By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a call on Thursday in which they discussed promoting “a durable peace between Israel and Iran,” the State Department said in a statement.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
President Donald Trump, earlier this week, announced a ceasefire between U.S. ally Israel and its regional rival Iran to halt a war that began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iran.
Trump met Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House last week where they discussed Iran, which Trump said Pakistan knew about better than most other countries.
A section of Pakistan’s embassy in Washington represents Iran’s interests in the United States, as Tehran does not have diplomatic relations with the U.S.
KEY QUOTES
“The two leaders acknowledged the importance of working together to promote a durable peace between Israel and Iran,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
“Secretary Rubio emphasized Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.”
CONTEXT
The Israel-Iran conflict had raised alarms in a region that was already on edge since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
The U.S. struck Iran’s nuclear sites over the last weekend and Iran targeted a U.S. base in Qatar on Monday in retaliation, before Trump announced an Israel-Iran ceasefire.
Israel is the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons and said its war against Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty while Israel is not.
Pakistan condemned Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran even as it said earlier this month it was nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in bringing a four-day India-Pakistan conflict to an end last month.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
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