US reacts to Iran president's visit to Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The United States (US) reacted to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s scheduled visit to Pakistan on April 22, ARY News reported.

Addressing a news briefing in Washington Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the U.S. State Department said, that in context to Iran “I’m confident in saying that unleashing hundreds and hundreds of UAVs and ballistic missiles on Israel is certainly not any kind of action that is actually in the interest and for the benefit of the Palestinian people.”

However, he said that as it relates to any visits that other foreign ministers or leaders might have, “I will let their governments comment on that specifically.”

Answering a question regarding Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s US visit, Vedant Patel said “The minister of finance is in the United States for a part of a series of engagements with – not just within the U.S. Government interagency, but also engaging in – with non-governmental organizations. And he met with senior State Department officials here.”

He added that “during the meetings from our end, we encouraged Pakistan to prioritize and expand economic reforms, to address its own economic challenges.”

Yesterday, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is scheduled to visit Pakistan on April 22 for a three-day trip.

Dar said that Iranian president’s visit to Pakistan has nothing to do with the escalating tensions between Tehran and Israel.

“Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Pakistan was planned before the tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv,” the foreign minister explained.

As per sources, during his visit, President Raisi will hold meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir.

Discussions are expected to cover topics such as border security, the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, trade, economic cooperation, and mutual areas of interest.

It is pertinent to mention here that Iran launched the attack on Israel which involved hundreds of drones and missiles in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria that killed top Revolutionary Guards commanders. Most of the Iranian drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory.