00:00Pakistan's prime minister and also the army chief will be traveling to Saudi Arabia tomorrow.
00:05What is the main purpose, do you think, of this visit?
00:09I think the purpose is pretty clear. It's to coordinate expectations on the next steps when it comes to bridging
00:16the division between the U.S. and Iran.
00:18We do know that the Saudi foreign minister, alongside that of Pakistan and other Gulf powers, recently convened in multiple
00:25parts of the region as well to get a better sense of what kind of regional expectations can come into
00:32play.
00:32Because it's important to note that even though we do see these talks as U.S.-Iranian consensus building, Iran's penchant
00:39to regionally escalate.
00:41For example, there have been threats as well that even if an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz is hammered
00:45out on fees and Iranian de facto control, those are issues which Iran is keen to keep off limits.
00:51And the fact that their top leadership hasn't signed off on that raises the risks of miscalculation in a region
00:56which largely has to be secured through consultative diplomacy.
01:00So I think Pakistan has a time-tested relationship with Saudi Arabia.
01:03We've seen that in multiple parts as well, including in certain formats held in Islamabad.
01:07So the key focus is to get a deeper sense of Saudi Arabia's expectations to advance peace going forward and
01:15also to communicate recent exchanges of amended proposals from the Iranian side and the U.S. side to Saudi Arabia
01:21and factor that into a further mediation control going forward with the Qatari side.
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