Pakistan president due in Iran for talks

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is to pay an official visit to Iran on Saturday to exchange views with the country's senior officials on mutual and regional developments, an Iranian diplomat says. As two influential countries among Islamic states, Iran and Pakistan hold frequent consultations on issues pertaining to the Muslim world and the region, said Iran's Ambassador to Islamabad Mashallah Shakeri on Thursday. He added that the Pakistani president is scheduled to hold talks with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, IRNA reported. The Iranian envoy noted that talks will mainly focus on ways to expand mutual relations and leading regional developments. He lauded joint cooperation between Tehran and Islamabad and added that the two sides enjoy amicable relations in economic, political and cultural fields. Shakeri stated that Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik will accompany Zardari in his trip to the Islamic Republic. The Pakistani president paid an official visit to Tehran late in June to attend the International Conference on the Global Fight against Terrorism. While in Tehran, Zardari met with Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad. Ayatollah Khamenei warned of the US attempts to create strife in Pakistan with the purpose of achieving its “illegitimate objectives” and asserted that Washington's policies in the Middle East are doomed to failure due to its aggressive and interfering presence in the region.