Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi on Tuesday, August 11, headed to Tehran for talks with Iranian officials amid mediation efforts to end the ongoing Iran-US conflict, according to the Iranian media.
Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, cited a diplomatic source saying Naqvi departed for the Iranian capital early Tuesday for talks on bilateral ties and issues of mutual interest.
There was no immediate confirmation from Pakistani or Iranian authorities.
The visit comes a month after Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni travelled to Islamabad for talks with his Pakistani counterpart.
Pakistan, supported by Gulf countries like Qatar, has been trying to mediate between the United States and Iran, but the conflict continues because of a range of factors – the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz being the key reason at this point.
In June, the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding, which opened a 60-day window for further talks aimed at bringing peace to West Asia. A summit was also held in Switzerland after the signing of the interim agreement.
But the talks collapsed last month as tensions escalated after both the US and Iran resumed military strikes.
Iranian-backed Houthis kill 4 in attack on vessel
Yemeni authorities say four people were killed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacking a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Houthis fired missiles on a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb on Tuesday and killed four people, Yemeni authorities said.
The Transportation Ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognised government said the dead included four Pakistani nationals and an Indonesian.
The ministry said in a statement the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles on the Yemeni commercial vessel.
They are the first known deaths from Houthi attacks on shipping off Yemen in the latest bout of fighting in the Arab country.
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down by Iran, there has been a renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait at Yemen’s southern tip, which is an alternate route for Saudi Arabia to ship its oil.
Houthis hit targets in central Yemen and Red Sea port city
Houthis attacked the government-held port city of Mokha on the Red Sea and other areas of the country.
Yemen’s military said the rebels targeted Mokha and the central province of Marib with missiles and drones but did not provide further details.
The Houthis struck Marib and the eastern province of Hadramout last week, killing dozens of government troops and civilians. They hit Mokha with missiles and drones over the weekend and killed at least seven people, including three troops, according to the Yemeni military.
Mokha is a main port under Yemen’s internationally recognised government and has been renovated to handle shipping to avoid the Houthi-held port of Hodeida.
The strikes were part of an escalation by the Houthis against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which supports the internationally recognised Yemeni government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea.
The Houthi attacks could reignite Yemen’s civil war following a 2022 truce, and open a new front in the Middle East war.
Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the Houthis’ chief negotiator and spokesperson, accused Saudi Arabia in a social media post of exploiting the ceasefire to tighten an air and sea blockade it imposed in 2015.
He said the Houthis are open to negotiations, but any settlement must include lifting the blockade.
Iranian foreign minister underlines Tehran’s demands
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters that the country had “astonished the whole world” in the war against the United States and Israel, proving “that it is a tough and invincible power.”
Iran has refused to back down on demands that the US end its blockade of Iranian ports and fulfill other conditions before Tehran will consider reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran effectively closed the strait after Israel and the US attacked the country on Feb. 28. Attacks on the key waterway — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies passed before the war — and uncertainty around its future have kept energy prices a major focus of US politics ahead of November’s midterm elections.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday in an Oval Office exchange with reporters that the US Navy’s blockade is preventing Iran from selling its oil on the international market, effectively choking the Iranian economy.
“Yeah, they can make trouble,” Trump said, “but they’re broke.”
