Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Tuesday to follow up on the stalled Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, as Pakistan seeks to revive its role mediating between Iran and the United States.
Naqvi, who arrived in Tehran earlier in the day, was received by his Iranian counterpart Eskandar Momeni before holding talks with Araghchi. The two interior ministers are also expected to hold detailed bilateral discussions during the visit. A diplomatic source told Dawn from Tehran that the principal objective of Naqvi’s trip was to follow up on the Islamabad MoU and Pakistan’s mediation efforts, which had remained largely dormant as Oman took the lead in negotiations over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Reported progress in the Oman-Iran dialogue has now created an opening for Islamabad to try reviving the broader process that emerged from the June agreement.
Separately, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg that the United States and Iran are nearing “some sort of an arrangement.” “Things are shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement or a deal. The signals over the last three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement,” he said.
Diplomatic Efforts
Pakistan had recently invited Araghchi and Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator Bagher Ghalibaf to visit Islamabad “at the earliest possible opportunity.” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, however, said Monday that the visit would take place “at an appropriate time.” Naqvi’s trip to Tehran therefore takes on added significance as an effort to keep Pakistan’s mediation channel active rather than simply wait for Iranian leadership to travel to Islamabad.
The Persian Gulf, and the Strait of Hormuz in particular, remains locked in a fragile “no war, no peace” situation following the collapse of the Islamabad MoU reached between Iran and the US in June. In his meeting with the Iranian president, Naqvi described the Pakistan-Iran relationship as “strong, long-standing, and unbreakable,” conveying Islamabad’s “serious determination and will” to pursue the comprehensive development of ties with Tehran. Pezeshkian, in turn, said Iran-Pakistan relations would serve both countries’ national interests while contributing to regional stability and security.
The renewed emphasis on bilateral ties comes just days after Pakistan signed a trilateral defense agreement with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, an arrangement Islamabad has repeatedly stressed is defensive in nature and not directed against any country. On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke with Araghchi and briefed him on the contours of that agreement, underscoring its objectives of strengthening strategic cooperation and contributing to regional peace and security.
Hormuz Future
Disagreement over the future management of the Strait of Hormuz emerged as one of the principal fault lines in implementing the original agreement, contributing to the subsequent escalation. Iran and Oman have since been negotiating a new arrangement for safe passage through the strait, focused on a possible new shipping route and its management. Tehran, however, maintains that any understanding with Oman would represent only a technical or first-stage arrangement, not a full reopening of the waterway. Iran remains adamant that it will fully reopen the strait only once the US has addressed all alleged violations of the Islamabad MoU.
According to the diplomatic source, Iran’s position, as conveyed to foreign capitals, is that full reopening of Hormuz remains tied to US implementation of the Islamabad MoU. Tehran has insisted that the MoU, having been concluded at the presidential level, remains the only legitimate framework for resolving the wider dispute and should be implemented as signed rather than renegotiated through selective reinterpretation. The source said Iran is also seeking evidence of genuine US political willingness to restore the process before moving toward the next phase leading to a full reopening, wanting concrete and verifiable assurances rather than verbal commitments on whether Washington is prepared to return to its obligations under the MoU.
Trump Rails Against ‘Devious Negotiators’
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday described Iran’s negotiators as “devious” and “dishonest.” “They’re very devious negotiators because they’ll agree to something, then they’ll go out and tell the press that they never agreed to it. They’re very dishonest people,” he said in an interview with Real America’s Voice.
He added that Iran’s economic situation and inflation were unsustainable, suggesting the US could either wait it out or “hit them really, really hard,” or pursue a third option of beating Iran economically, “but we’re doing that anyway.” He described Iran’s economy as “a mess,” saying, “They can’t borrow money. We control their money… they had a lot, and we have total control… I’m their banker.”
