”.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar will hold his counterparts. They are also scheduled to meet Sharif, according to the statement.
