Pakistan understands our position, considers US pressure unjustified: Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Friday Pakistan was convinced that the pressure being exerted on Iran by the United States was unjustified.

Mr Zarif, who was on a two-day visit to Pakistan for consultation with Pakistani leaders on the escalation in tensions between his country and the US and its Arab allies, in an interview with Iranian newswire IRNA, after his meetings, said he was happy that “Pakistan understands our position … and considers US pressure on Iran as unjustified.”

The Iranian foreign minister, who was on his 10th visit to Pakistan since assuming office six years ago, met Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa. In his talks, Zarif shared Iranian perspective on evolving crisis in the Persian Gulf, where the US has deployed a naval aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers at an airbase in Qatar and F-15 jets and is planning to station thousands of soldiers in the region, in addition to issues on the bilateral agenda, particularly border security.

Zarif’s reading of Pakistani position is consistent with what the Foreign Office spokesman had said at an earlier media briefing. “The US decision to deploy aircraft carrier and bombers has added to the tensions and the existing precarious security situation in the Middle East,” the spokesman had said.