Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Thursday in New York, where the two leaders are attending the ongoing 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
The two leaders, accompanied by their top diplomats, were expected to discuss bilateral relations as well as the regional situation amid the ongoing US-Iran war, according to a statement from Sharif's office.
Details of the meeting were yet to be released.
Pakistan has played a major role in mediating between the two sides since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran in February this year.
Speaking to reporters at the UN a day earlier, Sharif said: "Pakistan is playing the role of a sincere and honest mediator between Iran, our neighborly country, and the United States."
Recalling that the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, US President Donald Trump and himself, Sharif rued: "Unfortunately, events after that got a bit unpredictable."
"But Pakistan is completely focused. We have not lost hope; we [are] absolutely determined that we will further make efforts and make progress to de-escalate the situation," the prime minister said.
After the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28, Pakistan helped secure a ceasefire on April 8 and later hosted more than 20 hours of talks between American and Iranian officials in Islamabad.
Following weeks of mediation, Pakistan and Qatar helped secure the Islamabad MoU, signed on June 18, which provided the two sides with a framework and 60 days to negotiate a longer-term agreement aimed at ending the war.
The two sides, however, soon resumed retaliatory strikes, with tensions continuing.
Iranian and American negotiators also held indirect talks Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
