Chinese FM calls on Pakistan to intensify Iran mediation

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called on Pakistan to step up mediation efforts, and contribute to properly addressing issues related to opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the appeal when speaking to Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar over phone.

Dar briefed Wang on Pakistan's recent mediation efforts in facilitating talks between Iran and the United States, thanked China for its support of Pakistan's efforts to promote dialogue, and expressed hope to strengthen coordination with China to jointly play a positive role in maintaining regional peace and stability.

Wang reiterated China's principled position and commended Pakistan for facilitating U.S.-Iran talks and helping extend the temporary ceasefire. He expressed hope that Pakistan will maintain confidence and contribute to restoring regional peace at an early date, which is also the common aspiration of the international community.

China will continue to support Pakistan's mediation efforts and make its own contribution toward this end, Wang said.

Noting that China and Pakistan will mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties in a few days, he said that the two sides should jointly hold commemorative activities, maintain close high-level exchanges, strengthen strategic communication, consolidate their ironclad friendship, advance practical cooperation, better safeguard each other's core interests as well as the common interests of China and Pakistan, and promote the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership to new heights.

Wang added that facing a world intertwined with changes and turbulence, the two sides should voice the just position of China and Pakistan on multilateral platforms such as the UN, and jointly uphold multilateralism.

For his part, Dar said that the Pakistani side is willing to take the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to deepen all-round cooperation with China, strengthen multilateral coordination, and work for new progress in the Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

Chinese FM calls on Pakistan to intensify Iran mediation

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Tuesday that the United States has no other alternative but to accept the Iranian people's rights.

He made the remarks in a post on social media X, after U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed Iran's response to a U.S. peace proposal and warned that the ceasefire between the two countries is "on massive life support."

Qalibaf said in the post that there is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the (Iran-proposed) 14-point proposal and warned that "any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another."

"The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it," he added.

Trump on Monday slammed Iran's latest response to the White House peace plan, which he rejected one day earlier, calling it "totally unacceptable," stressing that any peace deal between Washington and Tehran would require Iran to pledge to stop pursuing a nuclear program.

Iran has not publicly agreed to give up its enriched uranium, insisting that its nuclear program is peaceful.

On the same day, several U.S. media outlets, citing internal government sources, reported that due to the lack of progress in negotiations, the U.S. is now "more seriously considering" resuming military action against Iran compared to previous weeks.

Iran, the United States and Israel reached a ceasefire on April 8 after 40 days of fighting that began after U.S.-Israeli joint attacks on Tehran and other Iranian cities on Feb 28.

Following the truce, Iranian and U.S. delegations held one round of peace talks in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on April 11 and 12, which failed to yield an agreement.

Over the past weeks, the two sides have reportedly exchanged several proposed plans outlining conditions for ending the conflict through the mediation of Pakistan.

Iranian parliament speaker says US must accept its people's rights