Islamabad:
Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian is expected to visit Pakistan on Saturday at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a trip being considered crucial after the recent Iran-Israeli war and other regional developments.
According to officials, the Iranian president would land in Lahore on Saturday and visit the mausoleum of the poet Dr Muhammad Allama Iqbal. He would then go to Islamabad where he would have a series of meetings with civil and military leaders in Pakistan, notably the President, the Prime Minister and the Head of the Army.
The Iranian media reported that the Pezeshkian agenda includes high -level meetings and dialogues with culture and business leaders. Discussions should focus on strengthening bilateral relations, which cover political, economic, religious and cultural dimensions.
A key objective of the visit is to extend the cross-border and provincial cooperation, in the hope of increasing current commercial volumes beyond the existing $ 3 billion.
But the emphasis would be placed on current regional developments, including Iran-Israeli conflicts, tensions in South Asia and the deterioration of the situation in Gaza.
Prime Minister Shehbaz and the army chief went to Tehran after the Pakistani-Indian conflict in May to thank Iran for having extended support to Pakistan.
Iran was one of the countries trying to negotiate a ceasefire between the two nuclear armed neighbors. The Iranian Foreign Minister went to New Delhi and Islamabad to prevent the climbing situation. The Iranian president then spoke to the Pakistani and Indian leaders in the context of mediation efforts.
But a few weeks later, when Iran was facing a dam of missiles, drones and other attacks from Israel, Pakistan expressed total solidarity with Tehran.
Pakistan not only condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran, but as a non -permanent member of the CSNU played an important role in favor of Iran.
