Congress flags reports of Pakistan’s mediation role in West Asia, says ‘rebuff to self-styled Vishwaguru’

59

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday said that if reports of Pakistan being one of the intermediaries between the US-Israel and Iran are true, then they represent a “severe setback” and “rebuff” to India.

Congress general secretary and communication incharge Jairam Ramesh in a post on X said, “Multiple reports in leading international media outlets have identified Pakistan as one of the intermediaries being used between the US and Israel on the one side and Iran on the other.”

Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister, he said, “If these reports are true, they represent a severe setback and rebuff to India – and it is all attributable to the self-styled Vishwaguru.”

He also pointed out that “for over a year, it has been abundantly clear that in spite of our undoubted military successes in Operation Sindoor, the sad reality is that thereafter Pakistan’s diplomatic engagement and narrative management has been markedly superior to that of the Modi Government”.

“Pakistan which was in a hugely precarious situation —politically, socially, economically and globally — has received a fresh lease of life. President Trump warmly and repeatedly embraced the man whose incendiary and inflammatory rhetoric formed the backdrop to the Pahalgam terror attacks on April 22 2025, and hosted Field Marshall Asim Munir twice in the White House (including for an unprecedented lunch). The Pakistani establishment has developed a cosy relationship with President Trump’s immediate circle,” he said targeting the government.

“Mr. Modi’s ill-advised visit to Israel, that ended just two days before the unprovoked US-Israel aerial assaults on Iran began, will go down in our political history as a singularly disastrous choice – one that has made us retreat from a position where we could and should have mediated. The Prime Minister’s huglomacy stands brutally exposed. The country is being forced to pay a price for this,” he added.

President Donald Trump on Monday had said the US was talking with a respected Iranian leader and claimed the Islamic Republic was eager for a deal to end the war, Trump, however, refused to name the Iranian leader the US is in talks with to end the three-week-old war, asserting that the interlocutor was a top person who is most respected in that country.

Speaking to reporters at the Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, Trump made it clear that the US was not in talks with the second Supreme Leader, a reference to Ayatollah Khamanei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei.

According to reports, Iran has denied being in talks with the US, but admitted that some countries in the region were making efforts to reduce tensions.

Axios website quoted a US source as saying that Turkiye, Egypt, and Pakistan have been passing messages between the US and Iran over the past two days.

The foreign ministers of the three countries held separate talks with White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the US source told Axios.