UN Chief Guterres heads to Pakistan for U.S.-Iran mediation talks

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is spending four days in Pakistan to discuss Islamabad's mediation efforts in the US-Iran conflict and its part in supporting talks between the two sides. Guterres left New York on Sunday night at Pakistan's invitation, and he will meet Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, APP reported.

The UN chief has repeatedly praised Pakistan for helping bring the parties together and back talks that produced a memorandum of understanding on a ceasefire. UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told APP that Guterres values the country's work in UN peacekeeping and in pushing rival sides toward negotiations. Guterres also called for renewed dialogue after the ceasefire collapsed, a call he made last month at his final press conference ahead of the 81st UN General Assembly high-level debate.

Other stops on the four-day trip include the National Disaster Management Authority, where he is due to review disaster readiness after the monsoon floods of 2022, and the headquarters of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) in Islamabad, which oversees the Line of Control. Guterres's previous visit to the country was in 2022, and he is set to step down at the year's end before heading back to New York on Thursday.