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Pakistan seeks to mitigate US-Iran tensions

Pakistan, wary in part of tensions between Washington and Tehran negatively affecting the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, has offered to mediate between the United States and Iran after the recent round of violence between them.

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City, New York, U.S., September 23, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst - RC166DE0F040
US President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City, Sept. 23, 2019. — REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The US drone attack that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, took US-Iranian relations to the brink of war with the potential to destabilize the entire Middle East and shake the global economy. Although no casualties resulted from Tehran's retaliatory launch of more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two US military bases in Iraq, the attack took the conflict to another, extremely dangerous level. 

To avoid further friction from sparking a broader war, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reached out to various countries that could help de-escalate the situation. Pakistan was one of the first countries he approached after the strike on Soleimani.

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