Pakistan says its mediation between Iran and the US remains alive

Pakistan said its efforts to mediate between Iran and the United States remain alive despite the renewed fighting between the two sides. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in separate phone calls with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, urged restraint and an immediate return of calm to the region.

An interim ceasefire earlier signed between Washington and Tehran under Pakistani mediation was meant to open a 60-day window for talks on a permanent deal, but indirect negotiations in Qatar ended without progress. The regional mediation bears on the same tensions that have pushed the war risk premium in the oil market to a one-month high.