'Stay together in good and bad times': President Zardari voices support for Iran's peace in meeting with Pezeshkian

President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday reaffirmed Pakistan’s “principled support for Iran’s peace” as President Masoud Pezeshkian paid a visit to Islamabad. The visiting dignitary was also welcomed at the Prime Minister House with a guard of honour and the two were set to hold a meeting. Pezeshkian is on an official visit to Pakistan at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s invitation. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was at the direct talks held between the United States and Iran in Switzerland over the weekend, is also accompanying Pezeshkian during the visit. In their meeting at Aiwan-i-Sadr, President Zardari welcomed his Iranian counterpart on his first state visit to Pakistan since the US-Iran war, the presidency said. “The two leaders discussed bilateral relations, mainly regional peace and security, bilateral and regional connectivity, economic cooperation and other issues of mutual interest,” the statement said. President Zardari noted that the visit reflected the “longstanding brotherly relations between the two countries and a desire to stay together in good and bad times”. He stressed that Pakistan has “consistently opposed one-sided initiatives and has supported dialogue and diplomacy as the means to achieve a durable and sustainable solution to regional and global challenges”. He also underscored Pakistan’s “commitment to preserving the unity of the Muslim Ummah while maintaining strong fraternal relations with the countries of the Gulf region”, the presidency said. President Zardari congratulated Pezeshkian on the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran and “expressed the hope that the ongoing technical-level negotiations would culminate in permanent peace in the region”. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s “principled support for Iran’s peace, stability, national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity”. The president again expressed his condolences on the “martyrdom of His Eminence Ali Hosseini Khamenei”