Asim Munir is in Tehran as part of Pakistan’s renewed effort to broker a peace deal between Iran and the US.
Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei has told Pakistan army chief Asim Munir that Tehran will not allow its enriched uranium to be taken out of the country. He also repeated that peace talks with the United States will resume only after Iran’s demands are met.
Munir, accompanied by Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi, met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, described the nuclear material as “a major asset and national wealth for the Iranian people,” AFP reported.
On talks with Washington, Rezaei said: “There will be no negotiations until America takes steps to build trust, and that process must begin with the fulfilment of Iran’s conditions.”
He also stressed Tehran’s distrust of the US. “Today, our nation does not trust America. It believes that if we enter negotiations, they will attack us again,” he said.
Rezaei’s comments reflect the hardening of Iran’s position on mediation in recent months. Tehran has said repeatedly that ceasefire talks will begin only after the US accepts its demands, which include lifting the US blockade of its ports, removing all sanctions on its oil exports and ending hostilities on all fronts.
Pakistan army chief meets Iran’s top leadership
Munir, on his fifth visit to Iran since June, met senior Iranian leaders on Tuesday as part of efforts to ease tensions in West Asia. According to Iranian state TV, he and Naqvi met President Pezeshkian. He also met Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of Tehran’s chief negotiators.
Ghalibaf echoed Rezaei on Iran’s declining trust in Washington, pointing to what he called US violations of the ceasefire agreement signed in June. Citing PTI, he said the US must meet Iran’s seven conditions and that threats would not alter Tehran’s strategic decisions.
His remarks came days after US officials said Washington was reportedly weighing the use of its largest non-nuclear bomb, known as the “mother of all bombs,” against Iran if Trump orders a resumption of military operations.
US-Iran conflict stuck in a volatile impasse
The conflict, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has now lasted eight months. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire framework in June, but it unravelled within a month over issues including navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear programme.
Trump had cited the nuclear programme as one of the reasons for launching military operations against Iran. The situation is now in a volatile standoff, with Washington demanding a complete halt to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and applying economic pressure through sanctions. Iran says it will not give up its enriched uranium, while denying that it seeks nuclear weapons.
