Pakistan president urges US and Iran to honour Islamabad memorandum and settle differences diplomatically

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari urged the United States and Iran to honour the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and to resolve their differences through diplomacy, the president’s office said.

Zardari delivered the appeal during a meeting in Islamabad with Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, who is on a four-day official visit that the statement described as the first such trip by a Russian interior minister to Pakistan.

According to the presidential statement, Zardari asked both governments to exercise restraint and to respect the memorandum reached in June as a framework to address the Middle East conflict.

He singled out the importance of maintaining safe maritime navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, warning that disruptions to those routes put energy supplies, trade and supply chains at risk.

The statement quoted Kolokoltsev as urging Pakistan and Russia to translate their leaders’ goodwill into tangible results in bilateral ties, and it recorded a trade figure: bilateral trade measured $243.4 million in the 2025 financial year. The visit’s novelty was highlighted by the statement’s note that it is the first time a Russian interior minister has visited Pakistan.

Anadolu Agency’s reporting of the presidential statement was picked up and echoed in headlines by other outlets that covered the same appeal, showing cross‑sector interest in Islamabad’s diplomatic effort.

The available reporting does not include further detail on the Islamabad memorandum’s specific provisions, what commitments it binds the United States and Iran to, or any contemporaneous response from either Washington or Tehran.

Zardari framed his appeal in narrowly diplomatic terms, urging restraint and dialogue rather than naming punitive steps or specifying follow-up mechanisms.

The presidential statement linked the memorandum and diplomatic engagement directly to protecting maritime routes and energy and trade flows, presenting Pakistan’s interest as guarding commercial and security lines that it described as under threat from the ongoing conflict.

Reporting in this package does not provide independent confirmation of whether the United States or Iran have formally accepted the Islamabad Memorandum’s terms, nor does it include comments from US or Iranian officials.

It also does not report any specific subsequent actions by Pakistan, the US, Iran or other states tied to the meeting, leaving the appeal recorded in the presidential statement as the principal documented outcome of the encounter.