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ISLAMABAD: European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has called on the United States and Israel to end their&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/senior-us-counterterrorism-official-resigns-to-protest-iran-war" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">war with Iran</a>, saying the bloc is working with Middle Eastern countries to find a diplomatic way out of the conflict, international media reported on Tuesday.&nbsp;Kallas said the EU was consulting regional governments, including Gulf states, Jordan and Egypt, to explore proposals that could help de-escalate tensions and bring all sides to the negotiating table, US News reported, citing Reuters.&nbsp;&ldquo;It would be in the interest of everybody if this war stops,&rdquo; she said, warning that conflicts are easier to start than to end and can quickly spiral out of control.&nbsp;The EU&rsquo;s top diplomat said Europe was open to playing a role in ensuring freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, but stressed that any involvement would likely be diplomatic rather than military.&nbsp;Kallas also acknowledged growing unease in Europe over Washington&rsquo;s approach, saying the EU did not fully understand some US actions or objectives in Iran, but had adapted to what she described as increasing unpredictability.&nbsp;The conflict has further strained transatlantic ties, with Kallas noting that European countries were not consulted before the war began and had, in fact, urged restraint.&nbsp;However, she noted that any agreement would depend on the willingness of regional stakeholders, particularly Iran, to engage in such arrangements. Her remarks come as several European nations have rejected calls by Donald Trump to join a US-led mission to <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/usisrael-war-on-iran-day-18" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">reopen the vital shipping route</a>, which remains largely disrupted due to Iran&rsquo;s control. European leaders have expressed reluctance to deploy forces in a conflict they say they did not initiate. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, President Trump said&nbsp;NATO was making a &quot;foolish mistake&quot; on Iran, after the military alliance&#39;s members largely rebuffed his calls to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic. &quot;I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake,&quot; Trump told reporters as he hosted Ireland&#39;s prime minister in the Oval Office. &quot;When they say it (Iran) was a threat, but we&#39;re not going to help, I think they&#39;re very foolish.&quot; Earlier, Turkiye Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned that if&nbsp;the Middle East war spread, it could create a &quot;permanent&quot; refugee crisis, Turkey&#39;s top diplomat warned Tuesday as Lebanon said Israel&#39;s bombardment had displaced over a million people. &quot;If the war... spreads, there is a possibility this will turn into a permanent refugee crisis with refugees seeking shelter outside the borders of their countries,&quot; Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a news conference. &quot;This needs to stop as soon as possible.&quot;

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas calls for de-escalation as tensions rise between the United States, Israel, and Iran, urging diplomatic solutions to avoid a wider global crisis. (Photo: (Screengrab/X @kajakallas)

Europe

The EU’s top diplomat says Europe was open to playing a role in ensuring freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, but stressed that any involvement would likely be diplomatic rather than military.

EU's Kallas urges US, Israel to end Iran war amid energy crisis

PARIS: Iran&#39;s foreign minister announced Tuesday that a deal to prevent a military conflict with the United States is within reach, just two days before <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iranian-president-says-recent-talks-with-us-show-encouraging-signals" target="_blank">talks</a>&nbsp;between the rivals are set to resume in Geneva. Abbas Araghchi&#39;s appeal came as Iran issued a muted warning to student protesters against the backdrop of mounting US threats of action to halt Tehran&#39;s nuclear program. &quot;We have a historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns and achieves mutual interests,&quot; Araghchi said in a social media post. The minister added that a deal was &quot;within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority.&quot; Tehran and Washington are due to hold a third round of negotiations on Thursday in Geneva, the latest since talks resumed earlier this month. The talks will be held following a heavy US military deployment in the region in <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-denies-top-us-officer-warned-of-iran-strike-risks" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">recent weeks</a> and threats by President Donald Trump of a strike on Iran if no deal is reached. Iran has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-says-would-respond-ferociously-to-any-us-attack-even-limited-strikes" target="_blank">repeatedly</a>&nbsp;said it would respond firmly to any attack, and on Monday, the foreign ministry warned that any strike, even a limited one, &quot;would be regarded as an act of aggression.&quot; In his post on Tuesday, Araghchi vowed Iran will &quot;under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon,&quot; but insisted on the country&#39;s right to &quot;harness dividends of peaceful nuclear technology.&quot; &quot;We have proven that we will stop at nothing to guard our sovereignty with courage,&quot; he added. Iran and the US held five rounds of nuclear talks last year, but those negotiations were brought to an end with Israel&#39;s unprecedented attack on Iran, which triggered a 12-day war. &#39;Red lines&#39; protest warning&nbsp;Meanwhile, university students in Tehran kicked off a new semester with gatherings that revived slogans from nationwide protests against the country&#39;s leadership. On Tuesday, the fourth consecutive day of the campus protests, videos verified by AFP showed two groups facing off in a large hall at a Tehran university before scuffles broke out. Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, giving the first official reaction to the rallies, said that while students had a right to protest, they must &quot;understand the red lines.&quot; US military build-up&nbsp;The initial wave of protests began in December, sparked by economic woes in the sanctions-hit country, but soon grew into nationwide demonstrations that crested on Jan. 8 and 9, posing one of the biggest challenges to Iran&#39;s leaders in years. The unrest prompted a government crackdown that resulted in the death of several people. Iranian officials acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths, but say the violence was caused by &quot;terrorist acts&quot; fueled by the United States and Israel. The crackdown in January prompted Trump to threaten to intervene militarily on the protesters&#39; behalf, though the focus of his threats soon shifted to Iran&#39;s nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at building an atomic bomb but Tehran insists is peaceful. Since then, the US has carried out a massive military build-up in the Middle East aimed at pressuring Tehran into cutting a deal, even as the two sides pursue indirect negotiations. Washington deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the Arabian Sea, and another, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has arrived at a US base in Crete en route to the region.

Americas

Middle East

Foreign Minister Araghchi says have a “historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns”; Tehran and Washington are due to hold a third round of negotiations on Thursday in Geneva, the latest since talks resumed earlier this month.

Iran says deal 'within reach' ahead of US talks

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday denied reports that the top US military officer had flagged the risks of a major operation against Iran, saying Washington would &quot;easily&quot; beat Tehran in any war. US media reported that General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had warned of various risks associated with strikes against Iran, including a long-term entanglement. But Trump said on his Truth Social network that it was &quot;100% incorrect&quot; that Caine was &quot;against us going to war with Iran.&quot; &quot;General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won,&quot; Trump wrote. &quot;He has not spoken of not doing Iran, or even the fake limited strikes that I have been reading about; he only knows one thing, how to WIN, and, if he is told to do so, he will be leading the pack.&quot; The Washington Post said Caine had expressed concern at the White House and Pentagon that munition shortages and a lack of allied support could increase danger to US personnel. And the Wall Street Journal said both the top general and other Pentagon officials have warned of risks such as US and allied casualties as well as the danger of US air defenses being depleted if its forces strike Iran. The Axios news outlet meanwhile, said Caine had warned of the United States &quot;becoming entangled in a prolonged conflict.&quot; Trump&#39;s roving negotiator Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner had also been urging the president to hold off attacks and give diplomacy a chance, Axios said. The US president, however, accused the media outlets of writing &quot;incorrectly, and purposefully so.&quot; &quot;I am the one that makes the decision, I would rather have a Deal than not but, if we don&rsquo;t make a Deal, it will be a very bad day for that Country and, very sadly, its people,&quot; Trump added. Trump, who ordered strikes on Iran&#39;s nuclear facilities last year, has repeatedly threatened Tehran with further military action if ongoing talks do not reach a replacement for the nuclear deal the US president tore up in 2018, during his first term in office. Washington has deployed a massive military force to the Middle East, sending two aircraft carriers as well as more than a dozen other ships, a large number of warplanes and other assets to the region. But negotiations are still set to continue, with a US official saying the next round of talks with Tehran would take place on Thursday.

US president says "100% incorrect" that Caine was "against us going to war with Iran"; Washington has deployed a massive military force to the Middle East, sending two aircraft carriers as well as more than a dozen other ships, a large number of warplanes, and other assets to the region.

Trump denies top US officer warned of Iran strike risks

PARIS: Iranian officials held out hope for progress towards a deal to forestall fresh conflict when talks with US negotiators resume on Thursday, despite a huge build-up of American military might in the Middle East. Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, Iran&#39;s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said details of a possible deal were being drawn up ahead of the renewed talks on Tehran&#39;s nuclear program, after Washington&#39;s envoy Steve Witkoff had publicly wondered why Tehran had not yet &quot;capitulated.&quot; Badr Albusaidi, foreign minister of regional mediator Oman, said talks would resume on Thursday in Geneva &quot;with a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalizing the deal.&quot; US threats of military action have multiplied since a nationwide protest movement in Iran sparked a crackdown that rights groups say killed thousands. On Sunday, Iranian students held competing pro- and anti-government protests, with critics of the clerical leadership risking arrest or worse if they are caught. &quot;If the US attacks us, then we have every right to defend ourselves,&quot; Araghchi said, alluding to American interests in the region as potential targets. Still, he said, &quot;there is a good chance to have a diplomatic solution.&quot; In a social media post, Iran&#39;s President Masoud Pezeshkian likewise said previous talks &quot;yielded encouraging signals.&quot; After a recent round of discussions in Geneva, Iran said it was preparing a draft proposal for an agreement that would avert military action. &quot;I believe that when we meet, probably this Thursday in Geneva again, we can work on those elements and prepare a good text and come to a fast deal,&quot; Araghchi told CBS. Axios had earlier reported, citing an unnamed senior US official, that if Iran submitted its proposal in the next 48 hours, Washington was ready to meet again later in the week &quot;to start detailed negotiations.&quot; The US has sent two aircraft carriers to the Middle East in recent weeks, along with other jets and ships, and has also shored up its air defenses in the region to back up its threats of military intervention. US President Donald Trump&#39;s chief Middle East negotiator Witkoff, said in a Fox News interview broadcast Saturday that the president was questioning why Iran had not yet given in to the pressure. &quot;He&#39;s curious as to why they haven&#39;t... I don&#39;t want to use the word &#39;capitulated,&#39; but why they haven&#39;t capitulated,&quot; he said. &quot;Why haven&#39;t they come to us and said, &#39;We profess we don&#39;t want a weapon, so here&#39;s what we&#39;re prepared to do&#39;?&quot; Western governments fear Iran&#39;s nuclear program is aimed at developing a bomb, which Tehran has long denied, though it insists on its right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. On the subject of uranium enrichment, Araghchi said Sunday that Iran had &quot;every right to decide for ourselves.&quot; Fears of war A previous round of diplomacy last year was interrupted by Israel&#39;s bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic. That sparked a 12-day conflict in June that the US briefly joined with strikes on Iran&#39;s nuclear facilities. Despite the recent Oman-mediated talks, Iranians&#39; fears of a new conflict have grown. &quot;I don&#39;t sleep well at night even while taking pills,&quot; Tehran resident Hamid told AFP. IT technician Mina Ahmadvand, 46, believes that &quot;at this stage, war between Iran and the US as well as Israel is inevitable.&quot; &quot;I don&#39;t want war to happen, but one should not fool around with the realities on the ground.&quot; The concerns have prompted several foreign countries to urge their citizens to leave Iran, including Sweden, Serbia, Poland and Australia. Protests Iran has previously said that quickly striking a deal is in its interests if it means relief from sanctions that have hamstrung its economy, which contributed to protests late last year over the high cost of living. Those demonstrations quickly expanded into mass anti-government protests that marked one of the largest challenges to the Islamic Republic&#39;s leadership in years, prompting a crackdown by authorities that saw several people die, according to rights groups. On Sunday, Iranian students gathered for fresh pro- and anti-government rallies commemorating those killed following similar gatherings the day before. Local and diaspora media outlets reported demonstrations at multiple Tehran universities, with some participants waving the flag of Iran&#39;s deposed monarchy, and others chanting &quot;death to the shah,&rdquo; who was toppled by the 1979 Islamic revolution. Trump had initially cheered on the protesters, threatening to intervene on their behalf amid the crackdown, but his threats soon shifted to Iran&#39;s nuclear program. Voicing their support for the protests, several Iraq-based Kurdish-Iranian groups announced on Sunday that they were forming a political coalition to unite against Iran&#39;s Islamic system. The main goals of the alliance, a joint statement said, are &quot;the struggle to overthrow the Islamic republic of Iran, and to achieve self-determination for the Kurds.&quot;

The US has sent two aircraft carriers to the Middle East in recent weeks, along with other jets and ships, and has also shored up its air defenses in the region to back up its threats of military intervention.

Iran-US talks expected Thursday despite fears of strikes

WASHINGTON: The White House warned on Wednesday that Iran would be &quot;wise&quot; to do a deal with the United States as President Donald Trump once again hinted at military action. The two sides recently resumed indirect talks, mediated by Oman, after Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over a crackdown on protesters last month. A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. &quot;Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with his administration,&quot; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. On Wednesday, Trump again suggested the United States might strike Iran in a post on his Truth Social site, with a US military buildup underway in the Middle East. He warned Britain against giving up sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, saying that the archipelago&#39;s Diego Garcia airbase might be needed were Iran not to agree a deal, &quot;in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime.&quot; Earlier on Wednesday, Tehran&#39;s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said Iran was &quot;drafting&quot; a framework for future talks with the US. Iran and the US held a second round of Oman-mediated negotiations on Tuesday in Geneva. Araghchi said then that Tehran had agreed with Washington on &quot;guiding principles,&quot; but US Vice President JD Vance said Iran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington&#39;s red lines. &#39;Do not want war&#39; Speaking on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted &quot;we do not want war&quot; but suggested Tehran could not give in to US demands. &quot;From the day I took office, I have believed that war must be set aside. But if they are going to try to impose their will on us, humiliate us, and demand that we bow our heads at any cost, should we accept that?&quot; Earlier on Wednesday, Araghchi held a phone call with Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. In the call, the Iranian foreign minister &quot;stressed the Islamic Republic of Iran&#39;s focus on drafting an initial and coherent framework to advance future talks,&quot; according to a statement from his ministry. Tehran has suspended some cooperation with the IAEA and restricted the watchdog&#39;s inspectors from accessing sites bombed by Israel and the United States, accusing the UN body of bias and of failing to condemn the strikes. Meanwhile, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned that Washington would deter Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons &quot;one way or the other&quot;. &quot;They&#39;ve been very clear about what they would do with nuclear weapons. It&#39;s entirely unacceptable,&quot; Wright told reporters in Paris on the sidelines of meetings of the International Energy Agency. Displays of military might The Omani-mediated talks were aimed at averting the possibility of US military action, while Tehran is demanding the lifting of US sanctions that are crippling its economy. Iran has insisted that the discussions be limited to the nuclear issue, though Washington has previously pushed for Tehran&#39;s ballistic missiles program and support for armed groups in the region to be on the table. While talks have resumed, the US has also been building up its military forces near Iran. Washington has ordered a second aircraft carrier to the region, with the first, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and its nearly 80 aircraft, positioned about 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Iranian coast as of Sunday, satellite images showed. Iran has sought to display its own military might, with its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps beginning a series of war games on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian politicians have repeatedly threatened to block the strait, a major global conduit for oil and gas. On Tuesday, state TV reported that Tehran would close parts of the waterway for safety measures during the drills.

Iranian president insists "we do not want war" but suggests Tehran cannot give in to US demands; The two sides recently resumed indirect talks, mediated by Oman, after Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over crackdown on protesters last month.

White House tells Iran to do deal as Trump hints at US strikes

FORT BRAGG:&nbsp;US President Donald Trump said Friday that a <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-warns-iran-of-very-traumatic-outcome-if-no-nuclear-deal" style="color:#0073e6;">change</a> of government in Iran would be the &quot;best thing that could happen,&quot; as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to ratchet up military pressure on the Islamic Republic. Trump&#39;s comments were his most overt call yet for the toppling of Iran&#39;s clerical establishment, and came as he pushes on Washington&#39;s arch-foe Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear program. At the same time, the exiled son of the Iranian shah, toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution, renewed his calls for international intervention following a bloody crackdown on protests by Tehran. &quot;Seems like that would be the best thing that could happen,&quot; Trump told reporters at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina when a journalist asked if he wanted &quot;regime change&quot; in Iran. Trump declined to say who he would want to take over in Iran from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but he added that &quot;there are people.&quot; He has previously backed off full-throated calls for a change of government in Iran, warning that it could cause chaos, although he has made threats towards Khamenei in the past. Speaking earlier at the White House, Trump said that the USS Gerald R. Ford &mdash; the world&#39;s largest warship &mdash; would be &quot;leaving very soon&quot; for the Middle East to up the pressure on Iran. &quot;In case we don&#39;t make a deal, we&#39;ll need it,&quot; Trump said. The giant vessel is currently in the Caribbean following the US overthrow of Venezuela&#39;s Nicolas Maduro. Another carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, is one of 12 US ships already in the Middle East. &#39;Terribly difficult&#39;&nbsp;When Iran began its crackdown on protests last month &mdash; which rights groups say killed thousands &mdash; Trump initially said that the United States was &quot;locked and loaded&quot; to help demonstrators. But he has recently focused his military threats on Tehran&#39;s nuclear program, which US forces struck last July during Israel&#39;s unprecedented 12-day war with Iran. The protests have subsided for now, but US-based Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran&#39;s last shah, urged international intervention to support the Iranian people. &quot;We are asking for a humanitarian intervention to prevent more innocent lives being killed in the process,&quot; he told the Munich Security Conference. It followed a call by the opposition leader, who has not returned to his country since before the revolution, for Iranians at home and abroad to continue demonstrations this weekend. Videos verified by AFP showed people in Iran this week chanting anti-government slogans as the clerical leadership celebrated the anniversary of the Islamic revolution. Iran and the United States, who have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after the revolution, held talks on the nuclear issue last week in Oman. No dates have been set for new talks yet. The West fears the program is aimed at making a bomb, which Tehran denies. The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said Friday that reaching an accord with Iran on inspections of its processing facilities was possible but &quot;terribly difficult.&quot; Reformists released&nbsp;Trump said after <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-tells-netanyahu-iran-talks-must-continue" style="color:#0073e6;">talks</a> with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week that he wanted to continue talks with Iran, defying pressure from his key ally for a tougher stance. The Israeli prime minister himself <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/netanyahu-to-push-trump-on-iran-missiles-in-white-house-talks" style="color:#0073e6;">expressed</a> skepticism at the quality of any agreement if it didn&#39;t also cover Iran&#39;s ballistic missiles and support for regional proxies. Figures working within the Iranian system have also been arrested, with three politicians detained this week from the so-called reformist wing of Iranian politics supportive of President Masoud Pezeshkian. The three &mdash; Azar Mansouri, Javad Emam and Ebrahim Asgharzadeh &mdash; were released on bail Thursday and Friday, their lawyer Hojjat Kermani told the ISNA news agency.


In a question from the US president about the "regime change" in Iran, the US president says, "For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk."

Trump says change of power in Iran would be 'best thing'

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump threatened Iran Thursday with &quot;very traumatic&quot; consequences if it fails to make a nuclear deal &mdash; but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was skeptical about the quality of any such agreement. Speaking a day after he hosted Netanyahu at the White House, Trump said he hoped for a result &quot;over the next month&quot; from Washington&#39;s negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program. &quot;We have to make a deal, otherwise it&#39;s going to be very traumatic, very traumatic. I don&#39;t want that to happen, but we have to make a deal,&quot; Trump told reporters. &quot;This will be very traumatic for Iran if they don&#39;t make a deal.&quot; Trump &mdash; who is considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to pressure Iran &mdash; &nbsp;recalled the US military strikes he ordered on Tehran&#39;s nuclear facilities during Israel&#39;s 12-day war with Iran in July last year. &quot;We&#39;ll see if we can get a deal with them, and if we can&#39;t, we&#39;ll have to go to phase two. Phase two will be very tough for them,&quot; Trump said. Netanyahu had traveled to Washington to push Trump to take a harder line in the Iran nuclear talks, particularly on including the Islamic Republic&#39;s arsenal of ballistic missiles. But the Israeli and US leaders apparently remained at odds, with Trump saying after their meeting at the White House on Wednesday that he had insisted the negotiations should continue. &#39;General skepticism&#39; Netanyahu said in Washington on Thursday, before departing for Israel, that Trump believed he was laying the ground for a deal. &quot;He believes that the conditions he is creating, combined with the fact that they surely understand they made a mistake last time when they didn&#39;t reach an agreement, may create the conditions for achieving a good deal,&quot; Netanyahu said, according to a video statement from his office. But the Israeli premier added: &quot;I will not hide from you that I expressed general skepticism regarding the quality of any agreement with Iran.&quot; Any deal &quot;must include the elements that are very important from our perspective,&quot; Netanyahu continued, listing Iran&#39;s ballistic missile program and its support for armed groups such as the Palestinian movement Hamas, Yemen&#39;s Houthi rebels and Hezbollah in Lebanon. &quot;It&#39;s not just the nuclear issue,&quot; he said. Despite their differences on Iran, Trump signaled his strong personal support for Netanyahu as he criticized Israeli President Isaac Herzog for rejecting his request to pardon the prime minister on corruption charges. &quot;You have a president that refuses to give him a pardon. I think that man should be ashamed of himself,&quot; Trump said on Thursday. Trump has repeatedly hinted at potential US military action against Iran following its deadly crackdown on protests last month, even as Washington and Tehran restarted talks last week with a meeting in Oman. The last round of talks between the two foes was cut short by Israel&#39;s war with Iran and the US strikes. So far, Iran has rejected expanding the new talks beyond the issue of its nuclear program. Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, and has said it will not give in to &quot;excessive demands&quot; on the subject.

Trump has repeatedly hinted at potential US military action against Iran following its deadly crackdown on protests last month, even as Washington and Tehran restarted talks last week with a meeting in Oman.

Trump warns Iran of 'very traumatic' outcome if no nuclear deal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&rsquo;s President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday said that any <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-tells-netanyahu-iran-talks-must-continue" style="color:#0073e6;">instability</a>&nbsp;involving Iran could undermine global peace and harm the global economy, adding that the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-president-says-will-not-give-in-to-excessive-demands" style="color:#0073e6;">stakes</a> were &ldquo;far too high for confrontation.&rdquo; US President Donald Trump has hinted at US military action against Iran following Tehran&#39;s crackdown on <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-offers-clemency-to-over-2000-convicts-excludes-protestrelated-cases" style="color:#0073e6;">protesters</a>, but at the same time, Washington and Tehran restarted talks last week with a meeting in Oman. Talks had been suspended after the US struck Iran&#39;s atomic sites during Israel&#39;s 12-day war with Iran last July. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that Tehran would &quot;not yield to excessive demands&quot; on its nuclear program. While speaking at a reception hosted by the Iranian embassy to celebrate the 47th anniversary of Iran&rsquo;s National Day, President Zardari said Pakistan opposed unilateral sanctions and coercive measures, including those against Iran, and believed that peaceful engagement best served regional and global security. &ldquo;Any instability involving Iran, or any attempt to resolve issues through military means, carries grave risks,&rdquo; the president said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Such actions could &hellip; undermine global peace, and cause serious harm to the global economy. The stakes are far too high for confrontation,&rdquo; he added. The president welcomed efforts aimed at &ldquo;easing tensions and encouraging continued dialogue among relevant parties in a constructive spirit, with the objective of promoting peace and stability in the region.&rdquo; While observing a one-minute silence for the recent blast in Islamabad, President Zardari said that the country believed the ongoing conflicts, terrorism, external interference, and unresolved regional flashpoints could not be addressed through force or unilateral actions. He said that Pakistan and Iran shared responsibilities as neighboring countries and remained committed to cooperation on border management, counter-terrorism, and turning the shared frontier into a zone of cooperation, lawful trade, and development.

Foreign Affairs

While speaking at a reception hosted by the Iranian embassy to celebrate the 47th anniversary of Iran’s National Day, President Zardari says Pakistan opposed unilateral sanctions and coercive measures, including those against Iran, and believed that peaceful engagement best served regional and global security.



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