Iran's Top Diplomat Heads to Pakistan to Ease Tensions Over Kashmir Attack

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Iranian foreign minister visited Pakistan on Monday aiming to mediate amid the rising tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi following last month’s developments. deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir .

Araghchi's trip marked the first time a foreign official visited since the tensions escalated following the April 22 attack that killed 26 travelers, an incident India attributes to Pakistan. Tehran has proposed assisting in reducing the strain between these two nuclear-powered neighboring countries.

Pakistan’s armed forces have maintained a state of heightened readiness following remarks from Cabinet Minister Attaullah Tarar about reliable information suggesting potential aggression from India. The country has refuted any involvement in the assault primarily targeting Indian visitors and proposed cooperating with an impartial global inquiry. Despite this, India hasn’t agreed to such cooperation thus far, prompting multiple international figures to call for calm between the two nations to prevent additional tensions.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is scheduled to meet with Araghchi, expressed his approval for mediating efforts aimed at easing tensions between Pakistan and India. According to Dar, since the previous week, he has communicated with more than a dozen international officials, which includes conversations with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

We won’t be the ones to initiate anyescalating action," Dar stated in Islamabad, yet he also cautioned the globalcommunitythatif "India commits anyactofaggression againstPakistan,Pakistanwill steadfastlydefenditssovereigntyandterritorialintegrity.

On April 28, he alleged that the Indian Air Force tried to enter Pakistani airspace. According to him, Pakistan dispatched fighter planes which compelled the Indian jets to retreat. At that time, India did not provide an instant response to these allegations.

Kashmir is split Between India and Pakistan, both nations claim the entire area. They have engaged in two out of their three major conflicts over this mountainous territory, with their relationships consistently influenced by disputes, tense negotiations, and hostility. mutual suspicion, mostly due to their competing claims over Kashmir.

The most recent escalation resulted in Two nations decide to expel one another's diplomatic officials and citizens. , along with the closure of airspace.

On Monday, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar guided a delegation of journalists through the mountainous village of Bella Noor Shah, located close to Muzaffarabad—the principal city within Pakistan-controlled Kashmir—where India allegedly spread misinformation about hosting a terrorist training facility.

The villagers informed journalists that they had never witnessed any such camp in the region before.

"It’s evident that the claims made by India have no basis in truth," Tarar stated.

On Monday, Pakistan's armed forces announced they had conducted a test-launch of a short-range missile, marking the second such firing within two days; this follows their launch of a medium-range missile on Saturday.

The military said that the Fatah surface-to-surface missile has a range of 120 kilometers (75 miles) and was launched from an undisclosed location. Such missiles are never fired toward India, and usually end up reaching the Arabian Sea or the deserts of southern Balochistan province.

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Yousaf provided reporting from Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.