Photo:IRNA

Former Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour said on Sunday that Iran welcomes Pakistan's efforts to drive the region to de-escalation and that compared to other countries, Pakistan has a better record of mediation efforts in the region.

Pakistan is one the most important countries in the region that has a 900-km long border with Iran. Many of their issues have mutual impacts on the other. Islamabad undoubtedly has several areas for cooperation and interaction with Iran, said veteran diplomat Ebrahim Rahimpour in an interview with IRNA.

Referring to Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Iran, he said that the visit has a lot on agenda, including mediation between Iran and the Saudi government.

Rahimpour said that Islamabad's effort to de-escalate tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia is nothing new. Though their previous efforts failed, they are not disappointed and of course they shouldn't be. The new efforts may pave the way for the future ones, said Rahimpour.

The veteran diplomat added that Pakistan made some efforts in New York to ease the tensions between Tehran and Washington as well. Taking any action toward easing tension is good, but thinking that after Imran Khan's visit to Tehran, everything between Iran and the Saudi Government will be solved is not right.   

Regarding the fact that an Iranian oil tanker, SABITI, was hit in the Red Sea, he said most probably that is not related to the visit. The region is in chaos, so things like this may happen to anyone including Iran. He said that the only way to put an end to such incidents is to cooperate with each other, and since there is no mutual understanding and dialog between countries, things like that may happen further.