TEHRAN- Pakistan's Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi on Thursday dismissed claims that Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir recently visited Iran as an envoy of the US or President Donald Trump, saying that the military chief’s visit was part of Pakistan’s ongoing role as a mediator between Washington and Tehran.

Munir visited Tehran with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday, where he held a series of meetings with Iran’s officials. The move was seen as part of Pakistan’s push to bring both sides to the negotiating table and adhere to an interim peace agreement Islamabad helped them sign in June. 

 Citing three Pakistani sources, international news agency Reuters claimed this week that Trump spoke to Munir before his Tehran visit. It cited one of the sources as saying that Washington requested Pakistan use its influence to bring Iran back to the negotiating table. 

“I would also highlight that claims by certain quarters that the chief of army staff and the chief of defense forces visited Iran as envoy of President Trump or the US are misleading and factually incorrect,” Andrabi told reporters during a weekly press briefing.

“As his visit was undertaken purely in the context and backdrop of Pakistan’s ongoing role as a mediator.”

The foreign office spokesperson said Pakistan will continue to pursue diplomatic engagement and support sincere efforts aimed at reviving the US-Iran peace talks. He said Islamabad would also back efforts to achieve a “comprehensive, just, and lasting” resolution of the conflict.

Naqvi said on Tuesday that Munir’s visit to Tehran had made “significant progress,” adding that the meeting between Munir, the interior minister and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian ended on a “highly positive note.”

The Pakistani minister said discussions with Pezeshkian focused on the Iran-US conflict, wider Middle East tensions and steps required from both sides to restore the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the aim of reaching a comprehensive settlement.