Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held separate telephone conversations with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran on Wednesday, as tensions simmer over Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
In a call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the two leaders discussed regional and international developments and matters of mutual interest. They agreed to maintain close coordination on shared priorities.<\/p>\n
Dar also spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, emphasising the importance of dialogue and diplomacy in the region. Both officials pledged to continue close engagement and coordination between their countries.<\/p>\n
The calls came a day after US President Donald Trump told Israel\u2019s\u00a0Channel 12\u00a0that the United States would have to do \u201csomething very tough\u201d if a deal is not reached with Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cEither we reach a deal or we\u2019ll have to do something very tough,\u201d the broadcaster quoted Trump as saying.<\/p>\n
Trump has said he is considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East,\u00a0Axios\u00a0and\u00a0Channel 12\u00a0reported, amid tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran\u2019s nuclear programme and its recent crackdown on protesters.<\/p>\n
So far, Iran has rejected expanding the scope of its talks with the US beyond the nuclear issue. Washington, however, wants Tehran\u2019s ballistic missile programme and its support for regional militant groups included in the negotiations.<\/p>\n
Read:\u00a0US will have to do \u2018something very tough\u2019 if no Iran deal, says Trump<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump are set to meet in Washington today, their sixth meeting in the United States since Trump returned to office a year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn this trip we will discuss a range of issues: Gaza, the region, but of course, first and foremost, the negotiations with Iran,\u201d Netanyahu said in a video statement before his departure. \u201cI will present to the president our views regarding the principles for the negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an earlier statement, Netanyahu\u2019s office said he would highlight Israel\u2019s concerns over Iran\u2019s missile arsenal, not just its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson warned that Netanyahu\u2019s visit would have a \u201cdestructive\u201d influence on diplomacy that is \u201cdetrimental to the region\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur negotiating party is America. It is up to America to decide to act independently of the pressures and destructive influences that are detrimental to the region,\u201d Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said in a weekly press briefing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Zionist regime has repeatedly, as a saboteur, shown that it opposes any diplomatic process in our region that leads to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
The visit comes after Iran and the United States resumed negotiations in Oman on Friday for the first time since the 12-day Iran-Israel war last June, which was briefly joined by the US military.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held separate telephone conversations with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran on Wednesday, as tensions simmer over Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. In a call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the two leaders discussed regional and international developments and matters of mutual interest. They agreed to maintain …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1969,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966\/revisions\/1969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}