At the UN General Debate on Sept. 25, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al‑Mandeb remain open, calling them lifelines for the global economy and saying they must not become arenas of confrontation. He said Pakistan helped broker US‑Iran talks in Islamabad after February’s US‑Israel‑Iran clashes that spread across the Middle East, producing an Islamabad meeting and an Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, and expressed regret at recent renewed regional esc

At the UN General Debate on Sept. 25, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al‑Mandeb remain open, calling them lifelines for the global economy and saying they must not become arenas of confrontation. He said Pakistan helped broker US‑Iran talks in Islamabad after February’s US‑Israel‑Iran clashes that spread across the Middle East, producing an Islamabad meeting and an Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, and expressed regret at recent renewed regional escalation. He said Pakistan chooses dialogue over confrontation.