A U.S. delegation is expected to arrive in Pakistan within days for potential talks aimed at ending the Iran war, officials said, as efforts intensify to bring Tehran to the negotiating table despite ongoing mistrust.
However, the Pakistani sources said Tehran is "still not ready” to hold talks with Washington due to mistrust.
"Efforts are underway through back-channel diplomacy to persuade Iran to come to the negotiations," a ministry source said, adding that Pakistan, Türkiye, and Egypt "are jointly facilitating the effort."
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif early Monday spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian by telephone in an "attempt to court Tehran," the sources said, without providing further details.
The US delegation is likely to include U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s former's son-in-law, the sources added.
Pakistan's army chief Gen. Asim Munir also spoke to Trump on Sunday about the ongoing Iran war, The Financial Times reported on Monday.
It added that Pakistan has put its capital Islamabad forward as an option for a summit between senior Trump administration officials and Iranian officials as part of its diplomatic efforts.
The development came around the time Trump announced Monday that he had given orders to postpone for five days any military strikes on Iranian power plants.
Iran has denied holding any talks with the U.S. in the past 24 days, but its Foreign Ministry has admitted receiving messages from "friendly countries” that it said indicated requests for talks by the U.S.
