Pakistani army Chief of Staff and Field Marshal Asim Munir arrived in Tehran Tuesday for a series of high-level bilateral talks with Iranian officials on the status of peace talks with the U.S.
Field Marshal Munir has served as one of Pakistan’s key mediators in peace talks between the U.S. and Iran, along with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.
Field Marshal Munir is expected to meet with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has led Iranian peace negotiations.
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Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said the field marshall’s visit earlier Tuesday but declined to say what he would speak about with Iran’s leaders.
The visit comes one day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Tehran for meetings with Mr. Araghchi and Mr. Pezeshkian. The meetings mostly discussed the status of the U.S.-Iran peace process and deepening the Iran-Russia relationship.
The flurry of diplomatic activity in Iran comes as the true status of peace negotiations remains murky. Iranian and U.S. officials have said within the last few weeks that negotiators are exchanging messages and proposals through mediators, but it remains unclear how far apart both sides are on major issues.
The future administration of the Strait of Hormuz and the status of Iran’s nuclear material remain the most important issues for Washington, and President Trump has been resistant to backing down from his position on either.
The U.S. has demanded that Iran end its blockade of the strait, hand over its highly enriched uranium and abandon its nuclear program entirely.
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