Pakistan to stand with Iran on sanctions

Senior Pakistani analyst says that Pakistan will support Iran over US unjustified unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Sami ullah Malik in his article published in daily ‘Ausaf’ said Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had assured his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif during latter’s recent Pakistan visit that his country would stand by Iran over Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

He expressed the hope that all parties involved in the JCPOA will honor their obligations regarding the agreement while the IAEA has repeatedly confirmed that Iran is complying with all the provisions of the agreement.

The analyst said that during a meeting between Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif and Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa Iran was assured that Pakistan is taking concrete measures to bring peace and stability to the region.

He said it is pertinent to mention that this was Zarif’s eighth visit to Pakistan since he became Iranian foreign minister in 2013.

He added that the Iranian Foreign Minister was the first top foreign diplomat to visit Pakistan after the new government came into power earlier this month.

The expert said that both countries are trying to enhance their economic ties by raising the bilateral trade volume to $5 billion in next five years.

Sami ullah Malik went on to say that in July this year Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri leading a high level delegation also visited Pakistan to enhance defense ties between the two countries.

The analyst said that these visits show how much importance both countries attach to their bilateral ties.

He said that it is very unfortunate that the new US administration under President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran nuclear deal also known JCPOA and now they are putting pressure on other countries to follow their decision.

The analyst said that even the European Union, the ally of the US, is not supporting the US move against Iran.

Sami ullah Malik was of the view that in the past many US administrations have tried to put pressure on Iran by imposing sanctions, but they failed miserably and this time they will fail too. He pointed out that Iran is a very resilient nation and cannot be pressurized by such moves.

He added that it is very good to see that Turkey has openly said that they will not halt their trade transactions with Iran or will not stop buying Iranian oil under American pressure.

The analyst said that Iran has already started working to chalk out a strategy to deal with the American sanctions.

He said that Iranian First Vice President Ishaq Jahangiri has already said Iran will face no difficulty in selling its oil despite US sanctions.