Pakistan Deputy PM felicitates Iranian President Pezeshkian on assuming office

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday attended investiture ceremony of Iran President-elect Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran and congratulated him on assuming office, Pakistan's foreign office said.

Pezeshkian won a runoff race against Saeed Jalili on July 5 to replace president Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash in May. He was sworn before parliament on Tuesday as the Islamic republic’s ninth president.

Dar, who arrived in Tehran on Tuesday evening, conveyed best wishes for President Pezeshkian on behalf of the people and government of Pakistan, according to the Pakistani foreign office.

"He congratulated the Iranian nation on the successful and smooth transitioning of power to the new political administration," the foreign office said in a statement.

"The deputy prime minister also expressed support and solidarity with the new Iranian administration and Pakistan’s commitment to further consolidate ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Dar's visit to Tehran attested to the commitment by the two countries to strengthen leadership-level engagement and bilateral cooperation, according to an earlier statement by the foreign office.

Pakistan and Iran have had a history of rocky relations despite several commercial pacts. Their highest profile agreement is a stalled gas supply deal signed in 2010 to build a pipeline from Iran’s Fars gas field to Pakistan’s southern provinces of Balochistan and Sindh.

Pakistan and Iran also find themselves at odds due to the instability along their shared porous border, with their leaders routinely trading blame after militant attacks in their respective territories.

Earlier this year in January, Pakistan and Iran exchanged airstrikes, with each government claiming to have targeted militant hideouts in the other country. Both states have since made peace overtures and restored bilateral ties through multiple high-level visits.

One of these high-level visits included that of Raisi, who visited Pakistan in April this year. Both countries resolved to enhance their bilateral trade to $10 billion during the late Iranian president’s official tour.

Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, assumes office amid soaring tensions and fears of a wider conflict breaking out in the Middle East with Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah threatening to attack each other.

Iran on Sunday warned Israel against attacking Lebanon as Israeli authorities blame Hezbollah for a rocket attack on Saturday that hit a football ground in Israel-occupied Golan Heights. Twelve people were reportedly killed in the attack, with Israel vowing to inflict a heavy response against Hezbollah.