Pak PM Imran visits Tehran for Iran-Saudi talks
Tehran, October 13
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Iran on Sunday on a mission to act as a “facilitator” between Tehran and Riyadh and try to defuse rising tensions in the Gulf.
Khan landed in Tehran around midday and met with President Hassan Rouhani at the presidential palace. He was also scheduled to hold talks with Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before travelling to Riyadh on Tuesday.
“The reason for this trip is that we do not want a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran,” Khan told reporters as he stood alongside Rouhani.
“Whatever it takes we must never allow this conflict to take place, because we know, Mr President, that there is a vested interest that wants this to take place,” Khan told Rouhani.
Khan warned that any conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia would “cause poverty in the world”.
Rouhani said he had expressed Iran’s concern about Gulf security, a “missile attack” on an Iranian vessel off the Saudi coast.
“We expressed our concerns to the prime minister about the incidents happening to oil tankers, especially the Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea on Friday,” he said. — AFP
