ISLAMABAD: Foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Türkiye met on Sunday (Mar 29) for talks on the war in the Middle East, with Islamabad acting as a go-between for the United States and Iran.
The four-way meeting between the top diplomats of the Muslim nations convened “to review the evolving regional situation and discuss issues of mutual interest”, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a brief statement.
Egypt’s Badr Abdelatty and Hakan Fidan from Türkiye arrived in Islamabad on Saturday night, while their Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan touched down on Sunday afternoon.
Several roads leading to Islamabad’s Red Zone – where key government buildings and diplomatic missions are based – were sealed off, AFP reporters said.
Security was tight and the driveway of the foreign ministry was decorated with the flags of all four countries. Iran, the United States and Israel were not represented, a foreign ministry source said.
Before the meeting, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held separate bilateral talks with his visiting counterparts. Fidan and Abdelatty also jointly met Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir.
The government in Pakistan has emerged as a key facilitator between Iran and the United States as their war drags on, serving as an intermediary for messages between the two sides.
Islamabad has longstanding links with Tehran and close contacts in the Gulf, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Munir have struck up a personal rapport with US President Donald Trump.
Tehran has refused to admit to holding official talks with Washington but has passed a response to Trump’s 15-point plan to end the war via Islamabad, according to an anonymous source cited by the Iranian Tasnim news agency.
Sharif on Saturday said he had a detailed telephone conversation with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian lasting over one hour, detailing his country’s “ongoing diplomatic outreach”.
Pezeshkian thanked Islamabad “for its mediation efforts to stop the aggression”.
Late on Saturday, Dar, who is also the country’s deputy prime minister, said Iran had allowed 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels – or two ships daily – to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Dialogue, diplomacy, and such confidence-building measures are the only way forward,” Dar said on X, tagging US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.