Islamabad/Zurich, June 21: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday met US Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the technical-level talks in Switzerland, aimed at restoring peace in West Asia, his office said.
Sharif reached Switzerland earlier in the day, accompanied by Army chief Asim Munir and a delegation.
Top officials from Iran and Qatar have also reached the Burgenstock Alpine ridges, where the talks are taking place.
“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif meeting with Vice President of the United States JD Vance on the sidelines of US-Iran technical level talks as a follow-up of Islamabad MoU, being held in Burgenstock, Switzerland, 21 June 2026,” Sharif’s office said in a post on X on Sunday.
They also shared a video clip in which Sharif and Munir could be seen shaking hands with Vance, envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner.
In an interview ahead of this meeting, Vance told Pakistan TV that he acknowledged Islamabad’s role in the US-Iran negotiations.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who landed in Iran unannounced on Saturday, is learnt to have met President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran.
An Iranian delegation led by the country’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is already in Switzerland.
Mediators from Qatar are also going to participate in the talks – which, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, would begin shortly. Several senior Swiss officials are also present there.
US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which marked the beginning of a 60-day negotiation window for restoring peace in West Asia.
The technical aspects of the negotiations were supposed to begin on Friday, but were delayed, primarily due to fresh rounds of firing between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The signing of the MoU led to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz – the waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies pass in normal times.
Iran on Saturday said it has closed the waterway again, citing Israeli attack on Lebanon.
While Vance said it is open for shipping, Trump issued a threat to impose American tolls in the crucial waterway if a final deal with Iran is not reached in 60 days. (PTI)
