Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will begin a visit to Iran on Saturday, where he will meet Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, in search of reconciliation between Riyadh and Tehran, whose relations have become increasingly strained recently.
The Pakistani premier and foreign ministry confirmed that Imran Khan will meet Rouhani on Sunday in Tehran to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and that he will return to Pakistan and then visit Saudi Arabia next Tuesday.
Iranian government spokesman Ali Rubaie said the Pakistani prime minister had conveyed a message from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman asking for dialogue with Tehran.
But Pakistan denied on Saturday that Saudi Arabia had asked it to lead mediation with Iran, whose relations with Riyadh have recently been strained.
Foreign media reported that the Saudi crown prince conveyed a message to the Pakistani prime minister to be handed over to the Iranian leadership for dialogue between Tehran and Riyadh, the foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
She added that these reports are baseless, because no such message was sent, and Saudi Arabia did not ask Pakistan to play any mediation role with Iran.
Imran Khan revealed in September that US President Donald Trump had asked him to mediate in the current crisis with Iran.
He said at a conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that Trump asked him to mediate the current crisis with Tehran, stressing that he had already spoken to President Hassan Rouhani in this regard.