India-Pakistan war: This Muslim nation offers mediation to deescalate tensions, President calls PM Modi, FM to visit Islamabad, New Delhi, the country is…

India-Pakistan war: Iran has offered to mediate to deescalate tensions between India and Pakistan which have reached a boiling point following the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, and threatens to devolve into an all-out India-Pakistan war. Talking to Tehran’s state-funded Press TV, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the country’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi will visit both India and Pakistan this coming week, with the purpose reducing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals and preventing the possibility of a major regional war in South Asia.

According to the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tehran’s Foreign Affairs Minister will arrive in Islamabad on Monday where he will meet a consultation with high-ranking Pakistani officials from the government and the armed forces. Later in the week, Iran’s top diplomat will head to India for an official visit.

The purpose of both visits is to boost bilateral ties and preventing a major regional conflict in South Asia, the spokesperson said.

Iran offers to mediate

Iran has offered to act as a mediator between Pakistan and India to prevent a major India-Pakistan war fueled by heightened tensions between the two bitter enemies following last month’s dastardly Pahalgam terror attack in which terrorists gunned down 26 civilians, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, in Kashmir.

Following the attack, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a telephone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the barbaric incident and stressed the need for putting up a united front against terrorism. On the same day, Pezeshkian also dialed Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the same day, talked about the Pahalgam attack, and expressed deep concern over the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

Iran is one of the few countries which has cordial ties with both India and Pakistan, but is considered closer to New Delhi because of border tensions with Islamabad.

India-Pakistan war

India has announced a slew of punitive diplomatic measures, such as the closure of the Attari-Wagah border, complete ban on bilateral trade, suspension of the critical Indus Water Treaty (IWT), and the downgrading of diplomatic ties, among others. However, it is believed that India’s silence is the calm before the storm as New Delhi is expected to launch a major military operation against Pakistan to avenge the Pahalgam killings.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly held separate calls with top Indian and Pakistani leader urging the two nuclear-armed neighbors to exercise restraint and resolve the matter through dialogue after Pakistani authorities held an emergency presser, saying the possibility of an Indian military strike was high within the 36 hours.

On Saturday, in an interview to Russian broadcaster RT, Muhammad Khalid Jamali, Pakistan’s top diplomat in Moscow, claimed “Islamabad has reliable intelligence that suggests that India is planning a military attack on Pakistani territory.” The Pakistani ambassador also claimed that “documents have been leaked according to which a decision has been taken to attack some areas of Pakistan”, adding that an Indian attack was “certain”.

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