Pakistan says Imran Khan could visit Saudi, Iran, after US mediation request
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
Pakistan's Prime Minister ImranKhanis likely tovisitSaudiArabia andIran, the foreign office in Islamabad said on Thursday, weeksafterIslamabad said Washington had asked it to mediate with Tehran.
"The possibility of avisitof the prime minister toSaudiArabia andIranis on the cards and I will update you as things unfold," foreign office spokesman, Mohammad Fasisal, told a news briefing.
The announcement of the possiblevisitcomesafterKhanlast month described a request byUSPresident Donald Trump, asking thePakistani leader to help defuse tensions withIran. Washington had blamed Tehran for an attack on the world's biggest crude oil processing facility inSaudiArabia.
Faisal declined to comment when asked whether thevisitwas related to themediationrequest.
Tensions have elevated betweenIranandSaudiArabia since the attack, which took place on Sept. 14.
Yemen'sIran-aligned Houthi group, which has been fighting aSaudi-led military coalition since 2015, has claimed responsibility, but Washington and Riyadh say they believe the attack came from the opposite direction and blameIran.Irandenies involvement.
Khansaidaftera meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that he was "trying and mediating" and had also spoken withIran's President Hassan Rouhani.
Khanhas ramped up his government's engagement on the international stage, offering to negotiate regional tensions. He has separately proposed to Trump thatPakistancouldhelp broker peace in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Last weekPakistani government ministers met with both Taliban representatives and theUSpeace envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, in Islamabad whilePakistan's foreign minister called for a resumption in stalled peace talks between the Taliban and Washington.
The Taliban also met with Khalilzad, sources told Reuters, the first known contact since Trump halted talks last month, though officials said the talks did not represent a formal resumption of negotiations.