TEHRAN -- Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will visit Pakistan and Oman this week for a key regional economic summit and bilateral talks, the Foreign Ministry announced Sunday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Araghchi will travel to Islamabad on Monday to attend the 30th meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Council of Ministers. 

The meeting, scheduled for November 15-16, will focus on economic and trade cooperation among the organization’s 10 member states.

Araghchi will then travel to Muscat on Tuesday for talks with his Omani counterpart, Badr al-Busaidi, Baqaei said.  

Ahead of the trip, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghaddam, told Asia One News in Islamabad that Iran is fully prepared to bring border trade to 100 percent of its capacity and serve as an east-west transit hub. 

He said any balanced negotiations with Washington depend on the United States accepting Iran’s conditions.

On regional security, the ambassador said the Strait of Hormuz was closed due to U.S. aggression and blockades, while a northern corridor remains open for friendly countries such as Pakistan to import needed energy with appropriate security coordination. 

He reiterated Iran’s support for regional security managed by regional countries themselves, citing the Hormuz Peace Initiative and a clause in UN Resolution 598 envisioning security arrangements involving Iran, Iraq, and the six Persian Gulf Cooperation Council states.

He condemned hostile U.S. actions, including the withdrawal from international agreements, naval blockades, the freezing of Iranian assets, and the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, calling for the release of blocked assets and an end to military aggression in the region.

The Ambassador said Tehran has never left the negotiating 

table and remains committed to previous agreements, including the JCPOA and the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.
The envoy stressed that negotiations are only possible through respect for Iran’s legitimate rights and from a position of equality, warning that otherwise Tehran will rely on its strategic independence and military strength to resist “bullying and excessive demands”.
“Whenever Washington accepts our conditions, Tehran can sit at the table for more balanced negotiations,” Amiri Moghaddam said.