Amid the rising tension between Iran and the United States, foreign minister of Iran Mohammad Jawad Zarif paid two day visit to Pakistan. He met with civil and military leadership and discussed the emerging situation in region because of the US aggressive posturing against Iran. American war ships and aircraft carriers have been deployed in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea in addition to the arrival of B-52 bombers at the CENTCOM base in Qatar. The US ground troops are already deployed in Iraq and some Middle East countries and President Donald Trump has announced sending1500 more troops to the Middle East.
The rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia over the Syrian and Yemen civil war has provided an opportunity to the United States to send its forces to increase its military presence in the Middle East. Any act of aggression against Iran will further destabilize the whole region with its certain fallouts on Pakistan. After discussion with Iranian foreign minister, the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa said that war is not in any one’s interest and all sides need to make efforts to keep conflict away from the region. Similarly, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed anguish over the escalating tension between Iran and the United States and urged the stakeholders to resolve all outstanding issues through diplomatic engagements. Individually, a number of Islamic countries are making diplomatic efforts to deescalate the rising tension in the region to avoid the possibility of war. However, collective efforts from the OIC platform are needed to resolve the difference between two Islamic countries Iran and Saudi Arabia and give a clear message to the US to deescalate tension with Iran.
