ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif today met Iran's top leadership as part of Islamabad's efforts to drum up support for the country after US President Donald Trump criticised it for providing safe havens to terrorists.
Asif called on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran and exchanged views on latest regional situation and different aspects of the bilateral relations, Radio Pakistan reported.
The foreign minister also held a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif.
Ahead of Asif's maiden visit to America, Paksitan's foreign ministry had announced that he will travel to China, Russia, Turkey and Iran to drum up support for Islamabad after Trump warned it of consequences if it continues to support terror groups.
Trump while announcing his policy for South Asia and Afghanistan hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to “agents of chaos” that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it has “much to lose” by harbouring terrorists. Pakistan is upset over the allegations.
Asif is accompanied by National Security Advisor Naseer Khan Janjua and Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.
The foreign minister earlier visited China and discussed the new US policy with counterpart Wang Yi.
He is also expected to visit Turkey and meet his Russian counterpart later this month as part of efforts to garner support for the country which is facing mounting international pressure to act against the terror groups.
Meanwhile, the foreign minister told Iran's state news agency IRNA that the US military approach in Afghanistan has already failed to address the problems in the country.
"No need to say that the approach taken by the Americans which is a military one, has not been able to bring peace to Afghanistan 16 years and military solution will not work,” he said.
"I am also planning to meet my Russian counterpart in near future on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session and discuss the peaceful approaches for Afghanistan issue with him," he added.