FM Qureshi arrives in Washington for Middle East peace mission

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi arrived in Washington on Thursday, Geo News reported. 

The foreign minister during his visit to Washington will meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor Robert O' Brian and other senior US administration officials. He will also have meetings on Capitol Hill, and engagements with the media, policy think tanks and the Pakistani diaspora

Iran-US tensions: Pakistan urges all parties to exercise 'maximum restraint'

The foreign minister, in his talks with the US leadership, will focus on Pakistan's diplomatic outreach, which has been undertaken on the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan in the wake of recent tensions in the Middle East.

Qureshi has already visited Iran and Saudi Arabia, where he met the two countries' leaders in an effort to ease tensions in the region.

“Recent developments seriously endanger peace and security in an already volatile region and underscore the need for immediate and collective efforts for a peaceful resolution,” the Foreign Office had said as Qureshi left for Tehran on the first leg of his trip.

Qureshi hopes tensions to ease after Iran admits plane crash mistake

Earlier, the foreign minister had in a statement said that Iran owning up to its mistake of downing the Ukrainian passenger plane would likely ease up tensions in the region.

“Iran’s confession of downing Ukrainian passenger plane should ease up tensions as the region can neither endure tension nor can it tolerate war anymore,” he had said.

FM Qureshi reiterated that Pakistan would play an active role to reduce growing tensions in the region.

Iranian armed forces had admitted that they unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian airliner that crashed this week and blamed "human error" for the mistake.