Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir is set to visit Iran on Monday (August 24), to discuss bilateral and regional issues, even as uncertainty in the Gulf remains over the future of war. The visit comes days after 60-day peace MoU, signed virtually between the United States and Iran on June 17, ended earlier this week – August 17, with no clarity as to where the situation is heading. The visit also comes at a time when the Trump administration is planning to impose “crushing” sanctions, expected as early as Monday, while Islamabad is actively pushing to revive its mediation efforts.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters on Sunday that Field Marshal Munir will be accompanied by a delegation which will hold high-level talks with the Iranian leadership.

Baghaei further said the visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation between Iran and Pakistan, as well as continuing Pakistan’s efforts to help promote peace and security in the region.

The interim peace MoU, which Pakistan signed as a guarantor has derailed, tensions in the Gulf and West Asia may escalate again. The MoU had collapsed after tensions between the two sides rose in mid-July in the Strait of Hormuz when Tehran started targeting vessels which were not following Iran-approved navigation routes.

Post Tehran’s attack, the US had once again imposed its blockade while Trump continued his bold claims that the United States was having full control of the strategic naval trade route.

Asim Munir’s Tehran visit comes after earlier this month, Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held talks with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran. The visit, however, is widely perceived to be a follow-up on the stalled MoU, aimed at opening a 60-day window for high-level talks aimed at restoring peace in West Asia.

Pakistan’s efforts to revive the talks have so far failed to yield results.

Though the peace MoU between the US and Iran failed to see desired results, Iran President Pezeshkian on August 23 defended it and termed the best way for the country to move beyond what he described as a situation of “neither war nor peace”, even as Trump’s threat of new US sanctions looms over Tehran.

However, the hard-line new leader of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, threatened Tehran’s neighbours against joining the new US effort to hurt Iran’s economy.

On August 20, Donald Trump had said he would go for what he called the “most crushing economic operation” against Iran if Tehran failed to strike a deal.

The key sticking point is the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping has been disrupted because of the war that started on February 28 after the US and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes. Roughly a fifth of the world’s total energy supplies passed through the Gulf chokepoint in normal times.

Iran on Trump’s ‘Crushing’ Sanctions Threat

Iran’s foreign minister dismissed the threat of new US sanctions as a sign of desperation and said the expected new measures would fail to defeat Tehran.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is due to hold a press conference at 2 pm EDT on August 24, has threatened to impose “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran.

Iran’s economy is already under huge pressure from international sanctions, its infrastructure has been hit repeatedly and thousands of people have been killed in airstrikes on the Islamic Republic since the US and Israel launched attacks on February 28.