Pakistan PM drops a ‘truth bomb’ on US about the Iranian missiles

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif . . . calls out double standards and duplicity of those "trying to wreck" the Iran peace deal. Image: Screenshot Arab News Pakistan

COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, one of the signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and the US, has called out what he says are double standards and duplicity by those trying to wreck the peace deal.

His short, memorable statement was largely ignored in the Western media but its content should be digested by all.

He addressed his comments directly to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian who arrived in Pakistan on June 23. The Iranian delegation had just arrived on a plane named Minab 168 — in memory of the 168 children and staff killed in an attack on an Iranian girls’ school by US and Israeli forces at the outset of the US-Israel attack on Iran.

Sharif made his comments a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gulf foreign ministers issued a joint statement that “lasting regional peace and security requires addressing the full spectrum of Iran’s threats, including its ballistic missiles, drones, and support of proxies in the region.”

One of the reasons Sharif’s comments are important is that the US-Israeli side operates a well-thumbed playbook of agreeing on frameworks for negotiations and then immediately breaking them (killing negotiators or attacking Lebanon, for example) or trying to rewrite the framework midstream to their advantage.

Shehbaz Sharif called them out:

“This MOU does not mention ballistic missiles. It was never on the table. It was never on the agenda. The Iran side never wanted to even discuss it. That is not an impression, that is a fact of matter, so there should be no second thought about it.

“It must not be misconstrued, because there are spoilers all over the world to scuttle this peace deal. They don’t want the Iranian nation, the great Iranian nation to come out of the ashes of war and touch the zenith of glory. So I want to make it abundantly clear that there cannot be double standards — two standards that some countries can have ballistic missiles, and Iran shouldn’t have.

“You cannot digest this kind of duplicity. I wanted to make it very clear, Excellency, that the MOU, which has been signed by me as mediator, does not mention ballistic missiles at all.”

You can watch this speech here.

For his part President Pezeshkian made clear Iran’s right to its missiles is non-negotiable.

“I would like to say that if it was not for Iran’s missile capabilities, to defend ourselves, our country would have been plundered and destroyed by the Zionist regime and the US — like Gaza. And they would not have any mercy on either the young or the old.

“They claim they respect human rights. This is a big lie. If we hadn’t been able to defend ourselves they certainly wouldn’t have shown mercy. Therefore we shall never, never compromise or negotiate with anyone about our missile capabilities.”

In particular, I share both of these memorable statements because such comments are seldom aired by our increasingly “curated” Western media.

Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington, New Zealand. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He is a contributor to Asia Pacific Report and hosts solidarity.co.nz .

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