Iran urged to consider Pak-Saudi defence deal

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has said that he had taken up the issue of Iran in a bilateral meeting with the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and that Iran came under attack from the US and Israel despite positive headway in the related negotiations.“I had a bilateral meeting with Secretary Rubio— I took up the issue of Iran—Iran agreed not to produce nuclear weapons— Pakistan wanted that the matter be resolved through dialogue and Iran’s response was positive,” Dar told the Upper House of the Parliament on Tuesday.Despite that the negotiations were progressing positively, Iran was attacked, said the DPM, who also holds the official positions of the Foreign Minister and the Leader of the House in the Senate.In meetings with Iranian officials, Pakistan advised Iran to resolve the matter with diplomacy and dialogue, he said.READ ALSO: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia sign landmark strategic mutual defense agreementDar said that Pakistan supported Iran’s right to the use of nuclear energy. “Their (US) demand was that there should be no uranium enrichment in Iran—and entire infrastructure should be destroyed –but we argued for them (Iran) that peaceful use of nuclear energy is everyone’s right,” he added.“Obama administration had agreed to it,” Dar said.The DPM said the US agreed to Iran’s peaceful use of nuclear energy under the surveillance of two or three countries. “Iran was happy with that—Iran was happy to be engaged in Islamabad—we were happy to mediate negotiations,” the lawmaker said.Dar appeared to imply that Gulf countries would have supported Iran had their certain installations not been attacked by the latter. “Iran is a sovereign country, our brother, our friend, very dear to us— but they took a decision— I don’t want to get into that controversy,” he said in an implied yet obvious reference to Iran’s attacks on installations in some Gulf countries that have American military bases.“I think if a counterattack had not taken place on those countries, we would have made them stand with us, and we would be having a joint voice,” he said.The legislator said Pakistan told Iran to keep in view the defence agreement signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. “Everyone saw that the minimum reaction came against Saudi Arabia and Oman,” he added.Dar claimed Pakistan is the only country that condemned the attack on Iran. “I have not seen the statement of any other country—it took me not more than 15 minutes to decide that we have to condemn this attack—Iran appreciated this,” he said.Dar said Pakistan raised Iran’s issue at every relevant forum including the United Nations Security Council.According to the foreign minister, he is in direct contact with his Iranian counterpart on WhatsApp. “We remain in direct contact—we don’t need the official route of Foreign Office for communication,” he added.Other senators including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman, PTI Parliamentary Leader Ali Zafar, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) Parliamentary Leader Atta Ur Rehman and Afnan Ullah Khan from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) spoke in support of Iran.Law Minister Azam Tarar informed the House that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will provide an in camera briefing to parliamentary leaders today (Wednesday) regarding the situation in the Gulf region.Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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