ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has extended supported to Iran’s request for an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) after shocking assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said.
The development comes after a phone call from Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagehri Kani to Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar as former expressed Tehran’s distress over Haniyeh’s killing.
FM Dar affirmed that Islamabad shares Iran’s concerns, noting that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had condemned both the Gaza developments and Haniyeh’s assassination strongly. National Assembly also condemned the killing as a violation of international law and diplomatic norms.
Iranian FM requested Pakistan’s participation in the OIC extraordinary meeting, which Dar confirmed Pakistan would attend and actively engage in.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed severe retaliation for Haniyeh’s killing. Hamas top leader was killed in Tehran. The assassination, reported by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, occurred early Wednesday morning, shortly after Israel had targeted and killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, escalating tensions in the region.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stated that Iran would follow through on the Supreme Leader’s orders for retaliation, while crowds chanted anti-Israel and anti-American slogans.
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