Pakistani PM confirms mediation efforts between Saudi Arabia, Iran

The Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has said that the mediation efforts between Saudi Arabia and Iran are making slow progress.

While confirming this on Wednesday August 5, 2020, Khan said that “Our mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia has not stopped and we are making progress, though it is slow.”

He added that “We made every effort to avoid a military confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and our efforts succeeded.”

The prime Minister had visited Tehran and Riyadh, as requested by Washington, to mediate talks after the attacks on oil installations in the Gulf, amid US accusations that Tehran launched the hostilities.

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, informed the Security Council last June of a report indicating that the weapons used to attack oil installations in Saudi Arabia last year were from Iran.

Guterres said in the report that weapons seized by the United States in November and in February this year were of Iranian origin.

Iran however rejected the claim of the report, stating that it considered the accusations efforts by the US and Saudi to extend the arms embargo on Iran, which is due to expire in October.