Pakistan's Foreign Ministry says prime minister expected to hold separate bilateral talks with US, Iranian delegations

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. [AP]
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. [AP]

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir are traveling to Switzerland to take part in face-to-face talks between the United States and Iran, which Pakistan has been mediating.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Sharif and Munir departed Saturday for Bürgenstock, Switzerland, to attend talks on implementing the US-Iran cease-fire memorandum of understanding, according to Bloomberg and other media outlets. The ministry added that Sharif is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with the US and Iranian delegations during the meetings.

The previous day, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that working-level talks would be held as a follow-up to the signing of the US-Iran MOU, and that mediating countries including Pakistan and Qatar would participate alongside the US and Iranian delegations.

Under the cease-fire MOU signed June 17, the two countries had agreed to begin substantive follow-on negotiations on nuclear issues starting June 19, running for 60 days. Israel's continued airstrikes on Lebanon, however, pushed the face-to-face talks back to Sunday.

US special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, were among the American delegation that arrived in Switzerland earlier. Vice President JD Vance also departed for Switzerland on Saturday. Switzerland's Foreign Ministry said the Iranian negotiating delegation, led by Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, had arrived.

Pakistan stepped forward as a mediator in March, after the Middle East war broke out in late February following US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran. Sharif and Munir brokered the first US-Iran cease-fire talks, held in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on April 11-12.

The two countries failed to reach an agreement at those talks, and both sides skipped a second round that had been expected on April 21.


ikson@heraldcorp.com