Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for Ankara’s support during Pakistan’s efforts brokering a peace agreement between the US and Iran.

“I think this is high time when Pakistan, with the great support of my very dear brother President Tayyip Erdogan, has been able to mediate peace between the United States and Iran,” he recalls while delivering an address in Istanbul.

“It wasn’t an easy task; a very uphill task,” the premier says of Islamabad’s mediation efforts.

He adds that “this mission would have been well-nigh impossible” without the “very sincere support” of Turkiye and other brotherly countries.

During a later joint press conference with Erdogan, PM Shehbaz has expressed his deep appreciation for “Turkiye’s strong and steadfast support for Pakistan’s peace efforts in the region that … have culminated in the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding”.