ISLAMABAD/DUBAI: Reaffirming Pakistan’s steadfast commitment to regional peace, the Prime Minister assured President Masoud Pezeshkian of Pakistan’s readiness to continue playing an honest and sincere role in facilitating dialogue and supporting all efforts aimed at preserving peace and stability.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a telephone conversation on Friday with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian.
During their warm and cordial conversation, the Prime Minister expressed deep concern over the recent escalation in tensions in the region and underscored the urgent need to restore regional peace and stability.
He called on Iran and all other parties to exercise restraint and refrain from any action that could jeopardize the hard-earned peace gains achieved over the past few months.
The Prime Minister stressed the importance of upholding the commitments undertaken under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), describing it as an enduring framework for promoting mutual understanding, respect and shared prosperity in the region and beyond.
President Pezeshkian thanked the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, and other senior Pakistani leaders for attending the funeral ceremony of the late Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
He also reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to peace and appreciated Pakistan’s constructive support and sincere efforts for regional stability.
The two leaders also reviewed the implementation of the decisions taken during President Pezeshkian’s visit to Islamabad last month and agreed to expedite follow-up actions to further strengthen bilateral cooperation across diverse fields.
The Prime Minister conveyed his respectful regards and best wishes for Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei. Both leaders agreed to remain in close contact and continue consultations on matters of mutual interest and regional peace.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he had spoken with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the ongoing war in the Middle East and reaffirmed Islamabad’s readiness to continue its role as a mediator. “We discussed the evolving regional situation and underscored the imperative of restraint, dialogue and diplomacy to safeguard the hard-earned peace gains of recent months,” the PM said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a warm and cordial telephone conversation on Friday with the Amir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
During their discussion, the Prime Minister expressed his deep concern over the recent escalation in tensions in the region. While conveying Pakistan’s solidarity and support with the people of Qatar on the recent attacks, the Prime Minister stressed upon all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from any actions that could undermine peace in the region.
The Prime Minister conveyed Pakistan’s sincere gratitude to the Amir for Qatar’s consistent and steadfast support in the peace efforts that culminated in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and the first round of high-level technical talks at Burgenstock.
The two leaders agreed upon the importance of sustained diplomatic engagement and dialogue, and adherence to the commitments made by all parties under the peace memorandum.
Qatar’s Amir thanked the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir for playing a leading role for peace in the region and assured him of Qatar’s continued support in this regard.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran had asked to continue talks and the US had agreed, but that the June ceasefire was “over”.
His reference to negotiations came on a day of relative calm at the end of a week of renewed conflict, when three Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers came under fire, prompting the US to hit Iranian sites, and Iran to respond with strikes on US military sites in Gulf states. No attacks were reported on Friday.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf said in comments posted on his Telegram account the war would never end with Tehran’s surrender.
The Islamic Republic was ready for “all-out defence” if the U.S. betrayed a memorandum of understanding secured last month, he added.
That interim deal between both countries was meant to pave the way to the end of a conflict now in its fifth month that has killed thousands, throttled worldwide energy supplies and raised fears of a wider global economic downturn.
Qatari negotiators were meeting officials in Iran on Friday to seek to de-escalate tensions and discuss navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.
Daily tanker traffic through the waterway appeared to have slowed on Friday, after attacks this week raised concerns about global oil supplies and shipping.
The Qatari talks aim to address the implementation of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding and the issues that triggered the recent escalation, including disputes over navigation in the strait, the source said.
Past talks have been announced with few signs of concrete progress. “We see reports that the discussions are ongoing, and we hope that they are,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in New York.
Oil prices eased on Friday but remained on track for weekly gains of 5 per cent after the hostilities. US Treasuries edged lower on concerns the trend of rising energy prices could add to inflationary pressures.
The UN shipping agency’s governing council condemned efforts by Iran to impose sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran’s “unilateral decision” to create a body to control traffic through it.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said when they launched the war that their aims were to end Iran’s nuclear activities, alongside other objectives.
Tammy Bruce, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, raised that issue once more on Friday and again mentioned talks, telling a Security Council meeting: “The door to diplomacy remains open, and is our preferred path to resolve concerns related to Iran’s nuclear program.”
Iran on Thursday buried its martyred Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the country’s holiest shrine in Mashhad, capping a week of funeral processions and rallies. A condolence ceremony was to be held on Friday after sunset prayers on behalf of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei for his father in the city of Qom, his office announced. Mojtaba Khamenei, who was injured in the strike that killed his father, has still not appeared in public.
Iran’s Tasnim agency meanwhile said the Qatari delegation was in Tehran to “try to reinforce Qatar’s role as a mediator following events on Tuesday”, when Doha condemned Tehran for what it called an “unacceptable assault” on one of its LNG tankers. Iran denied the accusation. And in a call with his Qatari counterpart on Friday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called for a “return to the negotiating table”.
While there was no repeat of the previous day’s strikes by early Friday evening in the Gulf, Iran reiterated its determination to hit back if attacked. “Any attack on infrastructure will be retaliated against, and the criminal Zionist regime responsible for these atrocities will not be safe from the response of our fighters,” Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the head of Iran’s top security body, said in a statement carried by state TV.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to Oman on Saturday at the head of a diplomatic delegation for talks on bilateral relations and regional developments, particularly the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported on Friday.
The United States on Friday issued new Iran-related sanctions following Iran’s resumption of attacks on international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions target Ali Ansari, an Iranian banker and businessman based in Dubai who had previously been sanctioned by Britain for his role in financially supporting the activities of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, among other individuals and entities, Treasury said.
Egyptian and Qatari foreign ministers on Friday called on the United States and Iran to resume negotiations, Cairo’s foreign ministry said, as US President Donald Trump repeated that the ceasefire between the two countries was over. During a phone call, Egypt’s Badr Abdelatty and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani “urged all parties to give priority to the language of diplomacy and dialogue and to return to the negotiating table”, the ministry said in a statement.
They also called for “implementing the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the US and Iranian sides, as a prelude to reaching a final agreement between the two sides, in a manner that contributes to de-escalation and to enhancing regional security and stability”, the statement added.
In a separate statement, Qatar’s foreign ministry said Sheikh Mohammed stressed “the need for all parties to commit to dialogue and diplomacy” and to implement what had been agreed under the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, including “ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz” to preserve regional security and stability.
Three former crew members of a Thai cargo ship struck by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz filed a lawsuit on Friday against the vessel’s operator and captain for labour violations.
The Thai-flagged Mayuree Naree was hit on March 11 while travelling through the Gulf waterway early in the US-Israeli war with Iran, leaving three Thai crewmen dead and requiring 20 others to be rescued.
Former crew members Panithi Tumkaew, Noppadon Wongsuvan and Suradech Manpuen were dismissed after the incident and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the attack, their lawyer Kunpat Singhathong said.
They filed a lawsuit at the Central Labour Court in Bangkok against the ship’s owner, Precious Shipping, two affiliated companies—Precious Flowers and Great Circle Shipping Agency—and the vessel’s captain, Sathaporn Hoksee. All of them are Thai. The suit claims the companies acted negligently by ordering the ship to transit the strait during the conflict.
In a statement, Precious Shipping said it had complied with applicable laws and fulfilled its obligations to the crew, adding that it had provided medical and psychological support following the attack.
The International Energy Agency said Friday that “a recovery” in global oil demand had started as supplies tentatively start moving through the strategic Strait of Hormuz again and prices ease. “A recovery in world oil demand is underway, with consumption set to rise from its May nadir,” the IEA’s monthly report said.
Israel shared intelligence with the United States this week about a new and “specific” plan by Iran to assassinate President Donald Trump, US media reported Thursday.
Washington has monitored “a steady drumbeat” of intelligence about possible plans to assassinate Trump, “but the warning from Israel was new and concerned a specific plot,” CNN reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal, also citing unidentified sources, said the intelligence described a “fresh” plot.
Tehran has for years vowed to hit back at Trump for ordering the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, during his first term.
When AFP contacted the White House about the reports, an unidentified official pointed to Trump’s remarks from Wednesday. “They want to take out the US leader - me. I’m on whatever list. I saw this morning I’m on every single one of their lists,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew home from a NATO summit.
Trump used his old Air Force One plane to leave Turkiye, where the summit took place, sending his new Qatari-gifted jet on ahead to Britain, where he switched planes for the journey to Washington.
A fire broke out on Friday at the Oxin Palayesh industrial facility in Iran’s western Lorestan province, the Mehr news agency reported, citing a local official. Firefighters and emergency teams were working to contain the blaze, which started at the facility in Poldokhtar county, the official said. No deaths or injuries had been reported, and the cause of the fire was under investigation. Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said on Friday that it had suspended the return of its first employees to the construction site of new units at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant following new strikes on Iran.
Iran denied that it had requested negotiations with the United States after President Trump said that Washington and Tehran had agreed to continue talks despite a recent escalation of hostilities.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran had not sought negotiations with the US, but had accepted a visit by the Qatari mediator to Iran, according to Iranian state TV.
Stocks climbed and oil prices slipped somewhat as investors retained AI-related enthusiasm and shrugged off the ongoing dispute between the US and Iran.
Despite looming concerns, US crude CLc1 prices fell 0.74 per cent to $71.55 a barrel, while Brent LCOc1 fell to $75.99 per barrel, down 0.41 per cent on the day.
The United States is demanding that Iran publicly state it will stop attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and that all lanes in the strait will be open to shipping with no tolls, senior US officials said on Friday.
The officials said conversations between the two countries had been productive in recent days. They made the comments to a small group of reporters in a conference call.
Iran has told Washington that recent attacks on shipping in the Strait were from “an errant part of their system,” one senior official said. There seems to be a power struggle unfolding in real time between hardliners in Iran and pragmatists, an official said.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed a young motorcyclist on Friday, Lebanese state media reported.
