WASHINGTON: The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that current mediation efforts led by regional countries, including Pakistan, to broker a ceasefire between the United States and Iran have reached a dead end.
Iran has officially told mediators that it is unwilling to meet US officials in Islamabad in the coming days and considers US demands unacceptable, the report said. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
An unnamed source told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency on Friday that Tehran had rejected a US proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire. The source said the proposal was made on Wednesday through another country, which was not named. There was no immediate comment or confirmation from the US.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East war during a phone call on Friday, the Kremlin said. “The leaders noted their shared positions on the need for an immediate ceasefire and the development of compromise peace agreements that take into account the legitimate interests of all states in the region,” a Kremlin statement said.
Meanwhile responding to media queries regarding reports on developments in the ongoing conflict in the region, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in a statement, “We have noted several reports in the media, including on social media, citing so-called official government sources regarding the ongoing conflict in the region and Pakistan’s efforts to promote peace and dialogue.”
He said, “We categorically reject these false insinuations attributed to purported official sources as baseless and a figment of imagination. Any attribution to official sources in this regard is incorrect. It is a matter of concern that the briefing held on Friday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been misrepresented, with references to issues that were neither discussed nor alluded to. At a time of heightened regional sensitivity, diplomacy requires both discretion and responsibility. We therefore urge all media platforms to exercise due diligence, avoid speculation, and rely exclusively on officially issued statements and media readouts for accurate and timely information.”
