Overview
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of COP31 in Antalya, where both leaders agreed to coordinate regularly in support of regional peace and to deepen bilateral ties.
- Sharif told Pezeshkian that dialogue, restraint and sustained diplomacy are needed to end the prolonged conflict and urged building on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding reached in June 2026.
- On the following day Sharif held a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in which Türkiye praised Pakistan’s mediation and both sides reaffirmed commitments under the Islamabad MoU while discussing trade, defence, energy and connectivity.
- Senior Pakistani officials including Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Senator Sherry Rehman attended the Iran meeting and Pakistan’s statements stressed regular consultations as a tool to manage tensions and seize cooperation opportunities.
- The talks come as Pakistan positions itself as a regional interlocutor linking the Islamabad MoU and the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement as parallel tracks for de‑escalation and deeper security and economic cooperation, though earlier reporting noted disputes over MoU implementation that could shape next steps.