Pakistan stands out amid flurry of diplomacy at UNGA

• As Islamabad presses Washington and Tehran to return to talks, Trump reveals ‘three-hour meeting’ with Iranian delegation • US president hails PM Shehbaz as ‘terrific man’; diplomatic efforts win praise from UN chief • Dar joins counterparts from Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt in stressing need to uphold Islamabad MoU NEW YORK: Pakistan remained front and centre on Tuesday, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity at UN Headquarters, as world leaders came together to address the 81st General Assembly session. Both PM Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy PM Ishaq Dar spent a busy day filled with whirlwind meetings, engaging with leaders from around the world, as they continued to push for a diplomatic solution to the US-Iran war, which has taken a toll on global trade and energy markets.

Although he is scheduled to address the UNGA tomorrow (Thursday), PM Shehbaz was mentioned by US President Donald Trump in his speech, who called him a “terrific man”. “The prime minister of Pakistan — terrific man — said that Donald Trump was responsible for saving 30 million lives and probably many more than that,” he said as he rattled off a list of conflicts that he claimed to have helped settle: Pakistan-India, Thailand-Cambodia, Armenia-Azerbaijan, and the Gaza conflict, among others. Pakistan has been vigorously pursuing diplomacy to help bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table, even as uncertainty clouded a possible meeting between Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UNGA. Those efforts seem to have borne fruit when, after sending mixed signals during his UNGA speech, President Trump said that his team had met an Iranian delegation on the sidelines of the General Assembly. “It was a meeting that lasted for three hours; it ended an…