Tehran:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday declared the full support of Iran’s right to have a civilian nuclear program and assured Tehran that Islamabad would work with it on all matters of mutual concern.

Shehbaz arrived in Tehran on the second stage of his regional tour. He held conversations with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Sa’dabad Palace. The Prime Minister also called on the Iranian chief leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by Chief of Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Minister of Information Attaullah Tarrar.

Following the negotiations at the delegation level, Prime Minister Shehbaz and President Pezeshkian approached the joint media efforts. In the apartment, Shehbaz expressed gratitude to Iran for its support during the recent escalation between Pakistan and India.

The Prime Minister confirmed Pakistan’s support for Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. “We stand with our Iranian brothers and confirm our support for Iran’s peaceful nuclear program,” he said. “Pakistan fully supported Iran’s right to have a civilian nuclear program.”

Shehbaz told the media that Pakistan was standing by his brothers and sisters in Iran to promote peace, progress and prosperity. He assured the Iranian leadership that Pakistan would cooperate with Iran on all issues of mutual concern.

The Prime Minister declared that Pakistan came out of the recent crisis with India as victorious because of “the brave actions of our excellent armed forces”, which was strongly supported by the population of Pakistan. He repeated his offer of conversations with India for the sake of peace in the region.

“We want peace and we want to work for peace in the region through conversations … and solve our unique problems, including Kashmir, according to the United Nations Security Council resolutions, which were recognized even by the Indian Lok Sabha when Nehru was the Indian prime minister,” he said.

“For peace, we are ready to talk about various questions, including water, trade and also terrorism, if India is serious,” he added. “If they accept our offer, we will speak for the sake of peace. If India remains aggressive, Pakistan must defend his sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he warned.

Previously, Shehbaz and Pezeshkian held wide conversations. Both sides decided to improve cooperation to increase bilateral trade and investment and work together to maintain peace and security in the region. Shehbaz told the media he had a productive meeting with President Pezeshkian.

“There was a total consensus that the two fraternal neigbouring countries should improve cooperation in different areas, including trade, investment and economy,” he said. “We have decided to transform these relationships into a very productive collaboration.”

While welcoming the prime minister and his delegation, the Iranian president said the two countries should cooperate to make their borders secure against terrorists and criminal groups. He said peaceful bilateral relations were in interest to the two countries.

The president welcomed the ceasefire between Pakistan and India and said that the settlement of problems through dialogue was important for stability in the region. He encouraged both sides to have positive consultations with each other and with international partners.

The Iranian president told journalists that the two sides discussed questions that the Islamic world is facing and the highest priority was the question of Palestine. “As always, we support the cause of Palestine and condemn the atrocities performed by Israel,” he added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz said Pakistan condemned Israeli acts causing countless misery to the population of Gaza, where more than 50,000 Palestinians were murdered by the Israeli forces. “It is high time that the international community is using its influence to bring lasting truce in Palestine.”

Meeting with Khamenei

Later, the Prime Minister, along with his delegation, paid a courtesy call to the Iranian supreme leader Dr. Sayyed Ali Khamenei and briefed him on the recent conflict with India and India’s hegemonic and revisionist design. He thanked Iran’s leadership for supporting Pakistan against Indian aggression.

He also briefed the supreme leader of the steps taken to raise Pakistan-Iran-ribbon to the highest levels and maintained that his government was obliged to further elaborate on strategic cooperation with Iran in the complex Pakinomist-political era.

Dr. Khamenei appreciated Prime Minister Shehbaz’s efforts to promote regional peace and stability with long -sightedness. He praised his personal obligation to further strengthen the relations of Pakistan-Iran and asked for greater prosperity, growth and development of Pakistan and its people.

Trading of $ 10 billion

Before his visit to Tehran, Prime Minister Shehbaz said in an interview with Irna that trade between Pakistan and Iran had witnessed a significant increase in the last three to four years, adding that it would be taken to $ 10 million in the next few years from the current $ 3 billion.

“We’ll take it up to $ 10 billion in the next few years, but I think the potential is also much greater than that. We are discussing signing a free trade agreement [FTA]. I think in the next 10 years the trading volume between the two countries will expand a lot, ”he said.

To this end, the Prime Minister emphasized the need to have lasting financial engagements in the long term. “I personally think that a strong economic connection between Pakistan’s Balochistan and Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan … can be very effective in dealing with terrorism,” he added.

When he talked about his Iran’s visit, the prime minister said the goal of his visit was to thank Iran for supporting and standing by Pakistan during the conflict with India. “I would like to thank Iranian leadership for its support and its offer for mediation that we accepted, but India rejected,” he added.

In response to a question, he said there could be no peace and justice in the region until the solution of Kashmir and the Palestinian questions, which repeated that it was critically important that these issues should be resolved in accordance with the ambitions of Kashmiri and the Palestinian people.

When asked about Iran-US talks, the prime minister said the negotiations, diplomacy and commitment were the best solutions. “I have a lot of faith in Iran’s leadership. I am quite hope that positive things come out of these negotiations.”

(With Input from News Desk)