Iran’s FM Araghchi back in Pakistani capital Islamabad after visiting Oman

[0:00] Iran's foreign minister, Bas Arakji, is back in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. [0:04] Earlier, he was in Oman, where he held discussions on the U.S.-Israeli war. [0:09] Arakji also held phone calls with Qatar's foreign minister, as well as Turkish, Saudi, and Egyptian officials. [0:16] On Saturday, Donald Trump decided not to send his envoys to Pakistan, saying a new peace proposal from Tehran was not good enough. [0:24] All right, Al Jazeera's White House correspondent, Kimberly Halkett, joins us now live from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. [0:31] So, Kimberly, the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Arakji, is now in Islamabad again. [0:37] Do we know how long he's planning to stay? And, I mean, what might that tell us? [0:44] Well, the length of the visit is not indicative of the progress that has just moved forward or broken through. [0:53] This is a significant development. In the last 12 to 18 hours, as we've been reporting, the Iranian foreign minister has been in Oman. [1:02] He's been meeting there with officials, and the discussion has really centered around essentially building a framework to ultimately end the war. [1:14] That has been assembled. [1:16] And so now what we know is he's, after meeting, as you pointed out, with not only the Omani government officials, [1:24] but also foreign ministers in Turkey and Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia, he is now coming back after consulting with those key regional players to have further discussions with the Pakistani prime minister as well as the army chief. [1:41] Now, what's significant in all of this is that we've also been reporting here in Al Jazeera that the U.S. president had been talking about a revised proposal that he had received from Iran. [1:54] We can't confirm that these two are the same, but the fact that they're being discussed and revealed around the same time is certainly significant. [2:03] What this does signal is exactly what Pakistan has been saying for days, and that is that the diplomacy channel has continued to progress. [2:13] It has not been cut off. [2:15] Now, in addition to this, what is also a bit of a breakthrough is the fact that Turkey, as foreign minister, has been speaking with U.S. officials. [2:25] We don't know if this was the Secretary of State Marco Rubio or the special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff that were supposed to travel here to Islamabad, [2:34] only to be abruptly cancelled in terms of their travel. [2:38] But what we do know is that those conversations that have taken place with the Americans have come on the heels of the Iranian foreign minister leaving Islamabad, [2:50] going and consulting with these regional players, and now returning and saying, look, we have a framework to present that we think could try and end this war. [3:00] Okay, so let's see if that moves things forward. [3:03] In the meantime, Abbas Arakshi is going to Moscow after this. [3:07] Do we have any idea what he might be hoping to get out of those meetings? [3:10] Even the fact that there has been a strong relationship with Russia, the fact that Iran has that significant, in the geopolitical spectrum, [3:27] it is obviously aligned with Iran. [3:30] In order for this to work, it needs to have the support and the blessing of the Russian government. [3:36] So it's natural that the Iranian foreign minister is making that, given that relationship, making that trip, running, one could presume, this framework by. [3:48] The only way that this is ultimately going to work is if you have those major regional players on board. [3:55] Russia is included. [3:57] Of course, the United States that has just added its third aircraft carrier to the region. [4:02] This is all being done under the pressure of a military escalation and buildup. [4:09] And so in order for it to work, it has to have the blessing of the regional players. [4:14] So again, it's not surprising that these interconnected relationships, Turkey, also connected with regard to Iran and Russia, [4:25] having that conversation with the United States in order to see that this works like a puzzle piece with each piece coming together. [4:32] But again, what is important to underscore in all of this is it's Pakistan that has been at the center of this, [4:39] putting this intricate travesty of diplomacy, if you will, together and pulling all the threads. [4:46] And so that is why the Iranian foreign minister has returned to Islamabad to speak with Pakistani officials in order to see that this framework solidifies. [4:56] All right, Kimberly Halkett for us there, of course, important to also keep in mind that those regional players that you mentioned, [5:02] some of them, Iran was launching missiles at just a couple of weeks ago. [5:06] It is fascinating, all of these developments. [5:08] Kimberly, for us in Islamabad, thank you.