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Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday described the Iranian side as "very straight" and said its leadership had handled the Middle East crisis with a sense of dignity in efforts to de-escalate tensions, as the United States and Iran opened technical negotiations in Switzerland.
"They genuinely mean promoting peace in the region," Sharif told reporters, adding that he held the same view of President Donald Trump.
"I have no second thought about the fact that he is the man of peace," Sharif said, citing Washington's role during the recent conflict between Pakistan and India, when the two countries came close to a nuclear confrontation.
Sharif traveled to Switzerland as American and Iranian delegations began technical negotiations following the signing of a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, aimed at ending months of conflict in the Middle East and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The talks, held in the town of Burgenstock under Pakistani mediation, are led on the US side by Vice President JD Vance, and on the Iranian side by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Qatar also played a mediating role in bringing the sides together. Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met separately with Sharif and Vance ahead of the broader session and thanked them for their support of the agreement.
He described the gathering as an opening step rather than a conclusion. "Today's meeting is only the beginning of reaching our goals," he said, adding that what took place carried significance for the security of the region and the world.
Speaking separately in Cairo, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said some provisions of the US-Iran memorandum had been deferred for further negotiation over a 60-day period and could prove difficult to resolve quickly, particularly on sanctions and nuclear verification.
He said he had discussed the talks by phone with Steve Witkoff, the US special representative for the Middle East, and expressed confidence the two sides would work through their differences.
"I believe that in the coming days, they will overcome these problems through intensive work," Fidan said, while cautioning that Israel remained a potential spoiler.
"There is always an Israel waiting in the corner, ready to sabotage these matters the moment it finds an opportunity," he said.
Fidan was in Cairo for a meeting of foreign ministers from Türkiye, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, where he said the four countries had also discussed Libya, the Mediterranean and African affairs a day earlier alongside the United States.
He was received by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and said the four-nation format was working to take ownership of the region's political, security and economic challenges, and to shape a postwar vision for the Middle East developed by regional states rather than imposed from outside.
He separately met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty to discuss bilateral relations.
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