Mohsin Naqvi poised to visit Tehran today, Iranian media claims

WEB DESK: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is scheduled to travel to Tehran today, Saturday, to push forward Islamabad’s ongoing diplomatic mediation aimed at breaking the deadlock in peace talks between Iran and the United States, Iranian state media reported.

According to an informed source cited by the Tehran-based Mehr News Agency, the unannounced visit serves as a direct continuation of Pakistan’s high-stakes facilitation track.

The trip follows a series of rapid backchannel engagements handled by Islamabad over the last few months to sustain a fragile regional ceasefire and permanently resolve hostilities.

SCO sidelines and intensifying contacts

The sudden development comes less than 24 hours after Naqvi met his Iranian counterpart, Eskandar Momeni, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Interior Ministers’ meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

During the bilateral discussions on Friday, both ministers reportedly emphasized the critical need for sustained diplomatic engagement to ensure long-term regional stability.

The Bishkek huddle was the second interaction between the two interior ministers since Thursday, reflecting an intensification of high-level contacts.

Islamabad has increasingly positioned itself as a central interlocutor between Washington and Tehran, having previously hosted high-level delegations from both sides to keep the backchannel dialogue alive despite deep-seated policy differences.

Strategic deadlock and the mediation track

This marks Naqvi’s third critical visit to the Iranian capital in recent weeks, following extensive mid-May consultations where he, alongside senior Pakistani security officials, met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and top leadership.

Pakistan’s diplomatic push has focused heavily on managing the security fallout of earlier regional military escalations and finding a middle ground on contested issues, including the scope of long-term enrichment restrictions versus sanctions relief.

While official sources in Islamabad have yet to issue a formal statement regarding the interior minister’s itinerary for Saturday, diplomatic observers note that the unannounced nature of the visit underlines the sensitivity of the ongoing negotiations.

Naqvi is expected to deliver modified proposals aimed at bridging the gap between the two adversaries and preventing any collapse of the current de-escalation framework.