Pakistan reiterates complete solidarity with Iran against Israeli aggression: PM Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday termed the regional situation very alarming due to escalated armed conflict between Iran and Israel and said it posed threat not only to the regional but also to the global peace.

The prime minister reiterated Pakistan’s complete solidarity with brotherly country Iran and its people against Israeli aggression and called upon the international community to make efforts for ensuring immediate ceasefire in the ongoing armed conflict.

Addressing a meeting of the cabinet, which was telecast on national Tv channels, the prime minister said that Pakistan had strongly condemned the Israeli aggression against Iran in which hundreds of Iranian people lost their lives and a larger number of others were injured.

“The global community should ensure a ceasefire,” he stressed and expressed the optimism for lasting peace.

He informed the cabinet that during the conflict, he had talked to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and condemned Israeli aggression besides expressed nation’s solidarity.

The prime minister said that he had also held discussion with President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the evolving situation.

About Gaza situation, he said scenes there were heart-wrenching and painful as over 50,000 innocent Palestinians had been martyred.

“The brutality is being unleashed but when will the world’s conscience wake up!” he questioned.

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The prime minister further apprised that Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar would be attending a meeting of the OIC foreign ministers in Turkiye on 21-22 June.

Earlier, the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran “will stand firm against an imposed war, just as it will stand firm against an imposed peace”.

In a televised address reported by the Tasnim news agency Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that “This nation will not surrender to anyone in the face of imposition.”

Khamenei also pointed to statements made by Trump, saying those who know Iran and its history “know that Iranians do not answer well to the language of threat”.

“And the Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable consequences”, says Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It is worth mentioning here that Iran and Israel launched new missile strikes at each other on Wednesday as the air war between the two longtime enemies entered a sixth day amid a call from U.S. President Donald Trump for Tehran’s unconditional surrender.

The Israeli military said two barrages of Iranian missiles were launched toward Israel in the first two hours of Wednesday morning. Explosions were heard over Tel Aviv.

Israel told residents in a southwestern area of Tehran to evacuate so its air force could strike Iranian military installations. Iranian news websites said Israel was attacking a university linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the east of the capital.

Iranian news websites said Israel was also attacking a university linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the country’s east, and the Khojir ballistic missile facility near Tehran, which was also targeted by Israeli airstrikes last October.