Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the escalating tensions in the region, urging all parties to exercise restraint and resolve differences through dialogue and diplomacy.
“Pakistan expresses its deep concern at the escalation in tensions in the region. A renewed conflict is in no one’s interest,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
It called on all sides to refrain from actions that could further undermine regional peace and stability.
“There is no alternative to continued engagement, dialogue and diplomacy to achieve the shared goal of peace in the region,” the statement said.
The Foreign Office also urged all parties to uphold their respective commitments under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), describing it as “an enduring foundation for understanding, mutual respect and shared prosperity for the region and beyond.”
“Pakistan remains ready to continue playing its role in supporting regional peace and stability,” it added.
According to diplomatic sources, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is expected to hold meetings with senior US officials in Washington.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Washington’s ceasefire with Iran is over, and threatened more military action, after the two sides clashed overnight.
Trump, in a flurry of remarks during numerous press events on his final day at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, also signaled the US would reimpose its naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Later, he seemed to downplay the nuclear threat posed by Iran, while ruling out the need for any US troops on the ground in the country.
“We’ve already got the nuclear material because it’s so far underground, nobody’s going to be able to get it except us, because we have the equipment that can get it,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, referring to the aftermath of US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites last year.
The nuclear assessment marked a pivot from his justification for the Iran war, which he began Feb. 28. Trump has cited his concern that Iran was on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon for continuing the conflict.
Trump was asked how the US plans to achieve its nuclear goals with Iran in light of the apparent collapse of their ceasefire deal.
In response, he suggested that the US was under no pressure to collect Iran’s nuclear material – even though a key component of the deal was an agreement to “resolve the disposition of stockpile enriched material” in Iran.
When asked if that means the US has no plans to put boots on the ground in Iran, Trump said, “Why would I go in now?”
“I go in when they’re completely, either eliminated … or an agreement’s made,” he added.
The president’s strident new comments on attacking versus negotiating with Iran followed a series of strikes in the Middle East this week, despite the US signing a temporary ceasefire deal with Iran last month.
“I think it’s over,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about the status of that deal during an appearance with NATO chief Mark Rutte.
“I don’t want to deal with them anymore … as far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” Trump said, referring to Iran.
Trump said Washington’s delegation wanted to negotiate a peace deal, but that he saw it as “a waste of time dealing with” the Iranian side.
In response, Iran’s foreign minister says: “We do not answer vulgarity with vulgarity, but with action: fearlessly and with great valour”
Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait after the US launched a wave of military strikes on Iran in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
They said it carried out a joint missile and drone operation against key US military sites in Bandar Salman, Bahrain’s Fifth Naval District, and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and shot down a US MQ9 drone attempting to interfere in the operation.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait, officials said. The Kuwaiti army said air defences were confronting “hostile” missile and drone attacks.