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By APD writer Muhammad Sohail
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s efforts in off-ramp diplomacy to defuse recent tensions between Iran and the United States have been praised by the U.S. officials; local media reported quoting an official from the U.S. State Department on Wednesday.
“The off-ramp has been there for three years. The Iranians keep projecting it. And it’s not just us,” said the official during a briefing on the current Iran-US conflict.
“French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Sultan of Oman, all these countries from all parts of the world have reached out to Iran,” the official added.
Following the assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on Friday, Pakistan urged both the United States and Iran to avoid further escalation for the sake of peace in the region.
On Sunday, Pakistan reaffirmed its resolve not to become a part of any conflict in the region and renewed its offer for mediating in the Middle East crisis.
Earlier in October last year, Khan had visited Tehran as part of an initiative to defuse tensions in the Gulf and mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia. He also made several visits to Saudi Arabia for further talks on the issue.
In Washington, the State Department official claimed that world leaders had “failed to get the supreme leader (of Iran) to make better decisions”, forcing Washington to take actions like bringing economic sanctions and assassinating Gen Soleimani.
The U.S. official blamed that Iran is not using diplomacy to resolve its disputes with the United States, but it is busy in other efforts.
Iran has rejected such claims, saying that it was President Donald Trump who walked out of a peace treaty negotiated by the previous U.S. administration.
Iran said it had participated in all international efforts to find a negotiated settlement, but the Trump administration has always been more interested in sanctions and military actions than talks.
Iran announced on Sunday it would no longer abide by the limits placed on its nuclear program under a deal it signed with the United States and other world powers in 2015.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
